Destination; Remarkable. - by Mary Grothe (Hardcover)

About the Book

This isn't an ordinary business book, or an ordinary autobiography. It's not merely a rollercoaster, either, but an entire theme park full of them: a traumatic childhood, two tragic accidents, multiple descents into darkness and slow climbs back into the light, reckoning with the disease of alcoholism, years working to exhaustion in the trenches, leaving one family to find another, a breakdown and redemption-and that's just the first half of the story. Here, every stage of life becomes its own rollercoaster: love, marriage, pregnancy, motherhood, all while becoming a first-time founder, CEO, and Christian. Grothe's dramatic life story merges with a twisting, turning chronicle on the highest highs and lowest lows of business-and of faith-and how all of the above are inextricably intertwined.

Book Synopsis

2025 Independent Publisher Book Awards Bronze Medalist in Non-Fiction Cover Design

Few that know Mary Grothe today would guess that her childhood was traumatic. That she was raised by an alcoholic mother and abusive father in a filthy house, where tar dripped down the walls from the profusion of cigarette smoke. That at fourteen she watched her childhood auctioned off beneath a big top before fleeing town as a result of her parents' criminal mistakes. Or that dance, her original love and ticket to freedom, would be taken from her in an instant. That four whole years of darkness followed. That she briefly married a man so toxic that she had to plot a secret escape to free herself.

What many people do know is that, in spite of all the above, she discovered, to her own astonishment and that of everyone around her, that she was something of a sales prodigy. That her success was meteoric. That her name was synonymous with number one.

Until now, most also don't know that all of this "success" led her straight back down into the darkness. Into alcoholism, and from there into the front porch of her neighbors' house, behind the wheel of one of her two cars. Or that years of healing, and grinding away in the trenches, would only bring her straight back to her knees. That finally, one fateful Christmas morning, from the pit of the bottom, she found Jesus. That again, she thought she'd forever changed her life, only to learn that doing so is easier said than done.

And that's just the first half of this book.

But this isn't an ordinary business book, or an ordinary autobiography. It's not merely a rollercoaster, either, but an entire theme park full of them: of being a daughter, a partner, a wife, a mother, a Christian, a founder, and a CEO.

From the Back Cover

Finding the one and only way to survive the dark side of success

For years, Mary Grothe was for herself. She thought that's how we're supposed to be. To fight to get ahead, to succeed, win at all costs, to have it all. It took years of exhaustion to finally realize: it's not about me.

It's not about you, either-and as long as it is, you'll be left hungry, thirsty, empty, and confused as to why your soul isn't satisfied. Even self-proclaimed Christians will still falter, make mistakes, and fight the battle of the flesh versus the spirit-often, on a daily basis. Especially when we put ourselves in the drivers seats of our lives.

Mary Grothe is here to tell her story, unvarnished, because as an openly-faith-based leader, she'd be a fool to act like she has it all figured out. Her life has been far from perfect, but she's a living example that, in the end, it's still worth it. That after years of adversity, and the faith that adversity engenders, there's an irony waiting on the other side: we already have it all. All we need is God. Things still fall apart around us, but we can respond to it knowing that everything is in God's hands no matter what.