Woman's Day

ElyseRyan Jewelry began nearly 25 years ago at Elyse Rosenstock’s kitchen table with a $300 investment and a passion for crafting beautiful things. Her designs—made with sterling silver, gold, semiprecious stones, pearls, and mixed metals—quickly found fans in her Connecticut community and beyond, eventually becoming available in boutiques and at select retailers. She has helped raise more than $1 million for charities such as Stand Up to Cancer and Alex’s Lemonade Stand through her creations, and recently she launched the podcast Stacked. Cheer her on! @elyseryanjewelry elyseryanjewelry.com Instant inspiration Our portable box of Bible verse cards will help you find words of hope and strength when you need them most. $16, womansday.com/prayercards HOW TO REACH US SUBSCRIPTIONS online womansday.com/service mail Woman’s Day, PO Box 5173, Boone, IA 50950 telephone 800-234-2960 EDITORIAL…

When we’re kids, validation is built in: gold stars, report cards, high-fives, trophies. We practically trip over proof that we’ve done well. But when we’re grown up, that kind of feedback quietly disappears. No one cheers when you empty the dishwasher or make a dinner everyone actually eats. Most of the work that keeps life moving gets us zero applause. I didn’t realize how much I missed the appreciation until recently. When My Perfect Day, the reality show I hosted and coproduced, didn’t get renewed, I was crushed. I had poured my heart and soul into playing fairy godmother to some truly deserving folks. Having put my name, face, and ideas out there made me vulnerable, and it was hard to feel as if I hadn’t made the cut. Then,…

Melanie Glowacki interior designer A lifelong love of color and creativity led an art teacher to an unexpected second chapter in interior design. What began as a quiet curiosity grew into a passion for crafting spaces that feel layered, lived in, and deeply personal. Melanie uses her artist’s eye to blend pattern, texture, and meaning, often mixing family treasures with modern finds to create rooms with heart. Her recent attic project (see page 000) shows her approach in action: A small, awkward floor was reimagined as a masculine office that would also serve as a welcoming guest retreat thanks to smart furniture choices and thoughtful styling. Check her out! @luxuryinteriorsbymelanie Julia D’Agostino Pierce photographer An interior and lifestyle photographer based in New Jersey, Julia has been telling visual stories since…

sick-day essentials Sisters Sydney Wiseman, an awardwinning toy creator, and Kaitlin Wiseman, M.D., a family physician, are transforming kids’ health care with a dose of play. Playhouse MD aims to ease sick days with doctordesigned, kid-inspired baby-care items. Think everything from a lightup narwhal nasal bulb to a butterfly medicine dispenser and a giraffe thermometer. When play meets pediatrics, everyone feels better. Cheer them on! @playhouse.md playhousemd.com party in a box Sidney Carrier, a registered nurse, wife, and mom of two from Baton Rouge, LA, knows how to make precious moments special and stress-free. Inspired by the picture-perfect parties her mom once threw, Sidney created The Box Babe, turning her lifelong love of celebrating into a business that brings the party straight to your doorstep. To bring ease and joy…

When I was growing up, my mom kept a yellow plastic recipe box on our kitchen counter filled with clippings from Woman’s Day and other ladies’ magazines. Over time, it faded into that unmistakable 1970s yellow and the hinge broke, but she kept right on using it. It was like so many of the women I now admire most—unfussy, reliable, and full of love. One of our prized clippings was of a dessert we called “pizza pie.” Just the mention of it would send my little brother and me into fits of joy, spinning in happy circles around the kitchen. When the cookie crust came out of the oven, we’d hover, impatiently waiting for it to cool so she could put the dessert toppings on. It was supposed to chill…

If you ask Becky Fawcett who she is, her answer won’t start with “CEO,” “Founder,” or “Change maker.” She’ll smile, tilt her head, and say, “I’m a mother.” It’s the title she fought hardest for—one that cost her nearly $200,000 and nine years of heartbreak through which she maintained hope and determination. At 31, Becky longed to become a mom. But after five rounds of IVF, three pregnancies, and three devastating miscarriages, she found herself emotionally depleted and financially drained. The word “adoption” felt terrifying at first, wrapped in stigma, but it was the only path left. With $40,000 remaining in her savings, she walked into an adoption attorney’s office and asked the question that would change countless lives: “What happens to people who can’t afford this?” In 2005, Becky…