Edith Wharton: Novelist and Designer

Pulitzer Prize for Literature. Wharton is the author of classics like The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth. She created an unforgettable portrait of nineteenth century America and women's role in it. I'm a land Ververe and this is Seneca's one Women to Hear. We are bringing you one hundred of the world's most inspiring and history making

women you need to hear. Edith Wharton's books continue to sell widely, even a hundred years after their publication, and they've been the source for many movies starring everyone from Betty Davis to Michelle Peiffer. But Wharton was more than a novelist. She was also a forward looking designer, of homes and gardens, and for her relief work during World War One, she was a hero to the French people.

We got a fascinating insight into Wharton's life from Susan Whistler, the executive director of the Mount, the beautiful estate Wharton built in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. Listen and learn from Susan Whistler why Edith Wharton is one of Seneca's on women to hear. I'm speaking today to Susan Whistler, the executive director of the Mount the Estate of Edith Wharton, and we're going to be speaking about Edith Wharton and

her place in America's literary history and so much more. Susan, it is a wonderful pleasure to have you with us today. Well, Malan, thank you. I'm delighted to be here. Edith Wharton wrote about the world of the wealthy during the Gilded Age the late eighteen hundreds. She gave us memorable novels, including The Age of Innocence in the House of Mirth. She was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for

Literature for the Age of Innocence. She was also a designer and a decorator, and her passion for houses and gardens obviously comes out at the Mount when one visits. What do you think she should be remembered for? How do you see her legacy? You have an intimate engagement with her almost every day as you're there at the Mount. Well Edith Wharton, I would say, is and should probably best known for her enduring classics of the House of Mirth Ethan Frome, and also the Age of Innocence, which

is probably her best known work. It's the one that one of the Pulitzer Prize when it was published in nineteen twenty, and it hit number one on the bestseller lists again in nine following Martin Scorsese's release of his film starring Michelle Peifer and Daniel day Lewis, which is based on the novel. But Um, I would say, even though she's mostly known as a novelist, her literary legacy

is actually so much bigger. Um. She wrote across many genres, including short stories to it, travel books, um, literary essays, and poetry. And her first well known and sort of I would say hit, was a book that was actually about interior design, called The Decoration of Houses. It was published in eight and it's still taught in design schools today. Um. I think she also should be remembered for taking on subject matter that I would say, even today might seem audacious.

She her books and her novels addressed issues ranging from euthanasia to war, um to female sexual desire, especially that of older women. And I would say that she and her works, uh, defy any easy categorization, I would say. And then of course there is um what I think she considered her most important creation, or one of her most important creations, and that is the estate that she gotad and build from the Berkshires, the Mount Um. And she was as proud of that as any of the

literary work which she produced. Just an exceptional legacy for sure. Now you're the executive director of the Mount. Her long time of state is you just mentioned in the Beautiful Berkshires And you used to practice law in New York? What got you interested in Edith warn and how did you come to head the Mount? Well, I thank serendipity

for for my journey. Um. My last legal job was actually with a firm here in the Berkshires, and um, the partner that I was closest with Unfortunately, died of cancer while I was there, and it was it was a big moment in my life, and I took that opportunity to step away from the law and decided i'd really actually rather spend more time outdoors. And I spent the next couple of years as a sort of itinerant tradesperson.

I was a carpenter, I did landscaping, I did painting, UM, just sort of odd jobs here and there and UM. But I was growing tired of the It was getting a little tiring, and I certainly wasn't making a lot of money. And a friend notified me that there was an opening here at the Mount, involved with operations, and I applied on the labor day and two I think I applied on a Friday in two thousand one, in September and started the following Monday. And I fell in

love with the property. And I have never look back. And it's hard to believe that that was nearly twenty years ago. It's an exceptional story serendipity, though it might be in terms of how you got engaged. But I think the Mount is very fortunate too to have such an exceptional lawyer and committed leader of that beautiful place. You mentioned at the outset some of Edith's great literary achievements, And she wrote so many years ago, and yet her

books remained so popular today. What do you think that's the case and and what does she tell us about the wider culture in terms of her time and our time. Well, when Wharton was at the peak of her career, women's rights were arguably expanding. The divorce was becoming more common, more women were entering the workforce and um, and then of course the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in nineteen nineteen. And despite all of this scene progress, a major theme

in Wharton's work is how women's options remain constrictive. Marriage was often unsatisfactory, and of course women continue to be treated unequally. And I would say that there is one thing that runs throughout her work that continues to resonate today. And another big theme was I would say, the huge divide between the enormously wealthy, the one percentags perhaps and the working class. So I don't think it's hard to

draw parallels between her time and ours. And I think the themes that she addresses in her works continue to be themes that we as individuals and as a society continue to struggle with. But I think perhaps the principal reason she remains popular is because she's just a wonderful writer, and she's got memorable characters, engaging plots, beautiful language, and

I would say a clean, even muscular writing style. And so her work is as has stood the test of time, and I think a century from now we will still be talking about her. It's it's so interesting and those two themes that you mentioned are certainly very much with us today. Um she lived between eighteen sixty two and nineteen thirty seven. What was happening then that had a great deal to say about shaping her and what she

eventually would write about. Ah, that's a great question on um. Well, Wharton was born into the old money New York society uh or. By way of example, on the US Census, her father listed his occupation as a gentleman of leisure. So this was the world into which she was born. Her family belonged to a class of people who loved art but distrusted artists, and it was also a class that felt themselves under siege, particularly by the new money class.

And because she was a bona fide member of this class, she knew it. She understood it warts and all. She knew it intimately, and it provided her with terrific material for her writing. UM. She was also heavily influenced by European culture as a child. Edith had spent much of her life in Europe, mainly in France, Germany and Italy, and it was there that she developed both her gifts

for languages, but also a deep appreciation for beauty. UH. She loved art, architecture, and literature, and this is where all of those passions were ignited. UM. I would also say that she had an incredible intellectual curiosity and that drove her to read just an extraordinary range of books, not just literature, but she also was fascinated by science and philosophy and religion, and her library here can Mount actually includes multiple copies of books by Darwin, whose works

and theories were of course notly debated in the day. UM. So those were some of the forces in terms of events that shaped your life. I would say World War One was perhaps the most influential. UM. From nineteen fourteen to nineteen eighteen, she wasn't was in France, in Paris, and she devoted herself to creating a complex, really extensive network with charitable and humanitarian organizations that included work rooms

for the unemployed, convalescent homes for people with buerrtulosis. UM, she created hospitals for refugees and schools for children and UM. She also wrote extensively about the war. She was one of a handful journalists that was actually allowed to h report from the front lines. And her work was so extensive that UM in nineteen sixteen she was actually awarded the French lesion of loner UM. And I would say mentioned one last thing that I would say was a

big force on her life. UM. During her lifetime there were incredible social, economic, and needed technological changes. UM. So she went from a horse and buggy era to air travel. And I would say this progress affected her deeply and can be seen in her writing. And by the time she's in the nineteen twenties, she was actually quite dismayed at what she saw as the commercialization of popular culture UM.

And she wrote about this in in her novels. So in the Children, for example, she makes fun of Hollywood in the movie industry. In Hudson Riverbracted, she she goes after the publishing industry and and specifically The Pulitz Surprise. And then in Twilight Sleep, which is one of her last novels, she turns her pen Scuba modern medicine and the wonder Pills that were on the rage of the day.

She was such an interesting and complicated personality, obviously, I wonder listening to your description of her and what shaped her. It sounds like she could have done any number of things. Why did she become a writer? Oh? Um, Well, as she was born a writer. I think she she had no choice but to be. I'm a writer. She was a born storyteller, So even before she could read. She writes in her memoir that she would engage in an

exercise or an activity that she called making up. And so you know, at the age of three or four, um she would be observed holding a book in her hands off an upside down and she would walk back and forth and make up and create a story. Um with her mother arranged for a play date with um uh young friends, she would actually refuse them and insist that her mother play with him so that she could

she could continue on making up. So the storytelling piece came to her naturally, and I think she was driven right um, which is not to say that it was easy. UM. Her family I believe was a little bit in awe of the sort of a natural and sort of driven nature of Edith to too right, and they ordered her as a young girl. In fact, UM Wharton's first book, first published book, was the book of poems that she wrote at the age of sixteen, and her mother actually

undertook the private publication of that. So I think they were quite proud of her. But once she was a woman of a certain age, where the expectations were that she was to marry and settle down, UM, I would say, the tables turned for her, and Um, at the age of twenty one, she is engaged to a young man.

The engagement was broken for very complicated reasons, and the newspapers actually report that the engagement was called off because Wharton was quote an ambitious authoress and too intellectual, and that was a huge humiliation for her. UM. And as she even as she became you know, critically and a critical and popular success, UM, she was often not taken

seriously as a writer. She was frequently dismissed as either just a pale imitation of Henry James, who was a good friend or as someone who's worked with trivial because they weren't concerned with the rich. And this was despite her having often written stories with working class protagonists. UM. I would say at least a third of her works deal with people who are not of the wealthy class. Sounds like some of the criticisms that were lobbed against

her continue in varying ways today against women. That criticism of being just too intellectual strikes me as one for sure. UM. And I just love that image that you painted of her as a child holding a book upside down, uh and storytelling as as she's pacing around. So I think you're so right. It does sound so much like she was born to be a writer. Speaking of her work, The Age of Innocence celebrated its hundredth anniversary last year.

What's the story behind that book? For listeners who are not familiar with it, The Age of Innocence was written in nineteen twenty, after World War One, and um after the death of many of Warton's closest friends, including Henry James and Teddy Roosevelt. UM. And it is set uh, not in the twenties, but in the eighteen seventies and it is I would say, both um homage too and a critique of the society that you grew up in. Um And it was a book that she didn't want

to write. Her previous book was a war, a war novel, and it had the misfortune of coming out just as the war was ending and the public was basically sick of war stories and um And but she wanted to write another one, and her publishers said, no, we need another sort of House of Mirth, like uh, the novel of matters. And so she needed money she by that time and purchased a couple of houses in France and um and so she actually penn The House of Mirth in I think a little less than a year and um.

In many ways, I would say it is the most autobiographical novel. And it involves three major characters. It's kind of a love triangle story. There's a gentleman now and Archer, and then there is the very mysterious and somewhat socially disgraced because she's divorced, Countess Elena Lenska. And then there's Maywell and the sort of perfect um product of New York society woman who new and is expected to wed and UM. Anyway, it's a it's it's basically a love

story and it but again it is in many ways autobiographical. UM. And I'll just draw maybe attention to a couple of the reasons why I say this. Um. Ellen Olenska is probably the most obvious person based on Edith Wharton's character. Ellen and Edith were both very comfortable and felt at home in Europe Um, not just because they grew up there, but also because they were both very sophisticated women. They were equally at home with fashion and as well as

part um. Both Ellen Olenska and Edith Wharton had a husband who seized their fortune and spent it on the mistresses um. In the novel, one of the reasons the Lenska has returned to New York is because her husband um uh Is has embezzled her money and was also neporiously unfaithful. That fits that description also fits edith husband

Peddy to a te um, he behaved very badly. He embezzled about over fifty thou dollars of the money, which would be about one and a half million dollars today, and speculated poorly in the stock market, and also purchased the house in Boston, the House of Mistress Um, and both in the novel and Warton in real life, ultimately they leave their husbands and live alone in Paris and apartments where um the pastas that a believe, and they both entertained a steay stream of Frenchise society. So there

are very many similarities between Wharton and eleanor Leinster. But there are also similarities between Wharton and Newland Archer, and Newland represents who Warton might have been had she remained in New York and not escaped all of the bonds and shackles of the expectations that her class put upon her. Um the young Newland Archer and Edith are both undeniably similar.

They both are very much a part of society. They attend the opera, they go to dinners and balls, they participate in all the activities of old New York um Um. And despite these useful represemblances, their adult lives take very different has. By the end of the novel, knew in this fifty seven and that's the same age Wharton was when she was writing it. And this new one is very different from from Wharton. The office Uh he is no longer friends with writers. He no longer is dreaming

of making art and intellectual conversation central to his life. Uh. Instead, just like everyone else in his social circle, he is governed by convention in the following tradition, and in the last pages of the novel, as he reflects back on his life, he realizes that he is sunk deep into

a rut. And Wharton, on the other hand, avoided all of these ruts because her insatiable curiosity never left her and um and chief at the end of her life is in Paris and in the South of France, where artists and literature and clever conversation are just a steady diet in their life. And this is probably more information than you want, but I did want to spend a little moment on May Uh the betrothed to Newland. And May is the woman that high society included including Wharton's husband,

probably expected and wanted wanted Warton to be. And while for many years he was able to pull off the dual role dual role of dutiful wife and vestselling author, eventually it became too much for her and she abandons her wifely duties and leaves Teddy and ultimately divorces him. So The Age of Innocence, I think, is a novel that can be read many times, and each time you

read it you'll get something different. And one of the I think most brilliant aspects of the novel is that it is written from the perspective of the male Newland archer. And as you read the novel, perhaps the first time you read it you don't realize it, but certainly on the second and third reading, you realize that he is a completely unreliable narrator and um and you can't at one he he he is misinterpreting signs and clues that that come before him as the platform folds, and in

many ways is completely clueless. And the women in the story who are portrayed on the first breath is perhaps lesser characters are actually the brilliant ones. Well, speaking of brilliant, Susan, I feel like you're brilliant, professor of literature with that extraordinary answer, and it is enough, I think uh listeners will agree to have us all go out and pick up The Age of Innocence and read it, either for the first time or for the second or third time.

As you pointed out Seneca has one hundred women to hear. Will be back after the short break. Let's talk about the mount a little bit, where you spend so much of your time. Warton designed and built it in nineteen o two for people who haven't been there, and I have recently been there for the second time, and it

is just a beautiful and remarkable place. Tell us how she made it happen, how it reflects who she is, because, just speaking for myself, when you walk through that front door, you walk into a world onto itself in terms of its beauty and everything it represents about her. She came to the Virture's Um. This is probably one good thing that her husband Teddy did, is Teddy's family actually summered in the Berkshire's and that is how she came to

to know to know the Virture's Um. Wharton's family watering their their their summer place was in Newport. And while Wharton loved Newport as a child when she was free to play tennis or swim, or sale or ride, once she was a young married woman, uh the again, the expectations of entertainment either being entertained or to entertained proved too great for her and UM, and she was all of her time that she had hoped to devote to

writing was taken up with societal duties. And so in nineteen o one she and Teddy decide to leave Newport and Wharton comes to the Berkshire's Uh they find a beautiful one acre property which had been previously farmland, and

they purchase it. We've got a wonderful photograph, the historic photograph of Petty and Edith, and they were both huge dog lovers, and they're like three little dogs and they're all standing on this rocky mound pointing as if this is they're they're they're telling the person who's taking the photograph, this is the place, this is what where we are

going to build our home and UM. Wharton had a huge interest in both architecture and landscape design, and so she was involved heavily in every aspect of the construction of the State and Um. She intended that it would be a home that would meet all of her needs, both as a designer, as a gardener, as a hostess, and most importantly as a writer. So one of the most distinguishing features of the mount there are there are a few. One is that it is built far far

away from the roads. It's not even visible from any of the main highways or arteries. And that's because she really wanted it to be a retreat. It was not built to be a symbol of her wealth, though at that point she was a very successful writer and her wealth was considerable. It was meant to be a place where she could retire from society, should she choose. It was also it's also a very it's a very beautiful and elegant house, but in terms of the number of

people that it will accommodate, it's actually quite small. The dining room is designed to seat six, and there are only two guest bedrooms. And so it was again it's primary purpose was to entertain at most your most intimate friends, and then also to give her a place where she could create. Um. She was very proud of the mount Um. She there's a nineteen o five nineteen o six letter that she writes to her lover Morton Fullerton, where she actually says, and I know this line my heart, but

quote decidedly, I'm a better landscape gardener than novelist. And this place, every line of which is my own work. Far surpasses the House of Mirth. And just to put that in context, the House of Mirth was the runaway bestseller of nineteen o five. It was published I think in October, and in the remaining months of the year it out sold by enormous amounts every other novel that had been published that that in that in that year.

So um. The Wharton's unfortunately only lived at the Mount for ten years, but it was a transformational decade for for Edith. Um. She had many professional triumphs and much emotional turmoil. Um Uh. It was during her period of the Amount that Um Teddy's mental instability really began to take hold. I think um it was probably not easy for Teddy to be Edith Wharton's husband. He was not her intellectual peer and um and he had really not

a lot to bring to the table. And as she grew more and more financially successful and independent, I think he um, he began to resent it and uh, and that resentment began to manifests itself in ways that we're not not healthy or good for either either of them. Well, she clearly thought seriously, and that description that you you posed, that comparative with the House of mirth to her own house. She cared about interior design, clearly, she cared about gardens,

she cared about decorations. She wrote about it. How would you describe her design philosophy if she had one. Oh, she certainly had a design philosophy. And Um, what she was advocating for, and it is the basic premise of her book, The decoration of Houses is a return to what she termed as the classical style that you would find in Europe, characterized by symmetry, balance and proportion. Those were the three the three main tenets of any good design. And um, you had to pay close attention to how

houses and gardens were to be used. Um. She grew up in the Victorian era. Uh. And then the I would say that Victorian era was characterized by houses that were over upholstered, over draper, read full of bric a brac and um. And they also gave rise to what we're sort of very ostentatious properties of the newly rich

who built their houses to basically show and flaunt their wealth. Um. And they the big houses of the guild of there of the Berkshire cottages, I would say many of them, uh put a greater value in how showy they were versus how functional they were. And for Wharton, UM, she was always very cumily attuned to the fact that houses are in fact, first and foremost meant to be lived in. UM. She also felt that the house, the gardens, and the landscape should all be in harmony, and that the transition

between one and the other should be gradual. But the harmonious component was not unlike a great work of art, and that is how she viewed house and landscape design. Beautifully said, Now, you've had a major impact on the mountain in many ways, but one was certainly to retire its debt, which was no small feat UM in two thousand and fifteen. That was really extraordinary. UM. And you have managed to get some of Wharton's books returned to the library where they have their special place. Now tell

us about that and why those books are so important. Oh, another wonderful question, long, Thank you, UM. The books. Yes, we have all that what we believed to be UM, perhaps not all, but the majority of what remains of Wharton's own original library. It's about volumes. UM. We know that her her full library was actually far more extensive than that. UM. She bequeathed it to Godsons. Half of it ended up being destroyed in the war as it was waiting on the docks of London to be shipped

to America for safety. But the other half um was bequeathed to the son of Sir Kenneth Clark, the great historian, and they sort of languished and were protected throughout the war in Saltwood Castle, which was out in the English countryside.

And and thanks they ended up in the hands of a bookseller who became so fascinated with Edith Wharton that he spent probably thirty years of his life trying to continue to collect what I would call the orphans and the the strays that had been perhaps loaned by the Clarks out to other people. And he tried. He was very keen on making sure that the collection remained together

as a whole. And the reason why he was so keen on that is because Wharton was a very active reader, and she she annotated her books, She wrote notes in the fly leaves, she underscored, she used exclamations. When you look at all of these markings, it's like you are reading the book with her alongside her, and it just

tells you so much. UM. She also the books. Many of the books are gifts from some of her closest friends, UH, for example Teddy Roosevelt and Henry James, and their infamite inscriptions as they gifted books to her UH tells us a lot of insights into the nature of their relationship. For example, how much humor UH there was in the kind of repartee that Wharton had, particularly with Henry James, but also also with Teddy Roosevelt. UM and uh. And so we really consider the books as um as the

heart and soul of the property. And they also attest to the incredible breadth of Wharton's curiosity. UM. In addition to literature, gardening, travel, UM, there are numerous volumes on history, philosophy, religion, and science UM and it and the breadth of the books, I mean, we have books that she was given as a child, that were given to her by her brothers um uh you know, for Christmas. And then we also have the books that she was reading, you know, within

months of her death. And we know that because the publication date of the book was, you know, just two months prior to her prior to her dying. And UM, so it's been just an incredible tool in in deepening our understanding of what um I would say, her personality practically springs from the pages and uh and so it's just a wealth of information for the next generation of

scholars and and storytellers. And we actually are regularly welcoming scholars who come to peer through the pages to see what what little timbits of information they might be able to bleam. It's really a very very special part of the house. To see those annotated books and to read the inscriptions, you do feel like you're learning something that nobody else knows. It's really an insight into her. So congratulations on being able to get those books returned so

that they could be at the mount today. We are closely running out of time, and I wanted to just ask about one of the aspects of her life that's really less well known. You alluded several times to her years in France. She lived there before World War One, she worked with the Red Cross during the war. She was even awarded the French Legion of Honor. Um what was it about her devotion to France and what it

meant to her? Well, Um, I think the love of France probably was seated deeply in Edith when she was a child. So from the age of four to ten, the Whartons spent most of their time traveling around Europe. Uh. And she spent a great deal of time living in France as well as Germany and Italy. And she was fluent in French, and she was deeply engrossed in and I would say influenced by French literature. So her library includes all the French greats from the balls Act of

Voltaire um and so huge impact there. UM. But I think it actually was probably um World War One that really cemented her love for France and the French people. When the war breaks out, she's actually in England looking at a property to possibly purchase, and um, there's some just really beautiful letters that talks about the anguish that she feels because she's unable to return because the borders

have closed and uh. And it takes her several weeks or maybe even several months before she's actually admitted back into the country, and she's just absolutely horrified by the by the carnage and the and the devastation and um. And then of course nineteen fourteen to nineteen eighteen, she throws herself into humanitarian work on the part of France and the French, and I think UM, I think that's

where her her love and her loyalties shifted. And I also think she never was that comfortable in the United States. She she hated Um, she hated New York, she thought it was deplorably. She did not feel accepted in Boston, where she was being too fashionable. And she just loved the layout and the architecture and the sensibilities of the European cities, at particularly Paris. And so I think that's

why UM. And then of course towards the I would say, in the latter third of her life after the war, Um she is continuing to write prolifically, but I would say her first passion at that point becomes gardening. And she purchases this amazing ancient wreck of the chateau on the Riviera, and Um purchases an entire hillside that goes with it, and then throws herself into into gardening, and is um credited in part with actually creating the Mediterranean garden.

The English were starting to settle on the south of France. The French had no particular or interested in gardens, but the English had a passion for it, and so she developed a small group of very close friends and they took the Mediterranean Garden to tell They really put it on the map as a as a as a as a genre of gardening. UM. So that that that also, I think was important. And I believe she felt that France um where women and men engaged in society and

conversation together. Uh, that France had more respect for women and educated them actually better than America did. And so I think she felt in some ways that the French were in were superior to to the Americans in terms of how they organized and structured their lives. Well, I regret that we can't keep talking about Edith for hours more, because she is both a fascinating figure and you are wonderfully descriptive in giving us insights into who she was

and what she did. Before we let you go, Susan, how can listeners visit them out? Um? Do you have ongoing events and programs? And if you do, how can we learn about them? There are numerous ways you can experience the site. You can take a guided tour with a person, you can take a self guided tour, or you can um or you can take an audio tour UM. We have a beautiful cafe on our terrace which you

can enjoy sort of good food and incredible views. And then we also have just UM an ongoing roster of programs UH that include a sculpture exhibit across about fifty acres thirty large scaled contemporary pieces. We have concerts regularly. UM. We often have theatrical performances. But again, the best way to UM to figure out and plan your trip is to visit our website and to sign up for our e newsletter, and you could also follow us on social media.

We have a hashtag at the Mount Lennox. Well, thank you so much, Susan Whistler for this just wonderful conversation, your great ability to enable us to come to know and be much smarter about that great literary giant Edith Wharton. And thank you too for what you've been doing over the last many years to make the Mount come alive and be that very special place that it is. It's so great to have had you with us today. Thank you, Milan,

Thank you. This has been lots of fun and I hope I haven't talked too much now it's been terrific. Thank you so much. I learned so much about Edith Wharton and talking to the remarkable Susan Whistler. Here are three things I took from that conversation. First, Edith Wharton remains popular today, more than a hundred years after publication

of her most famous novels and No Wonder. She writes about women trying to find their way in a culture that wants to constrain them, and about the expectations are friends and family place on all of us. Her novels are compelling and timeless. Second, it's also worth looking at the other side of Edith Wharton, the house and garden designer. Check out a copy of her eight seven design Manual, The Decoration of Houses, for guidelines that never go out

of style. Finally, if you're on the East Coast, try to visit The Mount, the magnificent estate that Edith Wharton built in Lenox, Massachusetts. Besides touring the house and grounds, you can enjoy nature walks, lectures, sculpture, exhibits, music, and even lunch on the beautiful Terrorists. To learn more, visit Edith Wharton dot org. Tune in next time to hear about our next featured woman and discover why she's one

of Seneca's one Women to Hear. Seneca's one hundred Women to Hear is a collaboration between the Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio, with support from founding partner PNG Have a Great Day.