Note to Self: Inspiring Words From Inspiring People Audiobook

About the Authors

Colleen Delany has been a sparkling jewel in the crown of Washington’s vastly talented acting community for thirty-seven days now and will confidently challenge to a fierce best out of three in “paper-rock-scissors” anyone wishing to topple her from that lofty perch. Primarily a stage actress,—having played roles at Shakespeare Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Arena Stage, Signature Theatre, Folger Shakespeare Library, Studio Theatre, Olney Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Theater J, Washington Stage Guild, Theater of the First Amendment, and Source Theatre, among others—Ms. Delany does a you-name-it of various acting jobs, including audiobook narration.

About the Narrators

Oprah Winfrey, over the course of her esteemed career, has created an unparalleled connection with people around the world. As host and supervising producer of the top-rated, award-winning The Oprah Winfrey Show, she entertained, enlightened, and uplifted millions of viewers for twenty-five years. Her continued accomplishments as a global media leader and philanthropist have established her as one of the most influential and admired public figures in the world today.

Chelsea Handler has built a career around her biting wit and no-holds-barred comedic style. Already an accomplished stand-up comic and actress, Handler is now also the author of several bestselling books. She is the star of her own late-night show, Chelsea Lately, was in the cast of Girls Behaving Badly, and has starred in her own Comedy Central special.

Jimmy Carter was the thirty-ninth president of the United States, serving from 1977 to 1981. In 1982, he and his wife founded the Carter Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of people around the world. Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. He is the author of thirty books, including A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety; A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power; An Hour Before Daylight: Memoirs of a Rural Boyhood; and Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis.

Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer (1928–2024) was a beloved and trusted therapist who revolutionized the national dialogue on sex, sexuality, and relationships with her live, syndicated radio program, Sexually Speaking. She went on to host numerous television shows, author nearly forty books, and tour in her one-woman show about her life, Dr. Ruth, All the Way. She taught for six years at Yale and Princeton.

Maya Angelou (1928–2014) was a singer, actress, dancer, activist, filmmaker, writer, and mother. In addition to her bestselling autobiographies she wrote several volumes of poetry, including “On the Pulse of the Morning” for the inauguration of President Clinton. She was given a lifetime appointment as Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, and in 2010 President Barack Obama awarded her the Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor.

Jane Fonda, the Oscar and Emmy Award–winning actor, is the founder of the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power & Potential and the Jane Fonda Center for Adolescent Reproductive Health at the Emory University School of Medicine. Though she is also a highly successful producer and #1 New York Times bestselling author, Fonda’s passion lies in advocating for young people’s health. A former UN Goodwill Ambassador, she is a frequent speaker on youth development, child sexual abuse, eating disorders, adolescent reproductive health, and more. She lives in Los Angeles.

Joe Biden was first elected to the United States Senate in 1972 and served there until 2009, when he assumed the office of vice president under Barack Obama. He grew up in New Castle County, Delaware, and graduated from the University of Delaware and the Syracuse University College of Law. Since 1991, he has been an adjunct professor at the Widener University School of Law, where he teaches a seminar on constitutional law.

Alice Waters, chef, author, and the proprietor of Chez Panisse, is an American pioneer of a culinary philosophy that maintains that cooking should be based on the finest and freshest seasonal ingredients that are produced sustainably and locally. She is a passionate advocate for a food economy that is “good, clean, and fair.” Waters is Vice President of Slow Food International, a nonprofit organization that promotes and celebrates local artisanal food traditions and has 100,000 members in over 130 countries. She is the author of eight books, including The Art of Simple Food: Notes and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution.

Senator Tammy Duckworth is a former US Army lieutenant colonel who has served as the junior United States Senator for Illinois since 2017. A proud Iraq War veteran and helicopter pilot, she represented Illinois’s 8th district in the US House of Representatives from 2013 to 2017. Before election to office, she served as director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs from 2006 to 2009 and as assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs in the US Department of Veterans Affairs from 2009 to 2011.