Bonny Robinson Cook

When Bonny Cook was growing up in Connecticut she wanted to be a school teacher, and she didn’t want to hear about any other possibilities. Actually, in 1960, the career possibilities for women were pretty much confined to teacher, nurse or secretary—or getting married and becoming a housewife.

When Bonny graduated from college in 1962 she went to California and taught for four years. She became disillusioned with teaching because of bad principals, quit, and shoehorned her way into becoming a business computer programmer, a job that had only recently been created. After gaining several years of experience she joined Xerox Corporation, and eventually worked her way up to vice president.

Bonny did this against the background of the women’s movement, which started about 1960. She was one of the pioneers as she broke through the so-called glass ceiling that prevented women from rising to high positions in the business world. She and others like her paved the way for young women of today, and made their climb easier.

The story of how she did it is interesting and exciting, and contains not only history, but also tips for today’s people in the workforce, whether female or male.