Page 17 - Tracy Anderson Issue

Women of Distinction

Rhetorical Reality

What if I told you
that there is only heaven.
Would that ease your soul?
By Judith A. Habert
What if I told you
the only solution is NOT to think.
Could that ease your mind?
What if I told you
that it's ok to feel, to be.
Would that ease your heart?
What if I told you
that you can create your life
as you like everyday anew.

What would you do?

By Pamela M. Waller-Niven

Bertha Benz San Diego Woman

A Groundbreaking Woman of Distinction

17

While putting together our Women of Distinction section, the one problem I came upon
was narrowing it down to just a handful of amazing women in a town full of amazing
women.
In the years that I have been publishing this magazine I have met, and interviewed a host
of wonderful women and it is my pleasure to share their stories with you.
If you don’t realize how instrumental women are in our lives and in some of the inventions
that we have come to take for granted, perhaps you have never heard the story of one of
the original female entrepreneurs, Bertha Benz
Bertha Benz was the wife and business partner of automobile inventor Karl Benz. Two
years before her marriage to Karl Benz, she used part of her dowry to invest in his fail-
ing iron construction company. Back in the 1800’s an unmarried woman was allowed to
invest, but once married she was no longer allowed to do so.
In 1888, Bertha was the first person to drive an automobile over a long distance. What
is even more amazing is that she did it all for her husband. Although he had created a
groundbreaking invention, he was out of steam. He didn’t know how to get his car sold.
He knew nothing about marketing and feared that his invention would be dead in the
water. He was running out of money and ideas.
Without Carl knowing what she had planned to do, Bertha got in her three wheeled auto-
mobile with two of her boys in the back seat and she set out to drive 66 miles. This was
unheard of and no one, let alone a woman, had ever possessed a vehicle that could drive
that far.
When she accomplished this feat and successfully made the round trip without any
major incident, in fact along the way she was able to make technical improvements to the
vehicle and by the time she returned home she had accomplished even more than she
hoped. The novel trip received a great deal of publicity, as she had sought. The drive was
a key event in the technical development of the automobile and before very long Carl and
Bertha Benz would come to be known as the original designers behind the now famous
Mercedes Benz. Way to go Bertha!