THE NEW GURU OF GIRL TALK
KARA KADING WISHES SHE WEREN’T crying, but there it is. The mother of three from Racine, Wis., is working two jobs so her kids can go to a private Lutheran school. She has just sat through a day of lectures for one of them, helping to sell essential oils from her home. And now she has met the conference’s keynote speaker and the woman who has helped her hold it all together, Rachel Hollis.
“She makes me feel like it’s O.K. to be me,” says Kading, 40, who started a book club just to read Hollis’ first self-help book, Girl, Wash Your Face. “That I don’t have to listen to the voice in my head that tells me I can’t do this.”
Hollis, 36, a 5-ft. 2-in. dynamo, has just spent an hour onstage at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. But she still has bubbles to spare. She signs whatever each woman brings her and leans in for selfies. Despite the fact that she’s been up since before 4 a.m., her cheer and warmth never flicker.
Of course, Hollis has never sold essential oils. She has no need. She’s already found the perfect product to pitch you, dear modern woman. She figured out just the thing you need.
