This is a review for Climbing Down the Ladder: A Journey to a Different Kind of Happy by Lauren Black
Being a large women who has tried to create her own business hasn’t always been easy which is what Laura Black reminded me in Climbing Down the Ladder: A Journey to a Different Kind of Happy. Like her my parents didn’t always approve of me but that didn’t stop my from doing what I wanted.
I’ m glad I received Climbing Down the Ladder: A Journey to a Different Kind of Happy which not only all women should read but mean as well so they can see what women go through on a daily basis. You will laugh you will cry and you will hear yourself saying I’ve been there done that. While Praying for the Author to remain healthy and write more books not only for women but men and yes, even children in there teens and older can learn from Climbing Down the Ladder: A Journey to a Different Kind of Happy.
About the book:
Growing up in image-conscious Miami, Laura Black, with her double chins, frizzy hair, and in the inability to squeeze into “regular” sized clothing, was an embarrassment to her beguiling, jet-setting mother and prominent, successful father. She climbed out of shame by focusing on brains rather than beauty, becoming a child entrepreneur, and rising all the way to the top ranks of business. Her ascent up the ladder as a mother of three forced her to make often painful choices as she navigated the myth of “having it all.” Yet, she climbed those rungs with quantifiable goals measured by market-share and profitability.
In stark contrast, when she chose to end her career, her descent was marked by loss and marginalization. She no longer possessed CEO status, her children fled the nest for lives of their own, and she had to cope with the decline and eventual deaths of her parents. She also had to come to terms with the telltale markers of aging, from the mundane–bunions and lubricants–to a life-altering, near-death experience, all the while searching for relevance and purpose. In the same way a generation of women lacked role models on the way up the career ladder, they lack them on the way down. Laura Black had to delve into her past for clues on moving forward and finding contentment and purpose without that all-encompassing level of productivity and achievement. In so doing she uncovered a richer, different kind of happy. This is her story. This is our story.
About the Author
Laura Black is a retired attorney and award-winning businesswoman turned Author and speaker. She co-founded one of the first temporary legal staffing companies and became the CEO after it was acquired by a public company. The business grew to become one of the largest of its kind in the Country.
Laura sits on various boards and helps later life women embrace their next acts through her speaking and writings. Her essays have appeared in The Baltimore Sun, Next Avenue, Kveller, Hadassah, and others. Her first book, Big Butts, Fat Thighs, and Other Secrets to Success, empowered women to accept and use their vulnerabilities in forming critical business relationships.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
