Sheila Johnson discusses her groundbreaking career and new memoir Walk Through Fire

Sheila Johnson:

Because, when I bought my farm in Middleburg, I bought it from a man by the name of Bruce Sundlun. And he was a World War II fighter pilot.

And he had been shot down over Nazi-occupied Belgium. His entire unit was captured into a POW camp. He was able to escape. And he went into allied territory of France. The U.S. came to him and they gave him the code name Salamander.

And he says, well, what does the Salamander mean? He says, well, mythically, it's the only animal that can walk through fire and still come out alive. But if you chop off its limbs, they regenerate.

All of that meant so much to me. It really resonated in this part of — that part of my life at the time of going through a divorce and still trying to figure out who I was. It resonated. And I said, can I have that name, Salamander? He said, what are you going to do with it? I said, well, I'm thinking about starting a company and I would like to brand it Salamander, which stands for perseverance, courage and fortitude.

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