Ireland, Kathy 1963-

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IRELAND, Kathy 1963-

PERSONAL: Born March 20, 1963 (some sources say 1962), in Glendale, CA; daughter of John (a labor union organizer) and Barbara (involved in charitable organizations) Ireland; married Greg Olsen (an emergency room physician), 1988; children: Eric, Lily.

ADDRESSES: Offıce—Sterling/Winters Company, 1900 Avenue of the Stars, Ste. 1640, Los Angeles, CA 90067. Agent—William Morris Agency, 151 South El Camino Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90212-2775.

CAREER: Model and designer. Actress in movies and television.

AWARDS, HONORS: National Association of Women Business Owners Businesswoman of the Year; National Mother's Day Committee Mother of the Year.

WRITINGS:

(With Laura Morton) Powerful Inspirations: Eight Lessons That Will Change Your Life, Doubleday (New York, NY), 2002.

SIDELIGHTS: Kathy Ireland has parlayed her success as a model and actress into a career as a clothing designer, home director, and producer of fitness videos. At the same time she has raised two children and maintained a solid marriage in a celebrity-charged world where families are often a casualty of fame and ambition. In Powerful Inspirations: Eight Lessons That Will Change Your Life, she answers a question that often comes up at her speaking engagements: How do you manage to put your family first while accomplishing so much? The advice is mostly commonsense (cultivate strong relationships, save part of your income) "but Ireland salvages the book with down-to-earth personal anecdotes," noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer. She also discusses the ways in which failures can be seen as education, and she discusses her own failed attempts at setting up her own business before hitting on the idea of marketing socks, a decision that led to designing an entire line of clothing. In addition to her family, Ireland emphasizes her strong faith in God as one of her chief inspirations. She told Atlanta Christian magazine, "The reason I can be so bold and say that the lessons in my book will change your life is because the inspiration behind them doesn't come from me, it comes from God. If you apply it to your life, your life will change."