“The world is in perpetual motion, and we must invent the things of tomorrow. One must go before others, be determined and exacting, and let your intelligence direct your life. Act with audacity.” *

In our world of today, we are told: Entrepreneurship for women is controlled by a glass ceiling. Yet the quotation above was heard long before the term ‘glass ceiling’ was invented!

The author born in 1777 was Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, only child of an affluent textile industrialist in Reims, France. In 1798, when she was 21 years old, Barbe-Nicole married the boy next door: Francois Clicquot, only son of Phillipe Clicquot.

A short six years later, Francois fell suddenly ill with a fever and died, leaving her a single mother and a widow.

The French word for widow is ‘veuve’

Barbe-Nicole became Veuve Clicquot.

Sound familiar? Of course it is. You have heard of it before:

Veuve Clicquot label

* The words were written by Barbe-Nicole Clicquot to her granddaughter, in a letter to be found in the book titled: The Widow Clicquot By Tilar J. Mazzeo.

It tells the Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It.