"I think it’s really important to do something [for your life’s work] that you’re good at, that brings you joy, and that contributes to the world. I would really want my daughter, and all women, to think about that….. I sometimes think women do a disservice to the deepest longings of their heart by getting in step with whatever it is society says we should be, whereas I really firmly believe all of us ought to be attentive to our inner voice and when I did attend to it, for me it meant being with my kids and it again is something I’m just immensely grateful for. So I would tell my daughter or the women to attend to your deepest voice, don’t try to remake yourself in anybody’s image, including the culture’s. Listen to your deepest self."
Louise Carroll Keeley was born in 1952 in Honolulu, HI and moved around during most of her childhood due to her father’s military career. She lived in Washington D.C. for the better part of her adolescence. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She then went to Boston College for graduate school and received her PhD in philosophy. She met her husband at Boston College and they moved to Worcester after they became engaged in 1983. She got a job teaching philosophy at Assumption College where she was the 12th woman to become a professor. For 23 years Professor Keeley was the only woman in the philosophy department of which she is now the chairperson. She currently resides in Worcester with her husband and four children. In this interview she discusses what it was like balancing career and family, growing up in many different places, and how she chose to study philosophy.