THE EXECUTIVE Katharine Gibbs

In 1917, Katharine Gibbs rebounded from personal tragedy in an unusual way: she decided to train a subversive, feminist army. Nearly broke and with just a high school education, Gibbs trained women as executive secretaries, building a famous school in just a few years. "Gibbs Girls" were so intelligent, competent, and polite, that no one could justify the dusty old notions that women belonged at home. The American workplace was changed forever. Our guest is Vanda Krefft, author of Expect Great Things! How the Katharine Gibbs School Revolutionized the American Workplace for Women. ____________________ Check out our upcoming TOURS: witness women's history with What'sHerName and find your people! Music in this episode: Irving Aaronson & His Commanders, "If I Had You" and "All By Yourself in the Moonlight"; Nat Shikret & The Victor Orchestra, "The Things That Were Made for Love"; Johnny Marvin, "True Blue Lou"; Arden & Ohman, "We'll Be the Same"; Paul Whiteman Orchestra, "Love Me"; Fred Rich & His Orchestra, "Nobody But You"; Leo Reisman & His Orchestra, "I Kiss Your Hand Madame"; Amulets, "Resolver"; JVNA, "Athena". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You can listen to THE EXECUTIVE Katharine Gibbs online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

THE EXECUTIVE Katharine Gibbs is an episode from What'sHerName by Dr. Katie Nelson and Olivia Meikle.

This episode is 57:02 long.

This episode was published on Nov 10, 2025.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from What'sHerName when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.