About the Authors

Carol Lewis Gullstad and Linda Williams Rorem enjoyed successful careers in business and journalism, respectively, before stepping back to parent four young children each.  They are currently writing a book about why and how women should prioritize time with their girlfriends. They have traveled widely with their families and without, and remain well-connected with old friends around the country and current community members.   

Throughout their professional lives, they have focused on studying, understanding and reaching out to women of all ages. Williams Rorem spent 10 years as a staff journalist (Time Magazine and Puget Sound Business Journal), and has freelanced articles for magazines and newspapers nationwide including Sunset, American Airlines’ inflight magazine and the New York Times. She wrote Careers Without College: Computers (Peterson’s, 1992), which won a New York Public Library award, and served as the primary researcher for Donald R. Katz’s The Big Store: Inside the Crisis and Revolution at Sears (Viking, 1988) and Father, Son & Co.: My Life at IBM and Beyond, by Thomas J. Watson and Peter Petre (Bantam, 1990). Williams Rorem worked as PR manager for two art museums in Seattle and has served in communication roles on several nonprofit boards. She holds a BA from Indiana University (majors in English and Journalism, minor in French) and an MSJ from Columbia University. After growing up north of Chicago, Williams Rorem spent a decade in Manhattan and later moved to the Seattle area, where, in her “spare” time, she runs, bikes, teaches French and studies Italian.

Carol Lewis Gullstad is an experienced consumer goods marketer. At General Mills Inc., she managed household brands such as Hamburger Helper, Betty Crocker and Yoplait Yogurt. She was the first executive-level telecommuter at General Mills and led committees related to work-life balance. She has been involved with numerous start-up businesses as an adviser,  investor and board member. The ventures have spanned a wide variety of products and services ranging from CityForest Corp. to Dry Soda Inc. to TeachFirst. Gullstad has also been involved extensively in community based volunteer activities including youth coaching, mentoring foster children at Treehouse and non-profit boards.  She currently owns an organic farming business, Cherry Creek Farm, with her husband. Gullstad holds a BS from UC Berkeley and an MBA from UCLA. She grew up in L.A. and has lived in Minneapolis and other cities dotting the east and west coasts. Gullstad currently resides in Mercer Island, Wash., where she is an avid tennis player and enjoys hiking, playing bridge and spending time with her family.

Gullstad and Williams Rorem are seasoned mothers of four school-aged children each. They have experienced all aspects of “mom life”—as stay-at-home moms, working-part-time moms. working-full-time-outside-of-the-home moms and working-to-keep-it-all-together moms. All along, they have found that short breaks with friends contribute to their sanity and total health. They are both voracious readers and members of book clubs, and are active in the world of PTAs, non-profit boards and volunteer projects. Their husbands keep busy with work, fly-fishing and sports-spectating, while their kids participate in afterschool programs in athletics and the arts.  As such, Gullstad and Williams Rorem can relate to the needs and desires of over-programmed, frazzled moms.