Velya Jancz-Urban lives her life by the adage, "There is no growth without change." Zany and gregarious, she is a teacher, public speaker, author, former Brazilian dairy farm owner, and expert on New England's colonial women. Moving into a foreclosed 1770 farmhouse ignited Velya's interest in the colonial era. She became obsessed with colonial women and created an entertainingly-informative presentation, The Not-So-Good Life of the Colonial Goodwife. As the Grounded Goodwife duo, Velya and her daughter Ehris offer a variety of historic/holistic workshops and seminars. Velya has a few too many rescue dogs and cats, is happiest with a fresh stack of library books, loves thrift shops, and is passionate about alternative medicine. She runs an education program called How Cool Is That?! (Hands-On Science & History), and she believes that hands-on learning is for everyone. Velya and Ehris' mother/daughter memoir, How to Survive a Brazilian Betrayal (Green Writers Press, May 2019), reveals how the duo were grounded, lost everything, became a powerful mother/daughter team—and better versions of themselves.