Katie Couric Tells Women's Conference Attendees a Little Something About Resilience

Maria Shriver may be the busiest First Lady of a state in the U.S. Just prior to the start of this year's Women's Conference, she teamed up with the Center for American Progress, Time Magazine, NBC Universal, the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy and the Rockefeller Foundation...

...and issued a national study called The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Changes Everything, which highlights the many ways American society has changed due to the current recession and the emerging economic power of women.

Today's lunch session touched on the report's findings. It began with a "Once-in-a-Lifetime-Conversation" between former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, CNN commentator Amy Holmes, Good Morning America correspondent Claire Shipman and Valerie Jarrett (whose official titles are Senior Advisor to the President and Assistant to the President for the Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs).

It concluded with the emotional discussion on grief by Shriver, Elizabeth Edwards, Susan St. James and surprise guest Lisa Niemi. Sandwiched between those two powerhouse panels was Katie Couric, who broke the ice by announcing "I love the smell of estrogen in the afternoon," followed by a joke:

She continued to charm the audience with tales of her early days as a newscaster:

Couric did not use the "P" word (you know, perky) to describe herself, but did admit that she's one of those positive people who is "hot-wired for happiness." Her husband told her that she was "born on a sunny day."

Couric got through trials in her career through hard work and sheer determination, and never doubted her talent or abilities and she succeeded. But there are times when that's not enough - which she learned the hard way, when her husband Jay Monahan was diagnosed with cancer:

"His nine month battle with cancer was a hellish journey," Couric said.

She remembered how she continued to work every day, chatting up guests about their latest books or movies… "but a piece of me was dying too," she said. "Putting on the happy morning face most the excruciating challenge I ever faced."

She said she learned the language of cancer, frantically calling medical schools, pharmaceutical companies, anyone she could think of to find a magic bullet. She never found it. Her husband collapsed in the bathroom on a January day and died on his way to the hospital.

She mourned. Her grief lasted a long time. But eventually, she had an epiphany, inspired by a quote from Thomas Jefferson: The earth is for the living.

"That gave me solace and permission to seek joy and choose happiness," she said.

Four years later, Couric lost her sister Emily to pancreatic cancer at age 54.

"Clearly, the sunny day I was born on, didn’t stay sunny forever – but they never do," she said."My life was on a journey of loss and disappointment, but also amazing joy and incredible discoveries and unparalleled opportunities. And here we all are."

Original post for Los Angeles Moms Blog by Donna Schwartz Mills.

This post is sponsored by Lean Cuisine.