By Natasha Josefowitz, Ph.D.
LA JOLLA, California –As far back as I remember, I always wanted to help people. I was interested in the problems people were dealing with and tried to understand and make a difference. I also wrote poetry as a child, and my first poem was published in a French children’s magazine when I was eight. I married and had children, worked at the Child Development Center in New York, got a Master’s degree in clinical social work at age forty and a Ph.D. in social psychology at fifty, and worked many years as a therapist at a child-guidance clinic. I was also a professor of management and business consultant.
In the mid-seventies, I was the only woman on the faculty of the University of New Hampshire college of business. My female students talked to me about the various forms of discrimination they encountered. Four of them were asked by a recruiter: “What method of contraception do you use?” When I was teaching at SDSU in the mid-eighties two of my students were asked the same question. I told them to answer: “What does your company suggest to their employees?”
This made me realize that women had to learn different ways of coping with the world, and so I asked to teach a course on women in management. When I looked for some material and found none, I realized that I was teaching the first such course in the U.S.
A few months into that class a representative from the Addison-Wesley publishing house was talking to my secretary who showed him the outline of my class, and I got a contract to write a book I was not writing. Paths to Power: A Woman’s Guide from First Job to Top Executive (Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1980) became a bestseller. I was interviewed by Larry King, Dr. Ruth, All Things Considered, and just about every major radio and TV station. I was also a keynote speaker at conventions as one of the early feminists; I was on the same book tour with Gloria Steinem and on the same stage with Oprah Winfrey.
In 1979, after a sabbatical leave in La Jolla, my husband and I decided not to return to the University of New Hampshire. We both got jobs on the faculty of SDSU’s business school.
As I had the only book dealing with women entering male-dominated organizations at a time when women were coming into the workforce in droves, I became a consultant to a multitude of organizations such as the FBI, the CIA, and General Motors. Talking about women and power was not a popular topic in most corporations, so I was often asked to talk to unsympathetic male managers. This is when I started writing short, humorous poems to loosen up my audience; if they laughed, they uncrossed their arms and were better able to hear me.
For example,
Titles
My grandmother was a lady
my mother was one of the girls
I’m a women
my daughter is a doctor
Pygmalion
He taught her everything he knew
and now that she knows
as much as he does
he does not like it
Somehow these poems and many others came into the hands of Fredda Isaacson, the senior editor of Warner Books. She called and asked me to be their first poet. Is This Where I Was Going? (Warner Books, 1982) broke records as a first book of poetry.
I continued my consulting and worked for three years as the sexual harassment expert for the City of San Diego. I wrote a facilitator’s guide and produced a media package called, “Sex and Power: Workplace Issues” (1983) For ten years, I was also a regular monthly guest on Sun Up San Diego and a weekly guest on KPBS.
What I saw as I traveled around the country giving talks and consulting to various organizations was that people at the top were male, white, Protestant, middle-class, and married with children, but the workforce was often Asian, black, Hispanic, single mothers, and older, working-class males. I wanted to write about how to understand this population, their values, needs, and rewards. Warner Books agreed, and I got a grant from the Navy to study these groups. You’re the Boss! A Guide to Managing a Diverse Work Force with Understanding and Effectiveness (Warner Books, 1985) came out of that study.
I continued publishing poetry including a series: Natasha’s Words for Friends, Natasha’s Words for Lovers, and Natasha’s Words for Families (Warner Books, 1986). I also collaborated on a textbook called, Effective Behavior in Organizations (Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1976 to 1995) and co-wrote the instructor’s manual to accompany it (Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1980 to 1995)
Statistics showed that 100,000 Americans were entering the job market or changing jobs every day. So my husband—Dr. Herman Gadon, a professor of economics—and I co-authored the book, Fitting In: How to Get a Good Start in Your New Job (Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1988). We wrote it from three perspectives: the new employee, the manager with a diverse workforce, and the CEOs who were formulating orientation programs for their employees.
It was at that time that my children were visiting with their children and as I heard my grandkids talk, I realize that they too had issues that needed to be heard—and so A Hundred Scoops of Ice Cream: Tiny Tales (St. Martin’s Press, 1988) came into being. I began reading to kindergarten and first grade classes and giving talks on child development.
I co-authored Love Secrets for a Lasting Relationship with Harold H. Bloomfield, MD (Bantam Books, 1992) and returned to the subject of women in management with Sixteen New Ways for Women to Succeed at Work (Blue Mountain Press, 2004).
Over the last quarter century I also wrote a series of humorous poetry books dealing with every day concerns: Over the Hill and Loving the View, Managing Our Frantic Lives, Women’s Secrets, Too Wise to Want to Be Young Again, If I Eat I Feel Guilty, If I Don’t I’m Deprived, Retirement, and Been There, Done That, Doing It Better! (Blue Mountain Press, 1991 to 2009).
My latest and 20th book: Living Without the One You Cannot Live Without (Prestwik Poetry Publishing, 2013), is a journey of healing written after my husband’s death. Because this book talks about the events and raw emotions encountered after loss, people have found it to be helpful in dealing with similar events.
Today, I am a regular blogger on Huffington Post and write columns for the San Diego Jewish World website and the La Jolla Village News.
*
Josefowitz is an author and freelance writer who resides in La Jolla, California. You may comment to her at natasha.josefowitz@sdjewishworld.com, or post your comment on this website, per the rules below.
__________________________________________________________________
Care to comment? We require the following information on any letter for publication: 1) Your full name 2) Your city and state (or country) of residence. Letters lacking such information will be automatically deleted. San Diego Jewish World is intended as a forum for the entire Jewish community, whatever your political leanings. Letters may be posted below provided they are responsive to the article that prompted them, and civil in their tone. Ad hominem attacks against any religion, country, gender, race, sexual orientation, or physical disability will not be considered for publication. There is a limit of one letter per writer on any given day.
__________________________________________________________________