Why Rochester, NY Was So Progressive.

Discover how Rochester led the abolition and suffrage movement, which led to pioneering women entrepreneurship, Visiting Nurses, and affordable housing.

Martha, Susan, and Election Day

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 […]

Martha and the Girl Scouts

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 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

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

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

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

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

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!

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 […]