Fall for the Book: Expect Great Things!

Instructor: Vanda Krefft
Thursday, 2:15—3:40, Oct. 9

From the 1910s to the 1960s, the Katharine Gibbs School was widely known for training women for secretarial
positions. However, in Expect Great Things! How the Katharine Gibbs School Revolutionized the American Workplace for Women, author Vanda Krefft reveals how this school was intentionally instilling women with the skills, knowledge, and self-confidence to seek opportunities outside of the prescribed secretarial role. Krefft tells the story of Katie Gibbs, the school’s founder, and introduces us to a rolodex of graduates who went on to defy the sexism of their era. Publisher’s Weekly calls the book “an exuberant and fascinating look back at how the uphill battle women faced inspired them to be creatively subversive.” This event is part of Fall for the Book’s festival lineup. For the full schedule, visit fallforthebook.org/ schedule.
Vanda Krefft has written about women’s issues and popular culture for leading national magazines, including Elle, Redbook, Woman’s Day, and Woman’s World, as well as newspapers worldwide through syndication. Expect Great Things! (Algonquin Books/Hachette, March 2025), a social history of the Katharine Gibbs School for women, is her second book. She is also the author of The Man Who Made the Movies (HarperCollins, 2017), the first in-depth biography of Twentieth Century Fox founder William Fox. Vanda has a BA in English and an MA in Communication, both from the University of Pennsylvania, and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She lives in
Santa Monica, CA.