Lisa Hendrickson is the author of Burning the Breeze: Three Generations of Women in the American West, published by Bison Books / University of Nebraska Press in 2021.
Burning the Breeze is the true story of three generations of pioneering women. Julia Bennett, a big-game hunter whom friends described as “a clever shot with both rifle and shotgun,” flouted gender conventions to build guest ranches in Montana and Arizona that attracted world-renowned entertainers and artists. Bennett’s entrepreneurship, however, was not a new family development. During the Civil War, her widowed grandmother and her seven-year-old daughter—Bennett’s mother—set out from Missouri on a ten-month journey with little more than a yoke of oxen, a covered wagon, and the clothes on their backs. They faced countless heartbreaks and obstacles as they struggled to build a new life in the Montana Territory.
Lisa co-wrote, with Dick Hall, Kiritsis and Me: 63 Hours at Gunpoint, which documents Hall’s 1977 kidnapping by Tony Kiritsis, a national news story that year. In addition, she edited a series of three books commissioned by the Indiana Bicentennial Commission for the state’s 200th anniversary in 2016.
Before starting her business, Lisa was director of communications at Park Tudor School in Indianapolis, a college-preparatory private school with nearly 1,000 students in junior kindergarten through grade 12. She previously served as media relations manager at Ameritech, Indianapolis (now AT&T), where her work garnered numerous industry awards. She has additional experience as a public relations officer and assistant director of communications for Merchants National Corporation (now PNC) and worked as an executive producer, producer, and statehouse reporter for Indianapolis broadcast media.
Lisa is a former board member of the Indianapolis Public Relations Society, Dance Kaleidoscope, Alpha Association of Indiana Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa and the International Center of Indianapolis.
She holds B.A. degrees in English composition and French (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from DePauw University. Fluent in French, she was awarded a Rotary Scholarship for graduate studies at the University of Paris IV (Sorbonne) and the Institut de Touraine (Tours, France).
Awards and Honors
» WILLA Literary Award Finalist in Creative Nonfiction; Finalist, Evans Handcart Award, for Burning the Breeze: Three Generations of Women in the American West
» Finalist, Handcart Award, Mountain West Center for Regional Studies, Utah State University, for Burning the Breeze: Three Generations of Women in the American West
» Awarded grant from the Matthew Hansen Foundation, University of Montana, to support the writing of Burning the Breeze: Three Generations of Women in the American West
» Indianapolis Association of Business Communicators (IABC) EPIC Award for Excellent Performance in Communications, Overall Communications Program
» Indianapolis Association of Business Communicators (IABC) National Finalist, Gold Quill awards program, “Total Programs-Domestic”
» Women in Communications, Inc. Great Lakes Region Annual SHO-ME Awards Competition, Award of Merit, “Brochure-Profit”
» Women in Communications, Inc. SHO-ME Award of Excellence, “Video”
» AdFed Silver Addy Award, “Park Tudor Admissions Brochure,” Indiana Design Consortium
Lisa Hendrickson Communications 