50 African American and Latina women are included in this book. All are extraordinary and excel in everything from medicine and law to industry and education, from communication and technology to entertainment, science, and the non-profit arena...inspiring role models for girls and young women. Each woman is presented with: a short biography, an early-life portrait presenting each role model as a girl or teenager, and a recent full-page portrait as an adult. Children learn to grow into adults by modeling what they see. If they see productive adults with qualities of character and integrity with whom they can identify, they will be more likely to grow into such adults themselves. Research also indicates that many African American and Latino adolescents lack visible role models more often than other adolescents. But if, as the saying goes, seeing is believing, then African American and Latina girls will be able to imagine what they, themselves, can do in the future by learning what women of color are doing already. Although begun in Pennsylvania as a project for the Pennsylvania Commission for Women which has been an important advocate for women and girls in the Commonwealth, this book speaks to a need for empowerment for girls and young women throughout the U.S.A. The women "role models" in this book came from Cuba, Panama, Peru, California, Maryland, New York, Ohio and many other states...theirs are American stories of struggle and success.