Some of you know I took a long break from writing, and was not planning on doing any creative writing at this point in life or my career. Ten years ago, in the midst of a chaotic and damaging relationship situation, I started my first novel. However, the world changed significantly, and it seemed less relevant, so I stopped after writing perhaps 70% of the book.
Since then I focused on rebuilding my career and goals after a failed relationship and the recession. I have worked for ten years in international affairs, crossing over between public and private, economic and international development and policy. In this capacity, through political ties, I began developing experience working with global influencers, starting with the team behind the transition for Nicola Sturgeon to become first minister in Scotland. This carried over to working with a friend on the executive team of Hillary Clinton in helping her pivot more toward an executive role. In these capacities, I was drawing on my knowledge of the challenges I saw different generations of women facing through their careers that gave them very different experiences and attitudes required to get where they were, which inhibited them from demonstrating leadership traits to succeed. This was not the case with Ms. Sturgeon, and she has remained a model for me about the result that can be obtained when women are allowed to develop their own leadership style, but understand the responsibilities of statecraft in their professional development.
Building on these experiences, I partnered again with members of my network to support a similar process of leadership development and pivoting with Senator Klobuchar during her Presidential primary run. With many women in the field, the misogyn was out in the open. Living in Germany, and beginning my career ten years ago when Germany and Angela Merkel were at their height of influence, her leadership is something which has inspired me, but also now directly effects me. In graduate school, during a leadership class, I wrote a paper about Elizabeth I and noted how her insecurities about being a women and securing her power and control negatively impacted her life and well being. However, there are so few examples women today can examine for models, in contrast to the hundreds of male leaders. The men make the same mistakes, but the data sample is so much larger, that the tendancy is look to what they did right to immitate. In contrast, the smaller data sample of women in leadership in these roles - throughout history - tend to focus more on examining their mistakes. I find myself doing it with the Chancellor, seeing how her similar reaction to challenges in the early days of her position weakened her party. I look at the one mistake she made regarding the refugee crisis that had a domino effect in European politics and responses from neighboring countries.
By mid February, I call it the perfect storm. I was in the midst of trying to deliver a proposal to a client and fighting with my business partners in ways I should not have had to be doing just to get the proposal finished and delivered. One of the project managers was chaotic and doing nothing to develop the projects he supposedly wanted my assistance with any kind of logical timeline, and a few of these men were speaking down to me. That same week a university friend continued his commentary about Senator Klobuchar being "good.... but..." qualifying any compliment he delivered, quoting statistics that voters would rather vote for a man of any color than a woman. I needed an escape.
At that time, I picked up a popular game about the Ottoman Empire, and it provoked thoughts about my studies of classic civilization, and, again, the toxicity of Roman rule and how it led men and women to behave. The first thought that bloomed in my mind was "what if we had more examples in historical record of women leadership?" Then I thought what if I created one? So I started imagining a woman ruling in this middle eastern culture in a court and structure where I removed the debate about access to power based on gender. That was the starting point where I then made all of my decisions within that framework. How a woman would behave in that position, under those cultural influences.
That's the beginning of the story, where the story of Isarina began. Her name is actually a funny story. I was looking up names for monarchs to make choices and decide what words would be used to refer to her, how she would be stylized. One of the lists had the word "tsarina" but I misread the first letter, thinking the t was an I. I did a double take, wondering what word it was, then realizing my mistake, thought Isarina sounded fun, so I took it as the name for my protagonist.
Do you have funny stories behind any inspiration for your writing?
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