When Harrison Klein first pitched a book on forgotten female visionaries, friends joked he was picking a fight with half the library. He didn’t disagree. “Open any history index,” he recounts, “and you’ll find men on every page while women appear as footnotes—if at all.” Klein teamed with brand strategist Olivia Whiteman and Tony “Dreammaker” Dody and empowerment coach Giovanna “Gio” Garcia Pons to rewrite that imbalance—literally.
The trio’s forthcoming book Badass Bitches is equal parts archival dig and modern manifesto. Their thesis: women have been “architects” of civilization for millennia, yet the spotlight rarely lands on them. The time for shadows is over.
The Spark: Erased Achievements, Global Moment
Klein, long immersed in personal‑development circles, noticed how often female leaders in his network ran into double standards that echoed centuries‑old narratives. Gio—whose workshops train women to pitch, fund, and scale ventures—kept hearing a similar refrain: Where are the role models who look like us? Meanwhile Whiteman, a data junkie with an MBA, saw the numbers: Fortune 500 female CEOs still hover in the single digits; STEM attrition for women remains stubbornly high.
“Women are breaking ceilings everywhere, but the glass is thicker than many care to admit,” Whiteman says. “If we want lasting change, quoting a hashtag isn’t enough—we need a historical evidence base.”
Visionaries vs. Architects: An Action Filter
Early in their research the authors noticed a pattern: history books applaud “visionary” ideas, but real impact belonged to architects—the doers. “Visionaries dream,” Gio tells me, “architects build.” Their manuscript zeroes in on women who moved the world from concept to completion:
- Hatshepsut, who slipped into pharaoh regalia and managed a golden age of trade and architecture.
- A Chinese novelist (spoiler withheld) who penned the planet’s first long‑form fiction centuries before Europe’s printing boom.
- Science pioneers who published under male pseudonyms, only to have their theories validated decades later.
“These women didn’t wait for permission slips,” Klein quips. “They printed their own.”
Digging Up the Footnotes
The team’s war room in Miami looks more like an evidence board: timelines, Polaroids from museum archives, marginalia in multiple languages. “Each time we uncovered a name the textbooks forgot, it felt like snagging a lost Da Vinci,” says Gio.
They purposely moved beyond household icons like Joan of Arc to lesser‑known disruptors. Whiteman cites a 19th‑century mathematician who devised algorithms still used in aerospace modeling but received zero scholarly credit until the 1990s. “Stories like that change a teenager’s idea of what’s possible,” she says.
Adversity as Acid Test
What unites these profiles is adversity so thick it reads like fiction: state censorship, forced anonymity, even death sentences. Yet each woman pushed through. Gio frames it bluntly: “Meaningful progress is basically a masterclass in ignoring gatekeepers.”
Klein nods. “Show me innovation without friction and I’ll show you a fairy tale.”
Why Their Book Matters Now
1️. Role‑Model Gap Studies show visible examples boost women’s persistence in STEM and leadership tracks.
2️. Economic Upside McKinsey estimates that closing the gender‑participation gap could add $28 trillion to global GDP.
3️. Cultural Context With more women running for office and building unicorns than ever, the narrative stakes are high: get the history right or replicate old biases at scale.
“Progress without context is fragile,” Whiteman warns. “We want today’s high‑school coder in Tallahassee or Nairobi to know someone blazed that trail in 1820—even if a man signed her paperwork.”
Lessons for Today’s Leaders
- Resilience Beats Circumstance Adversity is constant; persistence separates disruptor from footnote.
- Collaboration Scales Impact Many historical heroines found male allies or female networks that amplified their reach—precisely how modern startups thrive.
- Innovation Isn’t Just Tech Some of history’s boldest “product launches” were new forms of governance, art, or social contracts.
Where the Manuscript Goes From Here
The trio is deep in negotiations with a major U.S. publisher (NDA‑sealed) and plotting a multimedia ecosystem: podcast mini‑docs, interactive lesson plans, even a VR museum. “We’re building an evidence engine, not a coffee‑table trophy,” Gio says.
And yes, they expect pushback. “We’ve already heard: Aren’t you rewriting history?” Klein laughs. “No, we’re rewriting the index. The history was always there.”
Final Word: Permission Granted
Gio offers a closing thought for readers who still feel boxed in: “If they could build empires wearing armor—or hiding their names—what’s stopping us with Wi‑Fi, co‑working spaces, and crowdfunding?”
Klein punctuates it: “Legacy isn’t bestowed; it’s taken.”
If the authors have their way, tomorrow’s textbooks—and boardrooms—won’t be starved for heroines again. Fox Interviewer will be watching.
