Same family. Very different approaches to life.
Red is warm and fuzzy. Black is pragmatic and sarcastic.
- Red leads with her heart. Black leads with her head.
- Red wants to talk it through. Black wants to solve it.
- Red gives you the context. Black gives you the bottom line.
Which sounds more like you?
Which brings us to one of our favorite examples: When we had to explain the differences between us for the Introduction to What I Learned About Life When My Husband Got Fired!, Red wrote pages with her usual blah-blah-blah. Black gave the book designer a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
Funny thing is that over the years, readers have not only told us which of us they’re more like, but also gone so far as to identify the “Reds” and “Blacks” in their own families. We even had a few who nicknamed themselves (one was “Brown,” another was “Bald”).
So, are you more like Red or Black? Or somewhere in between?
Red has a crisis and turns to her older sister, Black, looking for answers (and sympathy). Instead, Black basically tells her to "grow up" and proceeds to help her take control of her life instead of having her life control her ... and then decides to turn her sister's crisis into a book – a brand – a business. After all, what are sisters for?!
When Neiman Marcus launched our book, What I Learned About Life When My Husband Got Fired!, it was intended as the basis of a sitcom. But life never seems to go as planned. There was no way to know that our book would take on a life of its own and become a bestseller – read by men and women of all ages (from middle school students to senior citizens). Or, that we were to begin our journey into the world of education and then criminal justice.
Join us on our journey ... and let us join you on yours.
After getting a degree in Theater Arts from Wake Forest University in North Carolina, Tina Pennington (aka "Red") moved back in with our parents until she married an outgoing Englishman and followed his career around the globe. Her eldest daughter, Natasha, was born in The Netherlands in 1998 and her youngest daughter, Sawyer, was born in Houston in 2002. She lives in Sugar Land, a suburban city on the outskirts of Houston, Texas where her family also includes two labradoodles, a red one called Oink and a black one called Moo. (Imagine calling for your dogs with those names!) Red's a warm and fuzzy, single mom whose life revolves around her two red-headed girls. With Red, it's all about the feelings.
The photo was taken in the Fall of 2004 in front of Red's home in Sugar Land. She can't remember who took the photo, but it's amazing – for the sole reason that Red's in front of the camera, rather than in her usual place behind the lens.