Many thanks to all who joined us for the 3rd Annual Luncheon for Literacy on March 14 at Tri-County Technical College, Easley Campus!
We are especially grateful for our keynote speaker, Jo Watson Hackl, for encouraging us all to take steps to make our Big Audacious Goals a reality!
Keynote Speaker Jo Watson Hackl
Keynote speaker Jo Watson Hackl, corporate and securities attorney, founder of outdoorosity.org, and author of her debut novel, Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe.
Jo grew up just outside a ghost town in rural Mississippi where storytelling is a favorite form of entertainment. She spent her childhood exploring the piney woods, inventing characters, and creating tiny worlds out of acorns, rocks, sticks and moss. Today, she lives with her chef husband and children in Greenville, SC, where she writes next to a window overlooking her woods. A graduate of Millsaps College and Yale Law School, Jo is the founder of outdoorosity.org and a lawyer with Wyche, P.A., whose lawyers have worked to preserve over 100,000 acres of land for future generations.
An active community member, Jo works on a number of creative, educational, business and philanthropic initiatives. She is a Liberty Fellow and a Riley Fellow, and has served as the Chair of the United Way of Greenville County's Women's Leadership Initiative, the Chair of the Community Foundation of Greenville, the President of the Greenville Professional Women's Forum, the President of the Greenville County Bar Association, and was the first woman to serve as the Chair of the Greenville Area Development Corporation. Her recognitions include being named a "Woman of Achievement" by the Greenville YWCA, Philanthropist of the Year by the Peace Center, and recipient of the Greenville Chamber's ATHENA award.
Jo's writing has been published by The Pen and Palette, the Emrys Literary Journal, and The Clearinghouse Review. Her debut novel, Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe, was published by Random House Books for Young Readers in July, 2018, and has already received critical acclaim. The American Booksellers Association has named it an Indie Next Pick, the Southern Independent Bookseller's Alliance has named it an Okra Pick, and New York Times bestselling author Carrie Ryan called it "totally unputdownable."
View photo's from the event on our Women United Facebook page.
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