Rhoda Berman is 85 years old. She’s a vibrant, active, no-nonsense sort of woman who isn’t afraid to express her opinion. She knows her strengths and her weaknesses. She knows how to represent herself. “In order to get the best of me, I have to tell (people) the truth.”
Born in New York City, Rhoda was raised by a divorced mother who fell short in the nurturing department. Against her mother’s wishes, Rhoda attended NYU and got a degree in retailing. She was 35, an old maid in that era, when she first married. Her husband, a replica of her mother, didn’t approve of her career ambitions, or her strength. He declared her “too Jewish.” After 21 years of a difficult marriage, Rhoda found herself divorced. At 56, dejected, she had to begin anew. “It was when I got divorced that I grew up.”
In this uplifting interview, Rhoda shares:
- How she came to recognize that she was trying to be someone she was not
- The value she found in speaking her truth
- How and why she found a role model
- The lessons she wanted to teach her struggling daughters
- The single most important trait of being successful
- What she did to overcome fear
We also spoke about remarriage and the discovery of unconditional love. How finding a job, any job, is the very best way to find one’s path. “You just don’t know what that one job would lead to. No matter how menial.” And the irony of being able to replace her ex-husband with a stray cat.
If you’d like to hear our interview with Rhoda, head on over to the resources page and check out our Starting Over Interview series. You won’t be sorry.
