Wonder(ful) Women - Lynda Carter, Irena Sendler & Dina Fentiman

Welcome to the third edition of Wonder(ful) Women! This is my newest, and most fabulously kickass series yet, because I'm featuring real-life female superheroes every week. My hope is to bring awareness to stories in the news, and make the women I know in real life realize how much they inspire me and everyone around them.


Off we go.

Lynda Carter
This woman single-handedly made me believe that I could be a superhero. She inspired an entire generation of under-roo clad little girls to truly think that they could fight for truth, freedom and justice. 



She isn't just Wonder Woman on tv, she fights for all those ideals in real life too, speaking out as an advocate for pro-choice legislation, LGBT rights and women's cancer research. She revealed publicly that she has struggled with alcoholism as well. 

She personified the character we grew up loving, and she's who we automatically associate with the role. She is smart, strong and beautiful. She is still unbelievably gorgeous today, and turned 62 last week.

Thanks for proving that women can kick just as much ass as the men, even in heels.

Irena Sendler
We have all heard the story of Schindler's List and the man who helped to save the lives of over 1200 Jews during the Holocaust. Irena Sendler, the woman who saved close to twice that many Jewish children by smuggling them out before they could be shipped to concentration camps. Some were snuck out of orphanages, others away from families who would be taken shortly.

Her story was not widely known until her death last week at the age of 98 and has never received the attention and adoration of Schindler's. When she was caught by the German authorities, she was beaten, tortured and set to be executed, but somehow survived.

She was humble until the day of her death, insisting that she hadn't done anything out of the ordinary, and that any good person would have done the same.


A member of an underground group of exiled Polish government officials, she constructed a complex secret network to get the children to safety, hiding them in ambulances, in coffins, in suitcases and more.

She kept detailed records on where each child was from and where they were sent, hiding them in glass jars buried next to a German base. They were never discovered, and when the war ended, she turned the information over to authorities so that surviving family members could attempt to find their children.

She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize last year.

This woman is a hero. No doubt in my mind.

Dina Fentiman
Through my lifetime, I've come to know too many people who can call themselves suicide survivors. Someone they loved, someone near and dear to them, someone they weren't ready to live the rest of their life without, chose to go anyway.

Dina is one of them. She is also the voice behind The Plucky Procrastinator.  You can find her on Facebook here and on her blog here.


Her husband and the father of her children took his own life in 2009.

She is one of the strongest people I know, truly.

Instead of letting this event destroy her, instead of allowing herself to be a victim, she has become a force to be reckoned with in the world. She is a vocal advocate of mental health in general, and specifically advocates for awareness of depression and anxiety as they often contribute to suicide.

Every Monday on her Facebook page, she hosts Mental Health Mondays, offering support, information, hotlines, and more. Today she has featured a few pieces on children of suicide.

She is making a difference, a real difference, in the lives of individuals and their families every.single.week. because of what she does.

Dina also happens to be one of the kindest, most genuine people in the world. Thank you, Dina, for sharing your journey with it and for using it to help others.  I am blessed to call you a friend. xoxo