Victoria D. Schmidt (neé Dabrowski) was a lifetime resident of New Jersey until she and her husband Ralph moved to Virginia in 1997. In 2006, Schmidt returned to her home state and now resides in Tewksbury Township. She graduated with a BA in English and minor in French from Douglass College. One of her first jobs was as teen Fashion Consultant at L. Bamberger & Co, now Macy’s in Newark, New Jersey.

She went on to commute to New York City as a Fashion Editor on Woman’s Day Magazine and then to Owens Corning Fiberglas as Public Relations Executive for Consumer Products. (When she became pregnant with her daughter, she was let go from her job at that company. Times have changed since then!)

Following a sabbatical until two months after her daughter, Lisa, was born, Schmidt returned again to New York City, as an Account Executive for the Roy Bernard Company, an international public relations firm. She was encouraged by one of the principals of that organization to establish her own firm in New Jersey, which she did. She also became involved in community affairs, serving on boards of several nonprofit organizations and supporting Republican candidates for office. She was elected to the Somerset County Republican Committee and was a committeewoman for twenty years before moving to Virginia.

Twice, she ran for the New Jersey State Assembly, but lost. This brought her to the attention of Tom Kean for whom she worked as a volunteer in several campaigns. When Kean was elected Governor she served in his administration for eight years as Director of New Jersey Travel and Tourism, was responsible for the successful New Jersey and You, Perfect Together Campaign and helped establish a series of convention and visitors bureaus in the state. For her accomplishments, Schmidt was honored with several awards by state and national organizations.

Schmidt’s interest in Germaine de Staël, a political activist and writer during the French Revolution and the era that followed, began in college French literature courses and continues to this day. She spent more than twenty years while holding other jobs, researching her subject, visiting residences of Madame de Staël, traveling the same routes her idol traversed, attending colloquia of the Société Staëlienne and interviewing both descendants and scholars of de Staël. The result is Triumph in Exile.

She met her future husband Ralph, during their freshman college year, he at Rutgers University and she across town in New Brunswick, New Jersey at Douglas. Among the offices he held at Rutgers was the presidency of the Student Council. He was an honor student and an outstanding athlete, an Olympic wrestler and the only man in Rutgers history to have earned letters in five different sports. A chemical engineer and vice president of SmithKline Beecham until his retirement. Ralph died in 2001. Their daughter, Lisa Schmidt-Rooks, is an equestrian trainer, a national dressage judge and president of Crisis Management, which handles contemporary musicians.

Triumph in Exile is available on Amazon.com. Or you may purchase a signed copy directly from the author at ottomisti@aol.com or by calling Victoria at 908-840-4084, or by US Mail at 35 Hunters Circle, Lebanon, NJ 08833.

To hear Victoria discuss Triumph in Exile for two minutes, dial 818-788-9722; press 6 then dial code 2285