This book is an accident; three things made it possible. I design products and services for women and girls, I missed drawing, and I just gave birth.
A year and a half ago, I had my second kid. I wasn’t ready to get back to my full time job yet; I was breastfeeding and my brain was addled from lack of sleep. Motherhood was lovely, rewarding and all that, but it was still boring. I had a maker’s urge to use my hands and mind to create something.
A pop-up shop opened up a block away and they were looking for local makers, I decided to make “kickass women” candles. A few months before, I walked by a holiday market that was selling secular saint candles. They had a couple of dozen of inspiring scientists, mathematicians, and artists, all of them men and one proud and lonely Frieda Kahlo. I was annoyed. From children books, to online Iists of the “most inspiring people”, to design conferences and innovation panels, it’s always the same. At best, there is a light sprinkling of token women present.
