What do GPS and rhinestones have in common? Vanessa Riley explores the surprising parallels between GPS pioneer Dr. Gladys Mae West and country music icon Dolly Parton. Born into rural Southern America sixteen years apart, both women confronted stereotypes about class, gender, intelligence, and where they came from—but chose very different ways to overcome them. Discover how Gladys West’s groundbreaking mathematics and satellite geodesy helped lay the foundation for modern GPS, and how Dolly Parton transformed an Appalachian childhood into a legendary career as a singer, songwriter, businesswoman, and philanthropist. Vanessa also explores Parton’s Imagination Library, which has placed hundreds of millions of free books into children’s hands around the world. It’s a story of education, literacy, mathematics, Jim Crow, Appalachia, country music, determination, and two women who refused to let their beginnings determine their endings. Plus, Vanessa celebrates the release of Book 32, Murder in St. James’s Park, the latest Lady Worthing Mystery.

GPS pioneer Gladys West meets rhinestone icon Dolly Parton: two Southern women who beat stereotypes, dreamed bigger, and changed the world.

Keywords: Gladys Mae West, Dr. Gladys West, Gladys West GPS, Dolly Parton, Dolly Rebecca Parton, GPS, GPS history, women in STEM, Black women in STEM, Black mathematicians, women mathematicians, satellite geodesy, mathematics, Black history, women’s history, Jim Crow, Virginia history, Virginia State University, Dolly Parton history, country music, Jolene, I Will Always Love You, Whitney Houston, 9 to 5, Appalachia, Appalachian history, Tennessee history, Imagination Library, Dolly Parton Imagination Library, children’s literacy, free books for children, literacy, education, women overcoming stereotypes, Southern women, women in history, inspirational women, rural America, American history, Vanessa Riley, Write of Passage, Vanessa Riley podcast, Murder in St. James’s Park, Lady Worthing Mystery, historical mystery

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Episode Notes & Extras 


Find my full show notes, behind-the-scenes thoughts, and extras on Substack → vanessariley.substack.com 

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