Sunday, March 16, 2025

NJ/NY Area Event: Women's Rights Information Center in Englewood, NJ Presents FREE Event: Book Fair and Author's Showcase Featuring About, For and By Women at BergenPAC

Women's Rights Information Center (WRIC), a nonprofit organization based in New Jersey, invites the community to attend a FREE BOOK FAIR and author’s showcase in honor of Women’s History Month on Thursday, March 27th, at 11:00 a.m. - 2 p.m. This is a FREE event and will take place at Bergen Performing Arts Center (bergenPAC) located at 30 North Van Brunt Street in Englewood, New Jersey. 

In recognition of Women’s History Month, WRIC is hosting its inaugural Book Fair. This year's theme is "Moving Forward Together: Women Educating and Inspiring Generations." The event will feature author friends of WRIC, including women authors and our male allies, who will share their stories through their books. 
These participating authors will educate and inspire attendees as we move forward together. The featured authors are friends, donors, volunteers, and clients of Women’s Rights Information Center. While each story is unique, they are all interconnected, reflecting the resilience and courage of those who have overcome life's challenges.
 
The Authors To Attend are:
 
Gina Charles. Long-time supporter and good friend to WRIC.
Life’s Love Song:

The Trestin family, with their enviable upper-middle-class life, large house, and prestigious school, is the epitome of aspiration -until their perfect world begins to crumble. Maddie and Duncan, basking in the glow of admiration at school, find their star status dimming as a series of misfortunes strikes the family. Illness, injury, and the turbulent tides of high school romance test them all. United, the Trestins draw strength from one another, facing each challenge head-on. In the midst of turmoil, they discover the true value of what they have, learning a profound lesson in what matters most in life.
 
Beth Thomas Cohen. WRIC Board Trustee.
Drop the Act, It's Exhausting!: Free Yourself from Your So-Called Put-Together Life

Drop the Act, It’s Exhausting! is one woman’s call to all women to embrace the imperfections in their lives and to air their “improper” thoughts about relationships, love, sex, parenting, careers, self-esteem, and self-image. By no longer being ashamed or apologetic about how they "really feel,” women will become more aware of who they are and more accepting of themselves and one another. With wit, candor, and refreshingly blunt observations, Beth Thomas Cohen proves herself the prime example of how freeing, fun, and unifying it can be to drop the act and live a not so put-together life.

Anna Gassib. Long time supporter and Trauma Equine Therapist for WRIC clients.
My Huckleberry's Rescue Journey: Horse Connections Through Quantum Entanglement 

Equine therapy and how it enhances our relationship with ourselves and our surroundings has been an area of interest for countless philosophers throughout history. A renowned political leader, Abraham Lincoln, said, "I can make a General in five minutes, but a good horse is hard to replace."
 
Danielle Sherman Lazar. New friend of WRIC.
Mothers are Made: How One Mom Overcame Perfectionism, Self-Doubt, Loneliness, and Anxiety and Became a Better and Happier Parent 

Motherhood is hard. It's full of plenty of moments where a mom might think, “I don’t know if I can do this.” Danielle Sherman-Lazar has had this thought many times as she’s raised her four young daughters under 10, from her struggles with breastfeeding to two of her daughters’ stays at the NICU. 

Through personal and honest stories on motherhood and her struggles with eating disorders, Mothers are Made shows how moms aren’t instantly born along with their babies—mothers are made through time and experience. It's when mothers go through the fire, Danielle argues, that we are forged into resilient, brave, and courageous parents.

Danielle's writing is raw and relatable, and she shows how overcoming challenges with eating disorders, then facing the challenges of perfectionism, self-doubt, anxiety, and loneliness has given her tremendous inner strength, resilience, and confidence. Through real stories full of honesty, love, tenderness, and humor, she reminds her readers that they, too, have the knowledge and tenacity to persevere through any obstacle.

Mothers are Made will help moms realize that they can handle crises as they arise—large or small. And they will recognize that they are not alone in their struggles. Danielle’s vulnerability will help readers find the courage to keep going through the uncomfortable parts of motherhood, knowing they’ll get to the other side—a better, happier, and stronger mom.



 
Jen Maxfield (Invited). Supporter and friend of WRIC.  MC’s many of WRIC’s events.
More After the Break: A Reporter Returns to Ten Unforgettable News Stories
In More After the Break.

Jen Maxfield revisits ten memorable stories from her career as a TV news reporter, describing in heart-pounding detail how the events unfolded and revealing what happened after the cameras went away. 

She introduces readers to unforgettable people who will inspire you with their hopefulness, even when confronting life’s greatest heartbreaks: a young man who lost both legs in a ferry crash, an endurance athlete with stage-four lung cancer, a fifth grader on a doomed field trip, an Ivy League undergrad sentenced to decades in prison, a young woman who gave her life for an animal, a Wall Street executive on an ill-fated bike ride, a preschooler whose health hinged on an immigration battle, a family who lost everything in a hurricane, a mother who fought back against domestic violence, and a man who stood up for his rights while seated in his wheelchair.  

Returning to find these people years—even decades—after she featured their stories on the news gives Maxfield an opportunity to ask the burning questions she had always pondered: What happened after the live truck pulled away? What is the rest of the story?
 
M H Mui. Andrew is a volunteer with WRIC.
Why is No One Coming to Save my Mom?

This book is part memoir, part survivor’s guide. It’s through the eyes of a boy growing up with domestic violence. As that boy became an adult, he wanted to document and share the events with the public to increase awareness. But decades passed, and when he finally had the time to answer his calling to write the entire story, it turned out to be much more. Those subsequent years revealed the unsuspecting nature and true damage caused by his early childhood experiences. It wasn’t only mom who was a victim, but himself as well – with unforeseen, lasting consequences and effects contributing to unhappiness, negative thoughts and behaviors, and broken relationships.
 
Christina Wilson. New friend of WRIC.
Believe: A Memoir in Stories

A sickly child, Christina spent a lot of time reading fairytales. Never would she have imagined her real life would take on the qualities of a true Cinderella story. At the age of twenty-five, Christina meets Jeffery, a Wall Street Titan. Life becomes a whirlwind. They were young, they were in love and they were rich. Life with Jeffrey, a man who lived on his own terms, was consuming and exciting until...The morning of September 11, 2000, at 6 a.m. when the phone rang, the news on the other end of the call would change their lives forever.

It was not the beginning or the end of their story but a cataclysmic moment that joined the past to the present and to the future. In this whirlwind of being, can fairytales really live up to the harsh realities and tragedies of life?  Ultimately Christina's story is about self-discovery, unconditional love, family, and her deep belief that all that happens in life is for a reason. Life, Christina states is not something to regret. It is something to experience. Every experience is a step along the path to the full realization of who we are at our core and destined to be. There should be neither judgment, explanation nor expectation because life is just what it is―a lesson in self-discovery.
 
Elease Wiggins. Coach and mentor to WRIC clients.
A Farewell To Welfare: 25 Strategies To Freedom, Independence, Prosperity Expanded & Updated 

Elease A. Wiggins promises that if you properly apply her, “A Farewell to Welfare”, method it can lead to game changing results. A Farewell to Welfare: 25 Strategies to Freedom, Independence and Prosperity, chronicles Elease A. Wiggins’ personal story of having it all, to unavoidably losing it all.

In this book, Elease shares intimate details, about how she managed to overcome her challenges, by accepting responsibility for her participation in her own demise. Then choosing to make better choices for the safely and stability of her family. In A Farewell to Welfare, Elease speaks directly to you - as the valuable and talented person you are. With penetrating insights and personal anecdotes, this book helps the reader create a personalized system of planning and motivational techniques from 25 practical and proven strategies. The book has been expanded to include a glossary.

Mark Green
The Show Must Go On

Mark Green from Hackensack, N.J., a veteran entertainment executive and owner of Celebrity Talent Agency, is the author of "The Show Must Go On: Backstage Stories of a Hip-Hop Agent.

With over 25 years of experience in the entertainment industry, Green offers an exhilarating behind-the-scenes look at the world of Hip-Hop through his personal stories of working with some of the biggest icons, including Usher, Will Smith, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and Master Gee, one of the original members of the Sugarhill Gang. His journey—from DJing at local parties in Bergen County, NJ, to becoming a key player in the Hip-Hop scene—is filled with mentorship, excitement, and impactful moments.

About Women’s Rights Information Center:
Women's Rights Information Center is a community-based nonprofit 501(c)3 organization that was established in 1973 in response to the needs of women caught up in a changing society.  Its mission is to provide knowledge and opportunities to support the economic aspirations, self-sufficiency, and emotional well-being of individuals so they may live with hope, security, and dignity.