Nancy Pelosi's book, Know Your Power details her journey from the city of Baltimore to San Francisco and then to Washington D.C.

When I attended a recent local event at which she was interviewed about her life and motivations, I didn't really know all that much about her except that she came from Baltimore and her father was the mayor there. But as I learned more, in particular about her attitude toward service to others, I was struck by how fortunate we are to have her as the Speaker.

Because of my own interest in life stories and how different we all are, it is always interesting to me to learn about the lives of others and how they evolved over time. Often I am finding that people may never have expected to be doing some of things that they have done, and the path to get there is always fascinating.

In the book, her life and journey in politics unfold. It provides perspective from the time of the death of Sala Burton, who was well-loved in Northern California, and Sala's endorsement of Nancy on her deathbed to Nancy Pelosi's rise to Speaker of the House. 

Like her father, Nancy Pelosi never took winning an election for granted. She was always extremely organized. She learned from other organizers, such as her father first of all and the farm workers as well. And she credits raising five children for providing her with organizational skills that were very important.

A remark that a friend of Nancy Pelosi's made was, "I knew she was going places when I would go to her house and see those little children folding their own laundry and organizing it in stacks!"

Continuously in the book, she credits her experience raising five children as, not only an asset as a training ground for politics, but as a motivation and driving force for change to help children in the U.S. to climb from poverty to realize their gifts and talents.

When she first thought about running for congress, after Sala Burton endorsed her, she wanted to find out what her family thought of it. At that time she had only one daughter left at home, a senior in high school. She had a talk with her daughter and said that she would be fine with whatever her daughter wanted, if she wanted her to be at home for her last year. Her daughter's response, "Mom, get a life!"

And so she ran for congress.

At the end of the book, she quotes Eleanor Roosevelt, "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

The book is a testament to how far women have come and it also provides encouragement for women to step up to the table and be counted because they are more than welcome there by the women who have gone before and made a place.