This month
marks the 15th anniversary of GTWoman! Here are our top 10 highlights over the years, whether we like them or not:
1. The time on our first motor coach trip to Chicago when we decided to go to our first-ever drag queen club. The bouncer eyed 10 women from Northern Michigan, as green as they come, and put us in seats surrounding the stage. The show was about to begin. But, alas, we were the show. We did not realize we were supposed to tip the dancers. (We did not realize there would be dancers.)
And, not a one of us had anything smaller than a $20 bill on us. We were badgered relentlessly by the dancers as being cheap. The performers literally changed the lyrics of their songs to harass us. What did we do? We cheered, of course! We eventually paid our $20 penance to a dancer named Red Hot Chili Pepper and walked out of there a whole lot savvier (but poorer).
2. The time our first issue arrived and the ink was smudgy and dingy. And Kandy told the driver to put the 10,000 issues back on the truck, and the driver said, “Are you kidding me?” And Kandy said, “I don’t think I am.” And 15 years later, she can’t believe how smooth she was in her front yard staring down a guy six inches taller than her standing in her pole barn. Kerry was home watching Y&R, so it was a solo battle. The papers did, in fact, go back. We got a new printer, and here we are 15 years later with the same salesman (Pete!), and this better be pretty crisp text you’re reading.
3. The time on another Chicago trip when a guy with a “dad bod” offered us a ride in a limo. Sure, he could have been a serial killer. But there were 12 of us that night and only one of him and he looked plenty harmless. Especially since he was wearing a Chicago Cubs jersey and we had just watched his other dad-bod friends leave him in the bathroom while they went to the next bar. Plus, in our dozen, Lisa was about 9-and-a-half months pregnant. He was clearly buying a limo ride for a group of moms who didn’t want to pay for a cab. Who’s the killer now, mister?
4. The time a man refused to give us a quote on business cards because our magazine would “never make it.” A few years later, the same guy found himself organizing a talk for his company… and his boss asked him to book us to do a presentation on our success. We pretended we didn’t remember him. But we had a voodoo doll that said we did.
5. The time we blew out a tire on the way to Chicago and the bus had to pull off the interstate and ended up in a gas station with bars on the windows. We told everyone to stay put or we’d get shot. At least half of the bus got off and invaded the gas station for additional beverages. Turns out, the bars on the window were to ward off women like us.
6. The time we were on the “Ron Jolly Show,” and we told him it was super easy to start a business. What we meant to say was, it was super fun. We mixed up our adjectives. Ron looked at us like we were super crazy instead. So. We like to go back to that time we broadcast how it was super easy to whip up a magazine. We keep waiting for someone to ask us to teach a business class with credentials like that.
7. The time we put together a women’s team for Bowling for Kids against a men’s magazine, and we called our pro-bowler dad to the scene and called him, “Leslie” and put a pink bandana on him and indoctrinated him onto the women’s team. We won.
8. The time we were asked to do our first-ever presentation for a women’s group and only two women showed up. It was more of a one-on-one, really.
9. The time we decided to host our first Network Nite a few years later and booked a table for 30. Instead, 120 women show up and we were in a (good) panic that felt a little better than No. 8 on this list.
10. The time we hired a couple of comedians to entertain at our Girls Night Out (recently), and they were so incredibly risqué that we might as well have been back in Chicago at that drag queen show. We were in shock. But, once again, we cheered and paid them. Turns out, not much has changed in 15 years.
We hope you enjoy this issue and we want to thank you for 15 years of so much fun (and yes, some days were so fun they were easy!). Here’s to another great year as we head to our Sweet 16!