Women’s History Month–Pioneers in Their Field
As a Certified Woman Owned Business, we love celebrating the brilliance, vision, and diversity of the female mind — especially when applied to creative problems.
Studiolo Secondari has been sharing the work and stories of brilliant women in design, culture, and the arts weekly through our "Women Wednesdays" social media series. During this Women's History Month, we will take a deeper look at some of the figures we’ve highlighted in our #WomenWednesday series to offer you another chance to celebrate these brilliant girl bosses!
Jesse Tarbox Beals (1870-1942)
Determined, irreverent, and fearless, Jessie Tarbox Beals was the first woman hired as a staff photographer for an American newspaper. Beals did whatever it took to get her shot, braving heights, explosives, dangerous weather, and the patriarchal domination of her field to make her mark.
At seventeen, Beals graduated from the Collegiate Institute of Ontario and taught in a one-room schoolhouse in Massachusetts. Shortly after, she won a camera from a magazine contest and discovered a love for photography, setting up the first photography studio in town. In 1901, she was hired as a staff photographer for The Buffalo Courier, making her the first professional female photojournalist. At the opening of the St Louis World’s Fair in 1904 she fought to receive a press pass and rode a hot-air balloon in order to take the photos she wanted, which then appeared in multiple respected periodicals, earning her a position as the official fair photographer.
Beals taught herself night-photography, a process involving controlled explosives to achieve a flash, and was the first woman to be recognized for such. She aimed to take photos that would inspire important journalistic stories, rather than the other way around as was precedent. Her works are currently held in collections at the Library of Congress and the New York Historical Society.
Nellie Bly (1864-1922)
Pioneering journalist and record-setting world-traveler, Nellie Bly’s dauntless reporting and race against time catapulted her to international acclaim.
Elizabeth Cochran, aka Nellie Bly, began her career in Pittsburgh as a reporter for The Pittsburgh Dispatch. Bly sought to raise awareness about the importance of women’s rights and issues, investigating the lives of working class women, particularly factory workers. After much pushback, she switched to foreign correspondence and traveled to Mexico, until she was threatened with arrest and forced to return to the States. She later worked for New York World, and had herself committed to the women’s lunatic asylum on Blackwell's Island for ten days in order to write an exposé. Her journalism helped launch the trend of “stunt” or “detective” reporting, a genre that inspired many other female journalists to demonstrate themselves in.
In 1889 Bly attempted to travel around the world in less than 80 days, inspired by Jules Verne’s novel, Around the World in Eighty Days. Her actual time of 72 days, 6 hours, and 11 minutes established a women’s record. She was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1998.
Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005)
“Unbought and Unbossed,” the first black woman elected to congress, the first woman to run for POTUS in 1972, Shirley Chisholm dedicated her life to advocating for civil and women’s rights.
Born to immigrant parents, Chisholm was aware from the beginning that as a Black woman, she would have to work harder to receive recognition. In 1951 she graduated from Columbia University with a master’s degree in early childhood education. In 1968, Chisholm won a seat in Congress, championing herself as “the people’s politician.” From there, she fought for the rights of the poor, racial and gender equality, and an end to the Vietnam war. In 1977 Chisholm became the first Black woman, and second woman ever, to sit on the prestigious Rules Committee, and in that same year, she helped found the Congressional Women’s Caucus. In 1972, she campaigned for the presidency as the first female candidate from any party to run for that office. Despite her very modest funding, and the double-edged sword of both racism and sexism, her grassroots campaigning won her ten percent of the delegate votes, an impressive number considering all that was working against her.
Chisholm retired from congress soon after, though she never stopped her advocacy. In 1993 she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, and her legacy of “showing up, standing up, and speaking up” was forever cemented.
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It’s been a minute, wanna catch up?
I've taken a break from my regular newsletter recently, but a lot has been happening + I'd love to tell you all about it! My team and I are ready and able to help out with designing big, complicated book projects or developing design strategies that include branding, messaging, and ongoing digital communications. Feel free to grab some time to chat about your next project or just to say "hello"!
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Studiolo Secondari is a certified woman-owned design studio focused on the practical and strategic business aspects of branding and publishing. We offer stylish and intelligent design solutions for organizations seeking to drive storytelling in print, web, and digital communications to showcase their message to the world.
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