They got to tell the lives of 20 Venezuelan women from different disciplines and moments of history in a children’s language. Deborah Rotter and Vanessa Massimini did son in the book in “Venezuelan Women Who Dreamed of Changing The World (And They Did)” (2019). Alejandra Caste made the illustrations.
Three Venezuelan women who auscultated the stories of 20 of their countrywomen who have stood out in sports, art, music, literature, science, politics and fashion, back in history and at this time.
The selection was not easy, Massimini and Rotter told IQ Latino in an email. “During the research a lot of names came up of well known women and others that have not sounded much in the media or in books but have done incredible things. Definitely choosing the twenty personalities was one of the most difficult processes. We tried to include women from different eras, so that through their stories the role played by Venezuelan women in different social contexts could also be seen.”
Massimini had the idea during lunch, she said in an interview with El Diario de Caracas’ Génesis Herrera. Massimini is a journalist and proposed the project to Rotter, also a communicator and an expert in social media. Caste, an art director, was in charge of the art of the book. Massimini, Rotter and Caste live outside Venezuela, in Madrid, Miami and Barcelona, respectively.
“The inspiration came from a book a cousin gave my daughter, “Good Night Stories for Rebellious Girls”, a work that presents the biographies of 100 outstanding women in history,” Massimini said in the interview with El Diario de Caracas. “I was frustrated because there was no Venezuelan women [in the book]. So I asked myself, why do you know so little about the successful and struggling women we’ve had in Venezuela?”
The authors explained to IQ Latino that they wanted to make children’s book, with the idea that girls and boys had these women as a source of inspiration. “So that each one of our little readers could identify with any of these women and see how with dedication and effort we can succeed in any area we are passionate about,” the authors wrote to IQ Latino.
The research was also challenging, because there were few reliable sources for some cases. For others, it was difficult to contact the protagonists who are alive. “We were fortunate that many of the protagonists of the book and sometimes even their families helped us complete the research,” Massimini and Rotter wrote in the e-mail.
It was months of research: university thesis, newspaper libraries, and personal interviews. Putting all that into the language of children and on a single page for each woman: that was the hardest yet fulfilling work. The authors wrote in the email to IQ Latino: “The idea was always to offer a mouth opener, that the children who read the book are bitten by the worm of curiosity and continue investigating each of these women on their own (…) Once we obtained all the information we tried to select the details that made each of the women unique, as well as anecdotes that the children could find interesting and with which they could identify.”
The project, from research to publication of the book, lasted nine months.
These are the 20 women selected:
TERESA DE LA PARRA, Venezuelan writer of the early 20th century, author of classics such as “Iphigenia” and “Memories of Mamá Blanca”.
TERESA CARREÑO, pianist, soprano singer, conductor and composer of the 19th century.
CAROLINA HERRERA, the most recognized Venezuelan fashion designer outside her country.
EVELYN MIRALLES, she was in charge of the NASA’s Virtual Reality program and a pioneer in the matter. She trained astronauts for their space trips.
SOFIA IMBER, journalist, art critic, founder and director of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Caracas.
LYA IMBER DE CORONIL, the first woman to obtain a medical degree in Venezuela, in 1936, a pediatrician, founder of the Venezuelan League of Mental Hygiene and president of the Board of Directors of the International Union for the Protection of Children.
MERCEDES PULIDO DE BRICEÑO, social psychologist and university professor, she was the president of the Women’s Rights Commission, minister of the Family and a senator.
DEYNA CASTELLANOS, an outstanding footballer, striker and a historic goal scorer in the U-17 Women’s World Cup (Golden Boot) and the South American Championship of U-17 Women’s Football (top scorer).
GABRIELA MONTERO, Venezuelan pianist and composer, who stands out for her gift for improvisation.
LUISA CÁCERES DE ARISMENDI, heroine of the War of Independence, captured by the Spanish Crown.
SUSANA DUIJM, model, the first of Venezuela’s and Latin America’s Miss World, in 1955. She is a television presenter and actress.
VALENTINA QUINTERO, unfaltering advocate for domestic tourism, promoter of the natural beauties of Venezuela, the author of tourists guides, journalist.
MAYLY SÁNCHEZ, physics researcher of neutrinos at the University of Iowa, and the winner of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.
GEGO (Gertrud Goldschmidt), a conceptual artist and leading figure of abstract art in Venezuela with a particular stamp in geometric abstraction. Her work is exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
LÍA BERMÚDEZ, outstanding artist and the one who has developed more works of urban art in Venezuela. She founded the Centro de Arte de Maracaibo Lía Bermúdez.
YOLANDA MORENO, a dancer and a choreographer, founder of the Venezuelan Association of Nationalist Dances and pioneer in the teaching and diffusion of folkloric dance.
MARGOT BENACERRAF, film director, the first Latin American to study at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinématographiques in Paris. Her documentary “Araya” competed at the Cannes Film Festival in 1959.
PATRICIA PHELPS DE CISNEROS, art collector, founder of the Cisneros Foundation, diseminator of Latin American art.
MARÍA TERESA ARNAL, industrial engineer specialized in marketing, the first woman to become general director of Google Mexico.
MARÍA FERNANDA DI GIACOBBE, chocolate entrepreneur, winner of the Basque Culinary World Prize, promoter of Venezuelan cocoa and the world’s first university diploma in Cocoa and Chocolate Industry Management.
“The Venezuelan Women Who Dreamed Of Changing The World (And They Did)” is available on Amazon, Ebay, and Walmart. In Chile y Uruguay, the book is for sale on Tiendamia. In Caracas, it can be found at Azotea, Il Argento and Siete al Cubo stores. Part of the income from sales in Venezuela will go to the NGO Construyendo Futuros, dedicated to educational and entrepreneurial programs for children, youth and adults in vulnerable communities.