Interview with Teresa Tomeo on Extreme Makeover

I have recently had the blessing of interviewing a dear friend, fellow author, and colleague, Teresa Tomeo about her newest book Extreme Makeover. Below is our interview:

DONNA-MARIE: Teresa, your new book Extreme Makeover appears to have been in the making for a while, compiled with compelling research and crafted from expert observations, with a keen eye on the culture. How long did it take to write this book?

TERESA: You’re right about this being in the making for some time. I am always researching in the area of media influence and our culture so I had much of the work and the format for this book already outlined.  In all it took me about two months to write the book and several weeks of editing with a wonderful editing team from Ignatius Press.

DONNA-MARIE: Why did you feel this book needed to come out now?

TERESA: Well it’s God’s timing. But I also saw a need based on so much emphasis in our culture and in media programming on the outward things. We are all about making over our homes, our wardrobes, and getting into better physical shape but I don’t see any shows or messages out there telling us that real beauty is about being beautiful from the inside out. I also found that this idea of a spiritual extreme makeover was resonating with so many people especially women.  But again it’s really God’s timing. 

DONNA-MARIE: What do you hope your book will accomplish?

TERESA: I hope it will get women and men to see that Jesus and the Church don’t give us a series of “no’s” but as Pope Benedict said a few years ago-“a big “yes” to love and to life.” God’s plan really is the best plan and if we open our hearts and minds to what is happening in our world we can connect the dots and see how the Church is proven right over and over again. 

DONNA-MARIE: Who should buy this book? 

TERESA: Women, men, pastors, any one interested in the impact the culture is having on our world. It is a great resource and contains the latest studies on media influence. It can also serve as a great book for a book club or a study group as each chapter contains reflection questions. I had a priest tell me just yesterday that he loved the book and thinks both men and women should read it so he is buying 100 copies for his parish. 

DONNA-MARIE: Where can it be purchased? 

TERESA: www.teresatomeo.com

DONNA-MARIE: What are your plans for upcoming speaking and book signing events?

TERESA: I have two book signings in the Detroit area where I reside and then will be signing books at my other upcoming speaking engagements.  Best thing to do is to go to my web site http://www.teresatomeo.com/ for my schedule details.

DONNA-MARIE: Is there anything else you'd like to tell us about Extreme Makeover? 

TERESA: I really hope people find it a helpful resource that encourages, affirms, and educates.  I really put my heart and soul into Extreme Makeover and I hope that I did Jesus and His Church proud.

TERESA: Any plans for a new book?  Several new books actually and all with some connection to my area of expertise in the culture and media so as we say in broadcasting “stay tuned.”

DONNA-MARIE: I can't wait to see how that all unfolds. We'll be staying tuned! Thank you very much for the interview! I pray your book is a complete success and reaches countless people!  

TERESA: Thanks Donna-Marie for the work that you do and all the support.  You are such a gift to us in the Church!!!!!

DONNA-MARIE: You are too kind, dear Teresa. Thank you for all that YOU do! God bless your book launch!

"Extreme Makeover" by Teresa Tomeo

Have you seen Teresa Tomeo's new book published by Ignatius Press? It's making quite a splash. Here's a bit about it:

Popular radio host Teresa Tomeo knows from experience that the self-image of American women is being distorted by pop culture. with its emphasis on youth, physical beauty, and sexuality, the secular media is encouraging women—and girls—to see themselves primarily as sex objects. a former television news reporter, tomeo pulls together the latest research on social behavior and trends to demonstrate that women are harming themselves and their chances for true happiness by adopting the thoroughly modern, sexually liberated lifestyle portrayed in magazines and movies. Packed with not only persuasive statistics but also powerful personal testimonies, Extreme Makeover shows that it is not the slogans of the sexual revolution and the women’s liberation movement that free and dignify women, but the beautiful teachings of the 

Catholic Church. 

In her new book, Tomeo writes about the type of “extreme makeover” one will never see on television. Extreme Makeover: Women Transformed by Christ not Conformed to the Culture will be published in October by Ignatius Press.

“Our media and culture continue to reinforce in the minds of girls and young women that their intrinsic self-worth is founded in their value as nothing more than a sexual object,” Tomeo said. “How can our society expect women to be treated fairly and with dignity when our culture continues to portray them as mere objects? The new fall TV series ‘The Playboy Club’ on NBC is just another example of how women continue to be objectified and sexualized through the media. Shows like this glamorize pornography – a problem that has been devastating to marriages, families and society in general.”

Tomeo doesn’t deal just with this issue in Extreme Makeover. She tackles many others that remain important to women of all ages, and she offers solutions in her own collective assessment of the state of the world. “The culture can be toxic in terms of desensitizing us to violence, weakening our moral fiber, and making us feel pretty darn disgusted with ourselves because we’re not five foot nine and a size 2,” Tomeo writes in the book. “So how do we respond?”

She answers that and many other questions in Extreme Makeover, and includes a section with stories about women who have transformed themselves by focusing on what God intends them to be – not what the media and culture tells them they must be in order to feel good about themselves.

“(Teresa) Tomeo knows the pressures and dishonesties facing women in modern American culture from firsthand experience,” said Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M., Cap., of Philadelphia, “and she leads women to Jesus Christ with compelling personal testimonies and uncommon persuasive skill. For any woman who seeks the true foundation of her dignity, this is the book to read and to share.”

Praise for Teresa's book: “Teresa Tomeo is a passionate and persuasive apologist for the Catholic faith. In Extreme Makeover, she offers an earthy, candid, refreshing rejoinder to conventional feminist wisdom and builds a solid case for the liberating power of Catholic orthodoxy.” 

Colleen Carroll Campbell 

TV & radio host, author, The New Faithful 

Teresa Tomeo's "Extreme Make Over"

EXTREME MAKEOVER RELEASE OCTOBER 7TH!

A former television news reporter, Tomeo pulls together the latest research on social behavior and trends to demonstrate that women are harming themselves and their chances for true happiness by adopting the thoroughly modern, sexually liberated lifestyle portrayed in magazines and movies. Packed with not only persuasive statistics but also powerful personal testimonies, Extreme Makeover shows that it is not the slogans of the sexual revolution and the women’s liberation movement that free and dignify women, but the beautiful teachings of the Catholic Church. Teresa’s book discusses many of the issues that are so controversial to women today:   Media Mania and the Feminists Mistake: “Common sense tells us that having a choice is not the same as making a good choice. When it comes to having an abortion choice has little to do with it.” (Extreme Makeover, p. 52)   The Abortion Distortion: “Put quite simply, if jumping from bed to bed and engaging in all kinds of sexual experimentation is so wonderfully grand,  so ultimately fulfilling, and so freeing, why is there so much misery and pain attached to it?” (Extreme Makeover, p. 74)   Free Sex and the Contraception Deception: "Truth is truth and it cannot be suppressed. Whether we are talking abortion, contraception, or embryonic stem cell research, the Church is proven right over and over again.  The world may not want to see it or admit it, but it is important for us to be able to step back and connect the dots." (Extreme Makeover, p. 160) So what are women steeped in the Hollywood and Cosmo girl version of reality to do? Undergo Tomeo’s Extreme Makeover! With the help of this book, they can shed the toxic messages that objectify and enslave them and embrace the truth about being a beloved daughter of God. Order here: Order Today! Visit Teresa on www.facebook.com/ExtremeMakeoverBook // To order, go to www.teresatomeo.com ISBN: 978-1586-1-7-561-0, AVAILABLE OCTOBER 7, 2011 Order Here Now! »