Despite being an award-winning children’s book author, Sharlee Mullins Glenn is not a keyboard activist. In fact, she arrived at our photo shoot with a megaphone, illustrating her efforts to stand up for what she believes in. She’s passionate about civil civic involvement, founding the Mormon Women for Ethical Government (MWEG) and is an advisory board member for BYU’s Office of Civic Engagement. When she’s not keeping tabs on Washington, she’s an author of almost every genre — books, essays, articles, short stories, poetry, criticism — and a frequent presenter and lecturer at conferences and workshops. She also volunteers with Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services. Her favorite work? Mother of five and the grandmother to eight “utterly perfect” grandchildren.
Fully Booked I’m an “early-to-bed and early-to-rise” kind of gal. Days are filled with meetings, calls, writing, editing, working on various projects, exercising, studying and being a grandma. One day a week, I serve as an ordinance worker in the Mount Timpanogos Temple.
Hero’s Journey I lost my beloved grandmother, my father and my oldest brother all within a 12-month period when I was 5 years old. This affected me in some pretty profound ways. My remarkable mother, who found herself a widow with seven children to raise at the age of 39, taught me a great deal about resilience, hard work, gratitude, love, and the need for a good sense of humor. As a result of these early experiences with death, I have learned to truly value life and relationships.
New Chapter In early 2017, I set up a Facebook group for myself and a few like-minded friends — a nonpartisan space where we could share our thoughts about the direction our country was heading. We were all deeply concerned about the increasing polarization of our citizenry, the lack of civility in our public discourse, and the moral character of some of our leaders, and we wanted to be able to join forces and mobilize in our efforts to call for peace, civility, compassion and ethics in our government. Soon friends began adding friends who added friends, and within a few weeks, we had over 4,000 members. This is how Mormon Women for Ethical Government was born.
Life Genre Oh, can it be a musical, please?
The Sequel I have spent my entire life trying to find the time and space to write. I hope I can do that in the next five to 10 years.