Jessica Knoll, one of our Awesome Women this year, empowered women with her harrowing story. (Photo by Stephanie Diani)

Brave storytellers and change-makers, these strong women are empowering others to find their voices and connecting them to the resources they need for success.

Turning the tables on what it means to be a model 

Beverly Bond, 45: Founder of Black Girls Rock! 

Ten years ago, DJ Beverly Bond came up with a T-shirt slogan: “Black Girls Rock!” “I made a list of women who rocked throughout history – Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Marian Wright Edelman – and it dawned on me that this was bigger than a T-shirt,” she said. “Black girls were not hearing enough about role models. The message they were getting in media and music was that they were objects, there for the pleasure of men.” To change the narrative, Beverly began an awards show to honor inspiring black women, which debuted on BET in 2010 and had nearly 3 million viewers. This year’s Black Girls Rock! show featured powerhouses like Rihanna and triggered 215,000 tweets – proof that Beverly is indeed changing the conversation.

Toughest time: “When I launched Black Girls Rock!, I was shunned by the music industry because I was speaking out about a problem that they were a part of. Now everybody’s trying to be my friend again.”

Life motto: “Each one, teach one. It means each slave who could read had the duty to teach one who couldn’t, even if it meant risking their lives to do it.”

Letting rape victims know they’re not alone 

Jessica Knoll, 32 

Best-selling novelist Jessica Knoll’s debut thriller, “The Luckiest Girl Alive,” sold more than 500,000 copies and was optioned by Reese Witherspoon to become a movie. The book includes many harrowing scenes, but none as raw as the one in which the teen protagonist, TifAni FaNelli, is gang-raped at a party by three boys in her class. Readers wondered how Jessica wrote the scene with such clarity, and for months she dodged their questions. But with a paperback tour looming last March, she knew the question would come up until she addressed it. In an essay for Lena Dunham’s Lenny Letter, Jessica revealed that she had been gang-raped just like TifAni. Her essay made news worldwide and landed her on the Today show.

The fallout: “For the first time in my life,” she says, “I felt strong. To feel sad and hurt, all those emotions I didn’t let myself feel for a very long time, that’s where the strength came from. And everyone rallied around me – the polar opposite of what happened when I was 15.” Back then, her classmates defaced her locker and called her a slut. A teacher even called her a “cheap mall rat” in class under the pretext of offering a grammar lesson on appositives.

Her hope: That sharing her story might help erase the shame rape victims often feel. “I’m telling the story this time, and it’s empowering,” she said. “There’s more strength in saying you’re not fine than in insisting that you are.”

Getting girls to click with technology 

Randi Zuckerberg, 34: Entrepreneur 

“I can’t tell you how many meetings I’ve been to in Silicon Valley where I was the only woman,” said former Facebook exec Randi Zuckerberg. “There is no pipeline for women.” Randi, who now runs her own media company, decided to use pop culture to show girls they belonged in tech: This fall marks the debut of Dot, Randi’s animated series on Sprout about an adventurous, tech-savvy girl. (It’s based on her best-selling book.) She’s also mentoring female entrepreneurs on Oxygen’s “Quit Your Day Job.” “The more women support one another,” she said, “the more room there is for all of us to succeed.”

ON ANOTHER MATTER

Housekeeping on the Edge: Living off the Grid 

Overrated, according to Shelly and Joe Trumpey: traditional central heating and being hooked up to the power grid. Underrated: the chance to teach their two daughters – Autumn, 15, and Evelyn, 14 – to respect and appreciate the earth. “We’re isolated,” Joe said. “And happy,” added Shelly. Their house, built from straw in 2009, sits on a 40-acre farm, and they have plenty of non-human neighbors – chickens, sheep, pigs, cattle, turkeys, rabbits, ducks and goats – to keep them company.

The 2,200-square-foot home, which Joe first sketched on the back of a napkin, was painstakingly planned so they’d have all the comfort of an average American house with little environmental impact. The walls, made of locally sourced adobe and straw bale, retain heat in the winter and keep the house cool in the summer. Golf-cart batteries suck up solar power from panels and fuel household appliances, such as a fridge and a washing machine. A wood-burning furnace heats water for showers; the water also flows through 4,000 feet of tubing under the floors, helping to defrost chilly toes.

The Trumpeys don’t track how much money they save – they suspect it’s a bundle – but are clear on the peace-of-mind payoff. They love sitting on their back deck with iced tea, marveling at their enchanting world. “We’re pretty comfortable out here,” says Shelly. “This is where we belong.”

Recalls Alert 

The following products and vehicles were recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Unless otherwise indicated, discontinue use of the products immediately and return them to the store where purchased for a refund. For more information about the products, call the manufacturer or CPSC’s toll-free hotline, 800-638-2772. Only some cars or trucks recalled are affected. Contact a dealer for your model to see if it is included in the recall. The dealer will tell you what to do.

PRODUCT/VEHICLE PROBLEM 

“Step-iT” Activity Wristbands, distributed exclusively by McDonald’s restaurants nationwide from Aug. 9, 2016 to Aug. 17, 2016 with Happy Meals and Mighty Kids Meals.

The recalled wristbands can cause skin irritation or burns to children. Consumers should immediately take the recalled wristbands from children and return them to any McDonald’s for a free replacement toy and either a yogurt tube or bag of apple slices. Consumers can contact McDonald’s at (800) 244-6227 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, or online at

www.mcdonalds.com. Click on “Safety Recall” for more information.

Chrysler 2011-2016 Right Hand Drive Jeep Wrangler 

The clockspring assembly may become contaminated with dust and cause the air bag circuit to fail. Failure of the air bag circuit may prevent the driver’s frontal air bag from deploying in the event of a crash, increasing the risk of injury. Chrysler will notify owners, and dealers will replace the clockspring, wheel back cover and column shroud, for free. Remedy parts currently are unavailable. Interim notices were mailed to owners on July 5, 2016. Owners will receive a second notice when remedy parts become available. Owners may contact Chrysler customer service at 800-853-1403. Chrysler’s number for this recall is S40.