Throwback Thursday with Women of Cincy
Since Women of Cincy began in January, we've highlighted 14 amazing Cincinnati women and expanded our team to include almost 20 writers, photographers, and volunteers. Over the next two weeks, we'll be revisiting some of our very first Women of Cincy.
Women of Cincy was an idea that took hold at the Women's March and wouldn't let go. We didn't set out to create this organization, but we were so inspired by the women we met, we knew we had to figure out a way to celebrate the badass women who call Cincinnati home. We believe that storytelling is the most powerful tool we have in our arsenal to build community, inspire, and create empathy among one another – and the women we have met along the way have already proven that.
Hillary Copsey
Story by Kiersten Wones.
Photography by Chelsie Walter.
Launch Date: 2.18.17
Hillary Copsey is a Norwood resident and writer as well as the founder the newsletter, Make America Read.
There’s this picture of me at Lake Erie when I’m eight years old with Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Everyone else is fishing and I had a cushion on a rock with this book. My mom took the picture and put it in our photo album with the words 'typical Hillary.'
Nicole Lee
Story by Kiersten Wones.
Photography by Chelsie Walter.
Launch Date: 3.4.17
Nicole Lee is a mother, entrepreneur, hair stylist, and author, as well as the founder of Warrior Moms, a project dedicated to celebrating the strength and beauty of the single mother.
We're there to give [single mothers] support and applaud them, 'cause they're raising our future leaders.
Alyssa McClanahan
Story by Kelsey Johnson.
Photography by Chelsie Walter.
Launch Date: 3.23.17
Alyssa McClanahan is a professor at the University of Cincinnati and founder of Kunsthous, a property management company dedicated to preserving Cincinnat's historic buildings and bringing community together through coliving.
I became a feminist and an advocate for women through studying women’s history. I really love that narrative in my life, and I had really awesome male and female professors that encouraged me to think about those things in a really serious manner. They gave weight to those topics, which was instrumental. I learned how to write about issues of sex, and gender, and the body, and all these things, presently and in the past, too. That gave me a lot of confidence to look at my own life and to figure out what I liked and what I didn’t like about my own womanhood, or my own understandings of feminism.
Robyn Mahaffey
Story by Kiersten Wones.
Photography by Kali Robinson.
Launch Date: 4.6.17
Robyn Mahaffey is a mother of three and has been a school teacher for over 20 years. She's currently teaching an 8th grade class at North College Hill.
My grandmother was a teacher, and I think that’s why way back in first grade, I wanted to be a teacher. She grinded. She was born in Middletown. She went to Miami when African American students couldn’t stay on campus in the ′30s. She got an advanced degree when people of color weren’t getting advanced degrees.