About this ebook
About the author
Contessa is a retired business woman who enjoys family, friends, and travel. Her career experience has contributed to writing and publishing marketing, networking, self improvement, and inspirational articles. Contessa has a love of biographies and vintage romantic melodramas that, coupled with her passion for writing, provides a platform to communicate tales of love, romance, and good triumphing over evil through novels and screenplays. Contessa attributes her success to strong faith, determination, and a tenacious commitment to setting and achieving goals. She believes that hardships should be embraced as opportunities for us to develop and grow as people, that we should welcome the lemons life often throws us as a chance to make delicious lemonade! Contessa’s philosophy on life is that it can change in a minute and it’s up to us as individuals to analyze and channel new circumstances into favorable, more constructive conditions that may ultimately help us achieve our goals. Don’t bitch, moan (nobody likes a whiner!), complain (never protest or criticize unless you have an alternate solution!), blame, or depend on anyone else to make your life what you want it to be. We will make mistakes while on our life’s journey. Contessa encourages us to factor them into a strategy that will help us to realize our dreams, remembering what didn’t work previously, that errors in judgement, bad decisions can serve as cliff notes for what not to repeat.
Contessa has been inspired by many notable people who have penned their own experiences and has learned much from some of their famous quotes. Of those Contessa is most mindful of are from Helen Keller (the very first biography read by Contessa): “No one has the right to consume happiness without producing it” as well as “Character cannot be developed in peace and quiet; only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Women are like tea bags. They never know how strong they are until they’re in hot water.” From Mae West: “You only live once, but if you do it right once is enough.” Wayne Gretzky wrote, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,” which Contessa often repeats when addressing others in educational and career development. And while it may be a bit sarcastic, a personal favorite saying is one that Contessa frequently mentions in the vein of encouragement: “The best revenge is your own success!”
Contessa advocates maintaining a positive attitude and focusing in a forward direction. An old plaque in her office reads, “Believe in yourself and the magic will happen.” She does, and it has!
