I’ve put off this letter for so long, mostly because I just couldn’t figure out where to begin.
When thinking through how to start this off, in true ‘90s kid fashion, I just keep hearing Smash Mouth sing, “My world’s on fire, how about yours?”
We know that the past two years have been rough for everyone – us included. But, we’re still here and the need to create more empathy and connection across our communities is growing. Centering diverse voices through story is how we begin to break down barriers and local stories are important vehicles in which we can learn from one another and create change in our communities.
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Y’all, I’m so thrilled to share this one with you finally. I had the chance to have a phone conversation with Natalie Andrews, a sex and relationship therapist, to address a few things that we, as women, deal with daily!
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As a Women of Cincy resident, I had the opportunity to interview a team member for this month’s Community Mix Collection. Abby Farr, business owner, and free-spirited entrepreneur talked with me about her store, Tillage Clothing. Her store sells sustainable clothing and a portion of each profit is donated to an organization that directly aids survivors of sex trafficking.
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As a life-long writer, Kristyn has always had a knack for storytelling. Her writing background eventually led her to Women of Cincy, where she has been a writer for nearly four years. Since joining the team, Kristyn has used her aptitude for writing to help others share their stories and speak their truth. She has also used her editing skills to become the founder and entrepreneur of Krystal Clear Editing LLC.
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At the end of every interview, we ask our interviewees about influential women in their lives, and each Mother’s Day, we compile the times our interviewees mentioned their mothers in their answers. Across all these interviews, one thread is evident: to be a mother is to persevere, constantly.
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At Women of Cincy, our feature articles are in the Q&A format because we want our interviewees to speak to our audience in their own words. However, as journalists and editors, sometimes things get cut for time or clarity. Editors live and die by time and clarity, and editing for these principles is a daily practice in all newsrooms, including ours.
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Okay, y’all. Now that we have rounded the corner into 2021, let’s talk about things we need to keep and things we need to let go of this year!
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Blackness should be celebrated year-round, not just in February. However, this month brings the chance for people to intentionally reflect and learn more about the long, and often hidden, history of Black people in our country. High school history classes around the country are profoundly guilty of omitting Black history in their curriculum, and 28 days is certainly not enough time to dismantle a long cycle of educational exclusion. We’ve curated a list of books specifically detailing the history of Black people in Cincinnati by local historians, scholars, and writers as one way to help fill this gap.
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This isn’t your typical “letter from the executive director,” nor your typical year at your typical nonprofit. 2020 began with high hopes and expectations as Women of Cincy entered our first year as a nonprofit organization. From our origin as an Instagram account in 2017 to evolve into a full-fledged media organization, Women of Cincy’s journey to this moment has been wild. In 2020, we quickly realized that not only was the year going to throw curveball after curveball into our plans – but it was also going to be the year we had to fight to survive, take a hard look at ourselves, and rewrite the rules.
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Be so real with me right now. Dating was already tough pre-pandemic, then add on everything else that has been 2020. And what now? Are we supposed to date virtually? I mean it was already confusing enough trying to figure out which app to use, and which pictures to upload.
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Skeptical about Facebook romances? Not if you’re Beatrice, the Black lady from Kenya.
You will understand later why this is relevant. For now, let me walk you through Beatrice’s world. She and her husband own Stop N Go, a popular convenience store in Clifton. She divides her time between managing the store, completing her nursing degree, and working as a state tested nursing assistant.
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As the writer and creator of "Home Away from Home" I would be remiss not to speak on what it’s like to create a home as an immigrant in a country strife with racism – deliberately practiced or unwittingly doled out; institutional or personal. As such, I decided I needed to explore my own coming to America story within a racial context.
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This list began with a simple question that came to me one evening. It was after a long day of reading about the protests in Cincinnati sparked by the death of George Floyd. As the wave of peaceful protesters marched down the historic streets of our city, the question emerged, “What do I know about the history of Black people in Cincinnati?” The answer was a resounding, “Almost nothing.”
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When you hear the word "immigrant," what picture does your mind conjure up? Whatever that picture is, I bet it's not a blue-eyed, blonde-haired, Australian dancing queen.
We met Claire Stewart at Lola's Coffee House, pre-COVID-19. Lola's, she would tell us, is her favorite Coffee Place in Cincinnati. She's Australian, but the coffee house is filled with French motifs. She loves Lola's, "because apart from Australian coffee, Lola's has the second-best coffee." Apart from her love of coffee, and her husband and son, her love is the Cincinnati dance group the Red Hot Dancing Queens, which she founded in 2015.
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The moms we got to celebrate this past year are all at once kind, gentle, strong, hardworking, fierce, badass mothers who overcame struggles and set an example by the way they lived.
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For the three hours we visited with Radha, Emily and I were transported into her enchanting world. We drank refreshing herbal tea in a home filled Indian artifacts on walls, tables, couches - even the teacups felt unique. The most seemingly innocent item in the house has its own story, and Radha is a beautiful storyteller who knows how to invite you in her world in which, for those moments, the enchantment is quite real.
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Babes – it’s crazy out here. I can’t lie that I have been overwhelmed, underwhelmed, overworked, and lacking sleep the past couple of months. This quarantine comes at an interesting time for me, and I hope it finds you able to step back from the complexities of your typical day-to-day life to find positive changes to come. I hope everyone is staying safe, above all. This month I wanted to give you a few sex reminders for this strange time, and my book recommendations as of the past week.
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So, it started when I met this woman, and she was collecting saris – which are Indian fabrics – for refugee women to make purses. She showed me some pictures of those purses, and, you know, in the back of my head, I was like, "Do they sell these? They should be selling them.” They looked outstanding.
I asked her, and she said, "No, we just make them for fun." From there I started brainstorming ways to help them sell those products and get a little bit of financial independence. I knew that immigrant women – especially when they don't speak English – don't have a lot of freedom on what they can do. So that's where it all came about. I was able to relate their experiences to my own immigrant experience. While I only understand a snippet of their struggle, it drove me to want to make a change.
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