Let's Hear it for the Matriarchs

Cracklin' Rose

My mother-in-law Rose just passed, barely shy of her 94th birthday, on the last day of winter. To say she was beloved is an understatement. She was worshipped and revered by her family. (Also kind of feared?) She was the kind of woman who, if in her day, women could have worked on Wall Street, she might have ended up in Jamie Dimon’s position. She was that pragmatic, sharp, and tough. Grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, a first generation Sicilian immigrant like her husband.

She wasn’t fond of me at first (I was both divorced AND a Protestant) when I married her first-born son, but our relationship blossomed over time and we ended up in a great place.

For her recent memorial, my husband compiled pictures, Super-8 video and audio recordings we made of kitchen table conversations that also feature her husband (who passed in six weeks prior in February, at 98.) The video is below, and just 60 seconds will give you a taste and stir your heart. The music alone is worth it!

What strikes me about women of this era - as opposed to the plasticky Face-tuning and perfectionism of taking photos today… is that women’s true personalities shone through in photos and film. You can see instantly - Rose was quirky, pretty, funny, and un-self-conscious.

She was the one in the marriage that pushed her husband into new career opportunities, managed the family money with savvy stock picks (she was a secretary on a bond desk on Wall St. in the 1950s and was a sponge for learning). She saw four children through college even though she never got to go, herself.

She instilled a devotion and duty to family through well-established traditions such as Sunday Sauce and the seven fishes on Christmas Eve. Her powerful frugality was a force, having been raised in the Great Depression.

As I’ve been referring to lately, my mentor Janet C. Salazar is authoring a book on The Alpha Whisperer that puts a face and gives an identity to the women behind the powerful “Alphas” who have incredible influence behind the scenes.

Rose Sanna was a prototypical Alpha Whisperer who made an indelible mark on this world.

Are you an Alpha Whisperer? If so, I’d love to hear from you, because we want you in our Cultivated Communities of extraordinary women who whisper powerfully to big brands.

Email us at info@looklook.app and we’ll get you placed in paid studies that inform companies such as LVMH, Estée Lauder, Shiseido, Puig, Harley Davidson, Huda Beauty, CHANEL, Cadillac, BMW and Lotus.

And if you’re a shouter, not a Whisperer, even better. Let’s be heard.

Stay curious, Malinda