By Carla Adair Hendricks
She entered the world a daughter of a poor Arkansas Delta sharecropper.
Decades later she worked in an office three doors down from President Bill Clinton.
Janis F. Kearney has risen to heights that her parents had dreamed for her, and on this past Tuesday, January 8, she shared her journey with the Little Rock American Christian Writers. In case you missed it, I thought I'd share her story here.
Before Janis began sharing the details of her life, she declared her calling to write. "Writing is what God called me to do. That's what I'm on earth to do."
Throughout her childhood, she used her hands to pick cotton in the hot fields of Gould, Arkansas. But she always knew that when she grew up she wanted to use her hands and her mind to impact her community and world.
Her parents -- her 106-year-old father is stilling living today -- encouraged her and her 18 brothers and sisters to dream of more prosperous lives for themselves. "The three lessons my parents taught us were hard work, education and faith."
It was in this spirit that she applied for a secretarial job one summer during her high school years with the late Daisy Bates (leader of the Little Rock Nine). She felt immediately drawn to Mrs. Bates, but unfortunately failed the typewriting test miserably. Though she didn't land the job, she says she knew the moment she met Mrs. Bates, that she was "in the presence of greatness."
Little did she know -- she and Daisy Bates would meet again.
Janis went on to major in journalism at the University of Arkansas, where she honed her writing craft. She graduated and moved on to a lucrative state government career, and continued that for nine years.
She was content and making a good living, but there was more she'd be called to do.
In 1984, Janis applied for a job with a local newspaper, the Arkansas State Press. The newspaper was owned by, none other than, Daisy Bates. Mrs. Bates and her husband were searching for a managing editor, and when Janis interviewed she reminded Mrs. Bates of their previous meeting years before.
This time Janis landed the job.
Things were going well until the Bates decided to sell the newspaper just months after Janis had quit her steady government job to join their staff. Janis was devastated, but thinking back on her parents' lessons of hard work and faith, she and her husband put in a bid for the Arkansas State Press.
Mrs. Bates turned down all other offers for the newspaper and accepted Janis', saying "I can see the fire in your belly."
That fire in her belly has ignited many experiences in Janis' life. In 1992, Janis began working with President Bill Clinton's campaign. And when he was elected the 42nd president of the United States, she followed him to the White House as his personal diarist.
This job was a dream come true. Her responsibility was to shadow the President throughout the day and write about his life. And write she did. One day her writings will be included in the annals of history in President Clinton's presidential library in Little Rock.
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| Janis reads from her presidential biography in 2006 |
Until then, Janis has published an award-winning memoir, Cotton Field of Dreams and a presidential biography, Conversations: William Jefferson Clinton, From Hope to Harlem.
Oh, and she also founded her own publishing company, Writing Our World Press.
Janis has come a long way from the cotton fields of Gould.
