“I honor every woman who has strength enough to step out of the beaten path when she feels her walk lies in another; strength enough to stand up to be laughed at, if necessary. That is the bitter pill we must all swallow in the beginning, but I regard these pills as tonics quite essential to one’s mental salvation.“

Happy Women’s History Month! Meet the fierce 19th-century sculptor Harriet Hosmer (pictured in the middle of this man’s micro-world) – the forgotten pioneer who paved the way for women in art. Every woman artist, every queer person, every creative person who has carved out a purposeful life amid a culture where they are in any way “other,” is indebted to Hosmer — the bedrock of our being is marbled with the ancestral genes of hers. Here is her timeless wisdom on ambition and what it takes to be a great artist.