Breaking the barriers, daring to be different and challenging yourself is what makes a true journalist. Women have been seen as the underdogs in an industry that’s been testosterone driven since published works began, but Journalist and Author Gail Sheehy dared to be different. Sheehy has changed the way women dare to view phases of their life through her books, articles, and lectures around the country. Sheehy asked,” What is daring?” and explained it to be the curiosity or urge to take the road less traveled and fail, but try again. “You could be the voice for the people that don’t have a voice. That’s daring.” She was able to be that voice through the opportunity of her boss, Clay Felker, who assigned her to follow Robert Kennedy’s campaign trail through Oregon and California in the late 60s.
Female journalists are usually dealt the lower hand and given stories that might not even make the press, but Felker saw
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Clay Felker believed that good journalism was like telling a story and drawing audiences into what was mentioned and following a story arc how novels are written. While Gail was still fresh on the scene as a bright journalist, her boss asked her one day what she knew about politics which was outside of her comfort zone as a writer, and pushed her to be different despite her gender. Falker encouraged Gail by telling her to “grab on to a big story where the people don’t know ‘the why’” which would push his new employee to do great works in coming years as a rising author and journalist. Sheehy said, “I knew I was born far from fearless, but I had to be willing to fail and learn from my failures. I knew that when I wrote I could write about the character of a figure.” With this mindset Sheehy published award winning, and bestselling novels such as: The Silent Passages, Sex and the Seasoned Women, and Hilary’s Choice and much