Barbara Frechette

Barbara Frechette is no stranger to the demands of being "first female." During the 1959 reawakening of U.S. feminism, she graduated from formerly all-male Gonzaga University in Spokane Wash. and was hired as one of the rare, early female executive trainees at IBM. Later she was the only female technical writer in Boeing's vast engineering department.In 1963 she married fledgling diplomat Myles Frechette and began sharing his 35-year Foreign Service career.

Having been "first female" in her early jobs, she understood the daunting demands of Sharing Power's challenges, especially for Colombian women who braved them in a patriarchal society during a raging drug war.

Pioneering experiences inspired her 1999 book, El Poder Compartido, as well as 2012's Sharing Power, the English re-release of its original feminine leadership profiles. While praising their stellar economic progress, 2012's Sharing Power urges U.S. women to also seek political and legislative parity.

"Because South America is way ahead of the United States in utilizing women in politics and in electing female presidents," says Frechette, "I hope Sharing Power encourages U.S. women to follow Colombia's South American example of sharing national legislative power."