Reminder: Holliston Resident to Appear on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' Monday

For more than a year, Vine Street resident Maria Salomao-Schmidt had been contacting The Oprah Winfrey Show, trying to persuade the ABC program to film a segment on her entrepreneurial work. But as of Friday morning, it seemed unlikely the dream would come true.

About 12 hours later, however, the Schmidts were clearing their Saturday schedule. Oprah's crew was coming to Holliston.

And two days after that, Maria and her husband Doug were on their way to meet Oprah in person.

The family spent about two hours with the Oprah crew Saturday, filming a segment chronicling Salomao-Schmidt's family, home life and business ventures. The show's producers then called the Schmidts on Sunday, inviting them to fly to Chicago for the show. The Schmidts will tape another segment, which will along with the first on May 23.

This is the farewell season for one of television's most well-known talk shows, with the final episode airing at 4 p.m. on May 25.

In addition to co-owning and with her husband Doug, Salomao-Schmidt is the founder of Butterfly Moms, a blog about "the evolution of mommyhood."

She is also one of 20 authors who contributed to the book "Mom Entrepreneur Extraordinare," a women's guide to expanding their business while maintaining a happy, healthy family.

The Schmidts have four children: Chis, 15; Mialotta, 7; Olivia, 5 and Isabella, 3.

The news of the Oprah appearance was bittersweet for the Schmidts given its timing. Oprah producers called Friday night, a day after what would have been the sixth birthday of the Schmidts' late daughter Sophia.

Sophia died on June 22, 2006 at 13 months old.