 Hear an audio TESStimonial from BTW Barbara Bishop, owner of BBPR, Inc. in Los Angeles.
Hear an audio TESStimonial from BTW Melissa Wayne, president of 3 OH! 5 Creative, Inc..
 ...one day the universe threw me a life ring, Dr Tessa Warschaw....She is elegant and bold. She is vital and committed. She is my hero. Three minutes into our first conversation Tessa cut to the chase,” girlfriend, you need girlfriends and the next week I found myself at BTW, Big Thinking Women. At BTW I found way more than girlfriends....
read more of this letter...
~ Jaki Scarcello, Founder/FPS Consulting
 "BTW is a source of camaraderie...it refills my soul. It's being around smart, wonderful women who stimulate me and support me in ways that nothing else can."
~ Melissa Wayne,
President & Co-Owner 3 OH!
5 Creative, Inc.
 "It never ceases to amaze me the energy that's in the room. Every meeting is inspiring and I meet new people that just touch me. It's a really human, authentic thing you just don't get anywhere."
~ Carol Finch, 2nd Vice President – Wealth Management
Financial Planning Specialist
Smith Barney
 "It's a very safe place with positive energy."
~ Hiroko Tatebe, Consultant, Global Integration
It Is Not Over Until the Big Woman Sings
by Jaki Skarcello
In 2000 at the age of 49 I moved to Los Angeles. The weather here is wonderful. So are the beaches, the sun and the mountains. Shortly after unpacking my life at the beach I took to walking on the strand and soon realized that this is one of the most youthful cultures in North America...all that is young and fresh, in its unlined perfection, is esteemed.
In my opinion, I am lined perfection. Below these epidermal furrows is the life I have lived, rough and smooth, joyful and painful. The subtle media message in LA goes like this; past 50 your life is over. Or at least as that milestone passes, you should have the grace to slink off to a corner and reminisce about the past leaving the centre stage, literally, for younger, brighter stars.
When I turned 50 I did not feel like my life was over, far from it. I had this amazing, cocoon busting, free falling energy cursing through my mildly placqued arteries. The source? I was filled with gratitude for the experiences of living, loving and learning with which my life has been gifted. Far from wanting to slink into a corner I wanted to shout this gratitude from a mountain top. I knew that I still an enormous contribution to make and I needed to find a way to do it.I was not to be silenced.
Then one day the universe threw me a life ring, Dr Tessa Warschaw.
Tessa is a 72 years old. She is elegant and bold. She is vital and committed. She is my hero. Three minutes into our first conversation Tessa cut to the chase,” girlfriend, you need girlfriends and the next week I found myself at BTW, Big Thinking Women.
At BTW I found way more than girlfriends. I found camaraderie with women who shared my desire to make this next best half of our lives purposeful and meaningful. These women, shepherded by Tessa and I mean shepherded because she will nip at your heels, are self aware and are committed to reinventing their lives and their work to reflect what they know about themselves and who they are driven, still, to be. The energy at a BTW event makes HRT look like baby aspirin. Sure we have hot flashes but they are heated by inspiration and if we stay up at night it is because the ideas won’t stop. Yes, we are gaining a little weight but those slightly worn size 6 suits are donated to Urban Possibilities, our favorite charity and we are breathing freer in the size that now fits how big we really feel, inside and out.
At a typical meeting; Mary has just returned from Africa where she is developing self sufficiency in village women, Dianne has just finished her screen play and is reading it next week...do I want to come? Daphne is radiant with the news that her LA street mission project has just received national media attention.
Many are writing. Why do so many of us write I ask, “Because we have something to say.” I am told.
There is so much wisdom in the group that we came up with a way to share our BTW, “Been There Wisdom.”
One night it was my turn and I closed with this line”, I know that I am grateful that Tess asked me to so this...what a great inventory!
It seems BTW just became one more reason to be grateful.
I wish you may all be fortunate enough to find a Dr Tessa and some Big Thinking Woman of your own!!! Remember it is not over until the big woman sings and what a beautiful chorus it is!
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