After receiving Saturday night’s Distinguished Women’s Award from Northwood, one would think D’Andra Simmons would be resting up. But, no! In addition to her handling her day job at Ultimate Living, she was honorary chair with her mom, Dee Simmons, at Thursday’s “A Writer’s Garden” at the Dallas Arboretum.
In addition to the Simmons gals, Arboretum’s Women’s Council Event Chair Jocelyn White decided on the theme “Unstoppable Women Share Stories” and had three gals who knew their stuff discuss how they followed their passions, believed in their dreams, overcame obstacles and achieved success:
- Paula Lambert, founder of the Mozzarella Company
- Dina Moor, author of books about successful Texas women and
- Hedda Dowd, founder of Rise No. 1 and owner of Antique Harvest
“I love this year’s Writer’s Garden theme,” said Jocelyn. “From our honor co-chairs to our special authors, we discover ways to triumph over adversity and the roadblocks of everyday life. Plus, they share the joy of the journey. Don’t we all want to be unstoppable?”
And it wasn’t just one of those talk, talk, talk sessions. Nope, not only did Paula explain how to make Mozarella cheese, Hedda told a story about life before Rise No. 1. Seems she approached a couple of ladies about her plans for the soufflé-oriented restaurant. Their response? It’s never going to work. The gals now eat there often and Hedda has been approached about taking Rise to five major cities, both in the U.S. and abroad.
In the crowd listening to the unstoppable ones were Patricia Cowlishaw, Dallas Arboretum President Mary Brinegar, Council President Sharon Ballew, Roz Campisi Beadle, Linda Stewart, Leslie Ann Crozier, Barbara White Boyd and Lisa Blue Baron, who flew to Austin and back on business but made it just in time to hear the final speaker and join gal-pal Jocelyn for lunch.
Photos provided by Deborah Brown