Gals Guide

Riwo finishes up Rebellious Creative Expression month with Yayoi Kusama, a rebel in polka dots. She's been called “one of the most important artists to come out of Japan.”  She's not only a polka dot pop artist but also a filmmaker, protestor, author, sculptor, and fashion designer. She hit on rebellious creative expression on so many fronts. 

It's Katie's turn to tell us about her pick for Rebellious Creative Expression month. Lee Miller was creative and rebellious in many ways. Lee was a war correspondent, photographer, and artist. She also took a rebellious picture of herself in Hitler's bathtub. 

Rebellious Creative Expression continues on the Gal's Guide Podcast. Josh talks about Françoise d'Eaubonne, the French author who coined the term ecofeminism. 

We're exploring Creative Expression within rebellion. Bonnie starts us off with the sculpture artist, Edmonia Lewis. Edmonia brought her African and Native American heritage to a neoclassical marble sculpture. Learn all about her incredible work.

Katie finishes Equality Month of our Rebel Era by talking about the young peace activist from the Young Women for Leadership (YWL). Learn about the Rima Sultana Rimu from Bangladesh. 

Debbi continues Equality Month of our Rebel Era, by talking about the powerful activist, Fannie Lou Hamer. 

Bonnie starts off Equality Month of our Rebel Era, by talking about the amazing Civil War spy. Known by a couple of names Mary Elizabeth Bowser, Mary Richards, or Mary J.R. Garmin. Born into slavery she was a Union spy in the Confederate White House.  

March 15, 2025, will mark 100 years since the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Madge Oberholtzer. Madge's trial was directly responsible for dismantling the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana. A powerful and poignant special episode, Madge Saved Lives, releases on the 100th anniversary of Madge Oberholtzer's kidnapping, March 15, 1925. This episode shines a light on a harrowing event in history that sparked significant change. Learn about Madge's courageous stand and the legacy her tragic story left behind. Her bravery and the events surrounding her kidnapping became a catalyst for justice and societal change—a story that deserves to be remembered and honored. This episode is different from our regular episodes but it exemplifies Gal's Guide's mission to highlight the powerful, untold stories of women in history. More info available at galsguide.org

Katie finishes up Solidarity Month by talking about the author Jessie Redmon Fauset. As an editor of The Crisis as well as a poet and novelist, Jessie showcased the true image of African-American life. Her characters were working professionals and dealt with themes of feminism, "passing" and racial discrimination. Learn more about Jessie on this week's episode.

Riwo continues Solidarity Month with a powerful episode about the work of Tarana Burke and the #MeToo Movement. 

Julie continues Solidarity Month at Gal's Guide. Julie tells us Georgia Gilmore who used food as a connecting and fundraising tool for the Montgomery Bus Boycott movement. She was the rebel gal behind the "Club from Nowhere." 

February is Solidarity Month at Gal's Guide. Bonnie starts off by talking about the movement and awareness of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW).

Riwo wraps up resistance month talking about the Tibetan warrior nun, Ani Pachen.  

Katie talks about her resistance gal, Queen Boudica on this week's episode.

2025 is Gal's Guide Rebel Gal Era. We're dedicating each month to the various ways women rebel. January is "Resistance" month. Bonnie starts off Season 8 with the 4B movement out of South Korea.

Katie ends our Around the World theme with a baroness and author. Baroness Karen Christenze von Blixen-Finecke went by many names when she wrote. She's most famous for penning Out of Africa. Learn about this Danish traveler and her many adventures.  Season 8 of the Gal's Guide Podcast returns in January 2025!

Kassie continues Scandinavian Gal Month with Icelandic musician and actress, Björk. Learn about how Björk started in music at age 11 and rose to international success with the band The Sugarcubes before going solo. There was also that swan dress...

Bonnie continues Scandinavian Gal Month with the first woman in the world to be democratically elected as president. Learn about Vigdís Finnbogadóttir the president of Iceland from 1980-1996.

Riwo starts off Scandinavian Gal Month with Swedish royalty who saved her country with alcohol! Learn all about the gal with a brain for science, Eva Ekeblad! 

Riwo finishes up South American month talking about a historian who taught us how to learn about the Incas not from a western perspective, not from a Spanish conquistador perspective, but that of the ancestry of the people, the Andeans. Learn about the fantastic historian Maria Rostworowski.

Julie shares with us the colorful life of the gal known for her fruit hats, singing, and dancing - Carmen Miranda. There is much more to this "Brazillian Bombshell" learn about Carmen's life in two Americans and her many talents. 

It's Katie's Birthday week and we have a special coupon code for 15% off our event A Night With the Witch and Famous.  The episode originally aired October 17, 2022 - Katie gets gruesome with the tale of Catherine “La Vosin” Monvoisin. This French black magic sorcerer was the head of a powerful network that provided poisons, love potions, and abortions. She might have killed over 1,000 people but she also might have got King Louis XIV to fall for Madame de Montespan. Listen, if you dare!

It's the start of South American Gal Month! Bonnie leads off with a national hero of Brazil, Maria Quitéria! Learn about this lieutenant in the Brazilian War of Independence. 

Katie finishes up American Farmers Month with the Indigenous peoples' mythos of planting corn, beans, and squash.  

Before there was Rosie the Riveter there were the Farmerettes. Riwo shares the history of the gals who were called to help America by being farmers. 

Debbi shares her American farmer gal, Harriet Williams Russell strong. Harriet was pivotal to water conservation in California. She was also known as the "Walnut Queen" and held 5 patents. Learn all about this innovative woman.  

We're Back! It's been a bit of a break but we've found our way out of the cornfields and back to the Gal's Guide Library to talk about American farmer gals. First up is Bonnie's pick, Rith Imogen Stout the "no-work" garden method author. 

Riwo closes up Canada Month with her "TV mom" and a major happiness factor in her life, Catherine O'Hara. This talented comedian is the mom in Schitt's Creek, the mom in Beetlejuice, and the mom in Home Alone. But to Riwo she's so much more.

Barb tells the tale of the first female publisher in Canada, Mary Ann Shadd Cary. Mary was born and died in the United States but her time in Canada was marked by her creation of the newspaper Provincial Freeman, a weekly paper starting in 1853 that circulated around southern Ontario that advocated equality, integration, and self-education for Black people.

Canada Month continues! This time Katie tells us about the civil rights activist Viola Desmond. She made history when she refused to leave her seat in the Roseland Theater. This Black Nova Scotian challenged Canadian segregation. Today she's on the $10 bill. Learn about this amazing woman on today's episode. 

It's Canada Day! Bonnie is starting us off with the author of Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery. Learn about how this Canadian author used working at the post office to her advantage. 

Riwo finishes up Caribbean Month talking about the Queen of Salsa, Celia Cruz. This colorful Cuban singer part of Tito Puente's Orchestra and the only female in the Fanta All-Stars. Her story is full of Azucar (sugar) sweetness. She released 37 albums and has even more collabs including one with Wyclef Jean. 

Barb continues Caribbean month by talking about the cultural icon of Jamaica. Miss Lou was an author, poet, and folklore expert. Learn and embrace the beauty and importance of the language of your culture. 

Bonnie starts off Caribbean month with a Barbadian-Guyanese by way of Brooklyn, the fantastic Shirley Chisholm. The first African-American woman to run for President whose biography is named "Unbought and Unbossed" gives much of her influence to attending a strict school in Barbados. Bring a folding chair to this episode! 

Riwo closes our Japan Month with a slice of shogun history. Tomoe Gozen was an onna-musha, a female warrior. She was taught defense and offense. She was on the battlefield with Samuari where she beheaded a lot of men. She was also involved in what led to the first shogunate.

Kami continues Japan Month with J-Pop star Ado. Her debut song "Usseewa" reached more than 100 million plays in record time and hit #1 on Billboard Japan Hot 100. She also has a song for One Piece Film. But get this...she doesn't show her real face. Learn about this fascinating and multi-talented artist creating powerful music right now.

Bonnie starts us off by learning about the controversial actress Komako Kimura. This gal managed two theaters in Toyoko, performed in nearly 500 plays, and created a movement. Komako was all about women's suffrage and Japan tried to shut it down. So she came to America to walk in the 1917 Women's Suffrage Parade in New York...and perform at Carnegie Hall...and on Broadway

Riwo's has gone rogue. She has as her pick an ancient site in what is now Turkey. Çatalhöyük has many twist and turns. It is a journey through some problematic guys. But Çatalhöyük, was said to be ruled by women 9000 years ago. 

Middle East Month continues with the first female Egyptian nuclear physicist. Sameera Moussa is Katie's pick. Learn about Sameera worked toward and hoped for a world where atomic energy was used to help those in need at little or no cost and that this new energy was used in peace and productivity. She is known as the Mother of Atomic Energy and "Atoms for Peace." 

Amy returns to the show with an insightful look at the controversial actress and belly dancer, Sama El Masry. Sama's views and delivery may be polarizing but she is a woman who was arrested, sent to jail, and fined for posting a TikTok video. 

Bonnie starts us off with an exploration of women in the Middle East. Artemisia 1 of Caria was a Queen of what is now Turkey. She commanded ships, was a friend of Xerxes 1, King of Persia and she's written about in Herodotus. 

Did you think Ireland Month was over?! Well, we found a pot of gold on this April Fools Day! Gal's Guide just happens to be so lucky because we know Jackie. Jackie is a native Hoosier who now calls Ireland home. She also runs the Castlelyons Library, which is supported and sponsored by Gal's Guide. So for this bonus episode, Jackie Donegan tells us about the amazing Irish author Kate O'Brien! 

Riwo's pick is pre-Christian times in Ireland. Her pick is also part historical but also part myth and legend. She's a complex woman. Queen Medb (also spelled Maeve, Mave, Meave) her name is connected to alcohol -  you know meade-woman -  she starts a war over who has a prettier bull, and it takes 30 men in a night to satisfy her sexually. She's a lot and she's not apologizing for any of it. 

Lori continues Ireland Month by talking about singer, songwriter, and activist Sinéad O'Connor. The Pope and Prince tie into this episode as we learn about the many albums, struggles, and talents of this Dublin musician. 

Katie continues Ireland Month with a campaigner for social justice, elected to Parliament at age 21, served prison time, wounded in an assassination attempt, and sometimes called "Ireland's Joan of Arc", Bernadette Devlin.

It's the start of Ireland Month! Bonnie's pick is an all-around adventurer. Lilian Bland is an aviator, horseback rider, lumberjack, painter, and car salesman. And when we say aviator we mean, she's the first woman to build her own plane 'cause it's 1910.  And when we say car salesman, we mean the idea of cars is new. 

Katie finishes up African Gals Month by sharing about Senegalese author, Mariama Ba. So Long a Letter is a novel expressing the fate and the frustration of African women. Mariama received the Noma Award, a major book award in Africa.

Gal's Guide Film Club is discussing the Viola Davis movie The Women King. Leah wanted to dig deeper into the real-life all-female military regiment in the Kingdom of Dahomey known as the Agojie. If you are wondering if they are what the Dorje Milaje of Black Panther is based on - you are correct my friend.

Josh returns to the podcast to talk about the medicinal plant biologist, Nokwanda Pearl Makunga. Professor Nox is a researcher in Biotechnology at Stellenbosch University. Her work is fascinating if you have a green thumb and even if you don't! 

It's a new month and Bonnie starts African Gal month with a trailblazer of the Egyptian Feminist movement, Huda Sha'arawi. Learn about this amazing suffragette.   

Leah closes out Australian Gals Month with her pick. Sister Elizabeth Kenny (who was a military sister, not a religious sister) was an Australian Bush nurse who basically created physical therapy. At the time her methods of treating polio patients were unconventional but one day there was some help from the Mayo Clinic in the United States. Learn more about this amazing woman.