By Tina Vasquez (Los Angeles)

In the 1960’s, Detroit, MI was an interesting place to live. It was during this time that Motown Records emerged, forever tying the city to the soulful sounds of Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, and Smoky Robinson – just to name a few. There was also the burgeoning automobile industry and The Detroit Riot of 1967, but despite all of this change, things remained rather traditional in the home of Anne McCarthy, current Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs for Western Union – traditional, though not boring or by any means quiet.

McCarthy grew up in a large Irish Catholic household that extended out to her neighborhood. She had 11 siblings and, according to her, everyone on her block either had two kids or ten, but at her Catholic school “if you didn’t have at least eight, we thought there was something wrong!” Her U.S. Marine-trained father father was definitely the disciplinarian, while her mother Cay – jokingly nicknamed “Chaos” by her father – allowed her children more flexibility.

In Detroit, McCarthy’s father had a growing consulting business and was able to send his kids to a college of their choice, though McCarthy was unsure of the path she would take. Thankfully, an emerging interest in writing forged a path that would eventually lead to her position at Western Union.