Founder Zoe Ann Nicholson

• Business owner, software designer, consultant, public health administrator, bookstore owner, high school teacher.
• BA in Roman Catholic Theology, Quincy University, 1969
• MA in Ethics and Religion from University of Southern California, 1975

After teaching high school, she sold her house to build the Magic Speller Bookstore , a gathering place for feminists, spiritual seekers, political activists and ardent readers. Zoe spent seven years traveling, marching, and lecturing on gender equality culminating in publicly fasting for 37 days demonstrating for the Equal Rights Amendment in Springfield, Illinois in 1982.

"While writing my first book, The Hungry Heart, A Woman's Fast for Justice, a miracle of a woman gave me my first computer, an Apple IIC."

At 36, Zoe, began a 2nd career in computer technology. On Wall Street she worked as a systems analyst, production tester and project leader. She went on to co-found a specialized recruiting firm offering expertise in client/server architecture and graphical design.

"Reading and writing animates my life and I have often grieved that the people I fall in love with are only alive in books. From Magdalene to Gandhi, Cleopatra and Boudica, Emerson to Hesse, Cassatt and Khalo, what I would give to have been their student.

Now technology can make such a dream come true. Some girl a hundred years from now will find her teachers alive through the internet. I am a passionate student, an obsessed bibliophile and a heartfelt seeker. With age, I have no answers, just fewer questions. But I can tell you this, the internet is a living window to the world."

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