Interviews

Listen to this interview at the Mormon Women Project podcast, available on all platforms. Julie Grygla is the mother of six children under five years old. She and her husband achieved their first pregnancy with the help of fertility treatment, and gave birth to triplet boys. When their triplets were only five months old, Julie […]

Merrecia James discovered her passion for running at an early age, as she navigated growing up in Jamaica. Running was an escape from poverty and from sexual assault, and provided a door to immigration and education in the United States. Merrecia always had a strong belief in God, but it wasn’t until she was introduced […]

Dr. Cynthia Owens knew from a young age that she wanted to go to medical school, serve a mission, and be a mother. With guidance from the Lord and from earthly mentors, and with the support of her family, she accomplished all three goals. In partnership with her husband, she has raised four children while […]

Angela Johnson grew up with a burning desire to become an opera star. She wholeheartedly pursued that goal while she raised a family, until a powerful spiritual impression changed her life path. Entirely self-taught, she is now an accomplished sculptor who uses her gift to share her testimony of Jesus Christ, including in a permanent […]

At five feet tall, Esther Yu Sumner has a big vision for life. The 39-year-old marketing professional, now a published children’s author, is always in pursuit of her next creation—her energy and creativity has led her friends to call her a “hummingbird.” Whether she is sewing an apron for her niece, making grape juice from […]

This complete interview may be heard at the Mormon Women Project podcast. Heather grew up in a large family in the 1970s and 80s in Salt Lake County, Utah. During her childhood, she absorbed messages about motherhood and womanhood that complicated some of the pain and difficulty she faced through her childbearing years. As she […]

This complete interview may be heard at the Mormon Women Project podcast. Eva Witesman is a professor of public management at BYU, and also serves as an advisor for several non-profit organizations. Her path has surprised her at times, as she has sought revelation from God and made deliberate choices to follow the counsel of […]

Charity Sunshine Tillemann-Dick developed a strong testimony of faith and a love of singing at a very early age. These gifts helped comfort her through the death of loved ones, and saved her own life on multiple occasions. Charity is an opera singer, an author, a recipient of two double lung transplants, a survivor of […]

Erica Glenn believes in the power of music and the healing process of creativity, and has seen from experiences around the world how creativity fosters communities. She started composing her own music from a very young age and has written and produced her own musicals, including The Weaver of Raveloe, which was performed at the […]

Luisa Perkins began reading and then writing stories as a young girl as a way to find peace and escape from a troubled home life. She is now an acclaimed author who has published many books and essays, including Dispirited and The Book of Jer3miah: Premonition. Her latest novel, Prayers in Bath, centers on an […]