Empowering All As our country awaits our election day results, my thoughts return to Rochester, NY, where an extraordinary assortment of brave souls have rallied for centuries to assure everyone had the right to vote and fully participate in our society. It took a radical group of Quakers, spearheaded by Amy Post, to entice Frederick […]
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Martha and the Girl Scouts
June 19, 2018
When Juliette Gordon Low started the Girl Scouts with 18 girls in Savannah, Georgia, I wonder if she had ever been to a Harper Method shop and was encouraged by the female network of shops that Harper created worldwide? Certainly, it was tragic that Martha had such a gruesome childhood being bound out at age seven to work […]
Remembering Outstanding Women
March 1, 2018
March is women’s history month. I appreciate that at least women get a month a year, but, surely, it is time to realize women have and are making history every day. As we all reflect on the tragic loss of life at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, I have been reminded […]
Martha and Me
December 29, 2017
As another year passes, I am reflecting on how Martha and I became buddies when she had been dead for almost fifty years. Who knew that a marketing assignment for the grand opening of First National Bank of Rochester, NY’s refurbished headquarters in the grand Powers Building would change the direction of my life? As my consulting […]
Follow Martha Matilda Harper, the Empress of Labor, On Labor Day and Forever
September 4, 2017
The chance of birth determines not only your sex, but, often, your economic future. In the Victorian Era, poor women were limited to low or no-paying jobs including marriage, servitude or factory work. It was out of that quicksand of opportunity that Martha changed options for herself and other poor women.
How Rochester’s Women’s Equality Movement Propelled Harper’s World-wide Franchise Network
July 20, 2017
Rochester women and men were early leaders in the cause of women’s equality and it led to economic options for women… Here’s why Rochester, our foremothers, and especially Post, Anthony and Harper need to be remembered.Now, as we look at the earnings gap, the inequitable distribution distribution of women leaders at the top of major organization including our government, the discriminatory legislation affecting women, it is up to us to continue that struggle for equality.
A Real World Rapunzel Who Rescues Herself
May 29, 2017

Recently I spoke to a group of cosmetology and barber students at the Manatee Technical College. Over forty, mostly young people, some with multi-colored hair, ranging from maroon, to aquamarine highlights, were mesmerized by the hair and the accomplishments of Martha Matilda Harper. One student said to me, “I thought I had it tough, but […]
Inspire Young Children with Harper’s Hair and Business Model
April 19, 2017
Though Martha Matilda Harper lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, her path from servant girl at age seven to the creator of modern retail franchising and a pioneer in social entrepreneurship provides powerful lessons for all of us today, especially our young generations. As a grandma with three pre-kindergarten grandchildren, I think […]
It Is Our Turn, Martha!
September 15, 2016
What an impact one poor Canadian girl born on September 12, 1857 had on thousands of other poor servant and factory girls. Today that woman, Martha Matilda Harper, would have been 159 years old and her legacy lives on, but reminds us there is more to do. Harper created modern retail franchising around the world, putting […]
Dare to Make Your Dreams Come True
April 22, 2014
Stop bellyaching that life is unfair. You are right. We don’t all get dealt a good hand. The question is what will you do about it? In the 1800s when life was totally gloom and doom for poor women, Martha Matilda Harper had a dream, to break our of servitude and control her life as a […]
November 6, 2018
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