KAREN: Ever since I was 9, I’ve always been a writer but was never labeled one. I grew up writing – wrote for school newspapers, always had dreams, but never actually pursed those dreams. One day, in 2006, blogging was hot at that time which got me curious about what it was about. So, I researched some and hey, I decided to set up my own blog. One day, I just came up while being at the keyboard… I’m deaf, Im a mom – that is what my blog is about being a Deaf mom doing the everyday thing. Here came the name, “A Deaf Mom Shares her World.”

KAREN: Barefooting – its like water skiing, but with no skis meaning the skis are off and the feet is on the water. That was my passion way back then when I was 16 or 17. I learned how to barefoot and I fell in love with barefooting. I became 19 – I was barefooting one day in which i was crossing the wake. It was the second time I learned on how to do that. That day just so happens that suddenly I jumped then flipped and splashed into the water. Whoa! I got in the boat and realized I could not hear my friends’ voices anymore. I always hear their voices even with no hearing aids. I grew up hard of hearing. That moment, everything was silent. Oh, I thought there was water in my ears. Oh, it’ll come back. It was not a big deal. One week, two weeks, three weeks… Still nothing. Been Deaf since then.

KAREN: Ironically, it was from my blog. i started writing there and I always tell people if you love writing, just write something whether it will happen or not. That’s what happened to me – with writing. On Twitter, my audience grew. From that growth, people started contacting me – they liked my writing. DisaBoom invited me to write for them so I wrote for them. Same thing happened with Parenting Squad. Ironically last summer Chicago Tribune found me on Twitter and asked me to write for them locally. So, I did. I started writing locally several newspaper articles. I love writing for Chicago Tribune because its nice seeing the articles printed out on a newspaper every week. I picked up the newspaper and go, “I wrote this!”

KAREN: Last year on my 44th birthday, I was just sitting at the lake on a boat look back at the years. Wow, the best year was when I was barefooting during my teens. I looked back, wow, I missed the best year of my life. Why didnt I grab those years, why didnt I cherish those years. So, I was sitting there being sad. That fall, my husband found a link with Today’s Show and he sent the link to me. It was not captioned, but I was truly fascinated by it. Why? The woman on the show was 66 years old, a little bit heavy too, was barefooting. Barefooting at the age of 66? And I am 44. I better get back on back on the water again. No excuse. I contacted the woman – Judy Meyers and told her my story on how I became Deaf and stopped barefooting. Aww, I wanted to go back. She said, “Come to Florida. Get back on the water.” Sure enough, I flew to Florida last March and I met Keith St.Onge. He is the world champion barfooter who owns the WorldBarefoot Center in Florida. I met him, chatted, and he taught me on how to do everything on the water. As soon I barefoot, I was hooked. From the first moment being on the water, I knew I was hooked. Yes, I’ve been barefooting all summer long and went to the World Barefooting Center. We both became friends. From there, we started writing a book together. It is about his life story from the time he was 13 years old. Keith was hooked on barefooting. He knew what he wanted to do with his life – he wanted to become pro. He wanted to be the world champion and he succeeded.

KAREN: Who really came up strongly for me? A young woman, Ashley Fiolek. I am fascinated with that woman. She really did not let anything stop her dreams and her parents full supports her. Cool! She wrote a book and read it, shared it with my deaf kids. She has really accomplished a lot at such a young age. She will accomplished more.

KAREN: There is one person I can think of recommending for The Pearls. Really, she is an hidden gem. She is not well-known, but when we met well, we havent met in person but on the internet and blog. She is a writer and the name is Dawn Colclasure . She wrote three or four books – well known in the writing field. Well-respected. She used to write for SigNews. Her story is that while she was growing up, she got caught in a fire which got her scarred on the face. Beautiful inside and out. A wonderful writer – she wrote a popular book called, “365 Tips for Writers.”

KAREN: The word “Pearl” means honor. It’s an honor to be among these women who have changed history, made an impact on this earth, brought positive attitude and light to this Earth. It is powerful. All have blazed new paths – its an honor to be among those women.