Here’s What Jessica Bennett Has Planned As the New York Times’ First Gender Editor

Ladies First highlights women and girls who are making the world better for the rest of us.

When Amy Purdy was 19, her life changed forever. A hospital visit for flu-like symptoms led to a diagnosis of septic shock, whereby Purdy was put into a medically-induced coma and given the prognosis of a two percent chance of survival. It was only after numerous blood transfusions and the removal of her ruptured spleen that doctors diagnosed the teen with meningococcal meningitis. She had survived. But, as a result of the loss of circulation she’d incurred from the infection, both of her legs had to be amputated below the knee.

Fast forward 20 years, and Purdy has been a medal-winning Paralympic snowboarder (and was instrumental in bringing her sport to the event), a runner-up on ABC’s Dancing With The Stars, and a competitor on CBS’s The Amazing Race. Her 2014 memoir, On My Own Two Feet, became a New York Times bestseller. Oprah Winfrey has called her a hero. Yet, despite an adult life defined by forward motion, Purdy insists she didn’t become an athlete until age 30.

“That’s when I actually started training to be the best snowboarder that I could be,” she tells Brit + Co.

While the idea of starting an elite-level training regimen in your 30s might seem unfathomable to many — okay, most — of us, Purdy had already been lobbying to get adaptive snowboarding included in the Paralympics for half a decade. In 2005 she co-launched the nonprofit Adaptive Action Sports, which would go on to partner with ESPN to run action sport competitions for people with disabilities during numerous summer and winter ESPN X Games. When it became clear that her sport was on track to getting Paralympic Games approval, Purdy recognized an opportunity.

“I wasn’t thinking about age. I just threw myself in 100 percent, and I found out that I was so much more capable than I ever even knew,” says Purdy. “In fact, I wish that I was involved in sports when I was younger, because I think I would have been a pretty good athlete!” Sports build confidence by forcing you to dig deep and persevere, she tells us. The sense of accomplishment on the other side of a physically challenging situation is like nothing else.

Purdy has been described by many people as inspirational; she admits to us that at age 39, she’s already ticked off the major goals of her lifetime bucket list. She explains that she thinks of inspiration as a contagious entity, and she tries to surround herself with it in order to give it back to others. Through her nonprofit, she tells us that she’s constantly engaging with “people who are making things possible for themselves.” She lives in the quiet of nature, where she reads a lot of books and reflects on the life she wants to lead.

Now, Amy Purdy is partnering with Target and Always to support Girls on the Run, a nonprofit that works to empower girls through physical fitness. The matter is close to Purdy’s heart, especially now that she’s watching her nieces come of age.

“We know that physical fitness helps young girls build confidence and friendships,” she tells us. “I think it’s just so important for people to know that this organization exists.”

As for what’s on the horizon, Purdy’s hoping to eventually write a second book and maybe get into acting. But for now, after two back-to-back winter Games and between a string of speaking engagements, she’s laying low with her husband at home in the mountains.

“I appreciate the moment to refuel,” she says. “I think that’s important for women and young girls. It’s okay to stop. You have to be able to refuel yourself so you can have something to give — I think women give, give, give.

“Self-care is really important, and self-care includes those quiet times, physical fitness, and the things you do to feel confident about yourself.”

(Photos by Michael Simon)

Ladies First highlights women and girls who are making the world better for the rest of us.

Soleil Ho has had a busy year. In between co-hosting duties on the wildly successful podcast on the intersection of race and food, The Racist Sandwich, Ho can also add “author” to her list of credits. With Blue Delliquanti, Ho is the co-author of a new food-related comic called Meal(Iron Circus Comics), which will be released on Christmas day. And, yes, it involves eating bugs.

The comic centers on a chef named Yarrow who moves across America to start working at a restaurant that focuses entirely on cooking with insects. Though it may seem like a leap at first glance, Ho tells us that its themes aren’t so far removed from those of The Racist Sandwich.

“Since I started working on The Racist Sandwich and thinking about food and race very intimately together, I’ve realized that insects and insect cuisine exist at this locus point because [like racialized people, insects are] very much a symbol of the Other,” Ho tells Brit + Co.

The two themes intersect in the comic, too. When a secondary character named Milani enters the scene as a potential love interest for Yarrow, she makes it very clear to Yarrow that she wants nothing to do with insect-related food. Yarrow, meanwhile, sets out to show Milani that insects are a staple of cuisine around the world. This dynamic sets the tone for Meal.

Ho, who is of Vietnamese descent, has had her own share of interactions with people who are uncomfortable about the idea of foods common to the non-Western world. She recalls her efforts to soothe their reflexes over one food item, in particular.

“Vietnamese people eat dogs, and that is a normal thing,” Ho tells us. “It’s not super wild or weird in Vietnam. But my whole life, when people would ask me that in the United States, I would say, ‘No, we don’t do it. That’s ridiculous!'”

In the comic, Ho wanted to make sure she and her co-author tackled this type of discomfort through Yarrow’s character’s interactions with others. “She doesn’t want to be judged or looked at,” Ho tells us, and admits that she pulled from her own experiences growing up to inform the character.

At first, like Ho, Yarrow tends to attempt to shy away from her own personal associations with insect cuisine because of others’ feelings towards it. But as Milani becomes interested in learning more about Yarrow, the character also takes an interest in Yarrow’s relationship to insect cuisine.

“She’s game, and that’s the important part,” says Ho. “She’s interested in learning more.”

Ho hints that there is a possibility that Meal will be expanded beyond its current installation, but she has no idea what the future will hold. For now, Ho is happy at the response that Meal has garnered online, explaining that she loves the depiction of food in comics.

“It just amplifies the experience [of food] and makes it all that more amazing.”

(Image via Soleil Ho/Iron Circus Comics)

Kate Winslet is THE Hollywood actress to me. Not only has she starred in box office smashes like Titanic and Avatar: Way of Water, but she's proven her acting chops in breakout indie flicks and provided mothers and daughters everywhere with eternal Christmas movie nights thanks to The Holiday. But the actress' consistently viral kindness, her dedication to embracing her natural beauty, and her sophistication don't mean she always feels confident. Kate Winslet just spilled on the one movie from her career that had her "sh—ing" herself, and I just had to dive in.

Here's what Kate Winslet had to say about her scariest movie experience ever.

• Kate Winslet made a name for herself with Titanic, Sense & Sensibility, and The Holiday.
• However those movies aren't the film she wants fans to ask about!
• The actress spills on the movies she's proud of, and the one job that had her "sh—ing myself."

Let us know your favorite Kate Winslet movies in the comments, and since we've officially entered cozy season, check out Why The Holiday Movie Ending Is The Most Important Scene while you're at it!