Patty McGuigan became a widow in 2019, following the death of her beloved husband Richard, whose demise occurred a few weeks after the onset of his final illness. She has a long standing successful career in Commercial Real Estate in Silicon Valley. But she also always had another passion, making books of her travels that included sketches and stories of her adventures.

Even though Patty was leading a busy life with all her projects and passions such as traveling and biking tours, she at one point realized that finding her new place in the world as a widow was more complex than just keeping busy. And when looking to books for guidance, she realized there were none out there that looked beyond the grief part of it all. But Patty intended to have a whole new chapter in her own life and was already thinking of writing the book that would become Beyond Widow.

At that point she met Tesha McCord Poe, the widow of a fellow associate in the real estate world, Keith Poe, who had died suddenly. They met over lunch and Tesha was immediately excited to hear of this project. Patty welcomed a second voice for the book and so the collaboration with Tesha began.

Tesha McCord Poe is an attorney, turned law teacher, turned passionate nonprofit leader who has led fundraising efforts totaling more than $100 million. Tesha is the founder and CEO of Joy-Raising, a consultancy that partners with organizations to address their most critical fundraising and diversity/equity and inclusion (DEI) needs. Prior to founding Joy-Raising, Tesha spent more than a decade working as a senior administrator in independent schools in the Bay Area.

Tesha became a widow in 2021 when her husband of 20 years Keith passed away suddenly. She and her two teenage daughters were immediately surrounded by a tsunami of support from the community they had built as a family for two decades. This included a lunch with Patty, one of Keith’s longtime colleagues whom Tesha had always admired as one of the only women in Silicon Valley commercial real estate. That fateful lunch resulted in a bond and sisterhood over their shared status as widows. They also shared an ambition to empower themselves and other widows with the way they chose to move forward in their lives. Tesha and Patty both have a passion for writing and believed their different perspectives, backgrounds and life stages would help women navigate their way through this experience. And Beyond Widow was born.

Marian is an author who calls Weymouth, England, her home. She and her husband raised their three sons together, and she shares three wonderful grandchildren with Patty McGuigan, who all live in California. She published a World War II history book Weymouth at War, now in its second edition, and has co-authored two children's books together with Patty: Leonardo and the Time Travelers and Leonardo’s Magic Sketchbook.

With her experience in research and the writing of a history book, Marian was the perfect partner to offer a broader overview on widowhood in the context of history in the world. Having worked with Patty before, she was enthusiastic to join her and Tesha in the creation of this book.