What you have in your hand is an extraordinary book and CD-Album package that conveys creative energies and an enormous undertaking by one woman whose talents and courageous life transcend into an inspirational journey of success. Reading this book is discovering another amazing side of Imelda Roberts. It brought back the time I met her in 2000 when I hired her to lead as the Director of Office of Human Resources Management of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG).

Seeing Imelda then and now, I would never imagine she came from abject poverty. I would not even think of her as a maid, or someone who had gone through tough adversities, but somehow I also am not surprised. Discovering the other side of Imelda in her book, Barefooted Soul, is indeed an affirmation of a courageous passionate spirit I have seen in Imelda all these years – a lady always ready to explore what this world has to offer. Seeing her today reminds us of the power of faith and confidence in what the human spirit is capable of achieving. Her success, transformation and remarkable personal breakthrough is a testimony to the innate abilities we have in each one of us waiting to be unleashed.

In February 2002, I personally presented to Imelda the COG Ambassador Award for “being a source of inspiration and hope beyond the boundary of COG” for an amazing volunteer project she did for victims and heroes of September 11th tragedy. With pride, this book vouched what Imelda is to me. Her book, Barefooted Soul, is another inspirational book that will truly captivate you, let you get out of your own boundaries, and inspire your own world. It is a true yinyang, which provides a powerful backdrop for two cosmic forces of energy in the life of Imelda. It is a tale of true triumph of the human spirit and despite all odds she rises up to prove we all can overcome life’s biggest enemies and adversities.

More importantly, through her stories and reflections Imelda reaches out to provoke our minds and helps us see for ourselves through her life the other world we may not see through our own prisms – poverty, abuse, corporate depression, nasty politics, immigration and other destitution our world is experiencing everyday. She knows how to use her innate gifts to remind each one of us that we are children of one world, and as people we have to onstantly ask ourselves … What would we leave behind to create a better world for those around us, and for our children?

The characters are real; the lessons are powerful and the social implications challenge current and future leaders to look beyond the daily status quo for the sake of the most destitute people, especially millions of victims of abuse and the more than a billion poor children in the world.

Read Barefooted Soul and listen to her heartfelt songs. This awesome book and CD-Album package is destined to touch lives and inspire spirits. Own it and find your own gifts to pass on to others and to our world! Enjoy the journey nto Imelda Roberts’ world and reap the benefits of what she learned along the way.

Michael C. Rogers
Executive Vice President, Corporate Services
MedStar Health