Monika Royal-Fischer on Creating Careers for Others
Monika Royal-Fischer built her career by helping others achieve success. She understands that sometimes, you just need a little help to get started. For Monika, building strong networks led to career opportunities that allow her to serve her communities and make an impact. She is the founder of the Career Closet at the University of Cincinnati’s Clermont campus. Career Closet is a non-profit that provides students with interview-ready clothing and is the new campus director for Tech Elevator here in Cincinnati.
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From the Drafts: Quotes Worth Saving
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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Esther Maria Claros Berlioz, Ph.D., on the Ways Cincinnati's Immigrant Community Weaves a 'Tapestry of Beauty'
Esther Maria Claros Berlioz, Ph.D., is an integral part of the Latinx community in Cincinnati, welcoming and supporting the immigrant community – especially the children, who she lovingly dotes on. In her work with these children, art has become a communal language, with color and scenes representing unique journeys that are understood through shared humanity, history, and dreams.
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Introducing UPLIFT: A directory of women-led products and services
At Women of Cincy, we believe that when you uplift women, you uplift everyone. After a hellish 12 months, we think that all of us could use a little uplifting – especially those who own or lead small businesses and nonprofits. In our experience, if you build it – the community will come. So let’s get to work.
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‘What makes you come alive?’: A Conversation with Quinn McIlhargey-Nicholson
For Quinn McIlhargey-Nicholson, a simple scrap of forgotten leather tells a story – it has a hidden history, a character that’s only enhanced with time and wear. I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Quinn, owner and founder of Baqette. Her handcrafted bags are making a name throughout the city, and each bag – made from recycled leather – has its story to tell. Quinn’s own story is about taking a leap and trusting yourself to find the way.
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Sex Talk with Emma: Keep or Let it Go
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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Tia Brown on Community-Based Art in the West End
With stacks of art supplies, colorful paintings, and children’s drawings decorating the room, the West End Art Gallery’s bright space is reminiscent of the best kind of art classroom. Tia and Michael Brown started the nonprofit art center as a place for the community to find a positive form of expression. The “WE Gallery,” as Tia calls it, began as pop-up workshops in neighborhood buildings. It’s turned into a labor of love for the Browns, with a dedicated space, mobile mural-painting events, two hyper-local coloring books, and art-supply grab bags as COVID-19 restricted in-person workshops.
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Rubina Dosani: ‘Find your North Star.’
Rubina Dosani’s North Star is her Islamic faith, which guides her to help others whenever she can. In following her passion, she has helped people in Cincinnati, throughout the country, and even around the world. She helped establish the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati (I.C.G.C.) and was the first leader of the center’s mental health program, normalizing discussions about mental health and developing resources for the community.
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Dr. Zaria Davis: 'Incarcerated people are still people.'
While most of us are content living what we jokingly call “our best lives,” Dr. Zaria Davis is dedicated to not only achieving the best version of her life, but striving to create opportunities for others to thrive, too. As a formerly incarcerated person, Dr. Davis has worked diligently to overcome the odds against her and right her wrongs, while helping others find a path to success through her nonprofit, Filling the Gap. We sat down with her via Zoom to discuss dehumanizing language, the effect of COVID-19 on incarcerated people, and what gives her hope.
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Honor the History of Black Cincinnati with These Books
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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Miya Sohoza on Finding Community at Covington Farmers Market
When you enter the Covington Farmers Market, you’re greeted with a warm hello and a spritz of hand sanitizer. People browse the stalls with masks and gloves – always making sure to follow the arrows on the ground. At 11 a.m., market volunteers shout over a megaphone for vendors to pause what they’re doing and sanitize their tables. These are just some of the new changes Covington Farmers Market has adopted to keep up with the new normal of COVID-19.
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A Letter from the Executive Director
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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Nahamani Yisrael: Changing the World One Connection at a Time
Nahamani Yisrael truly embodies the meaning of her name: compassionate leader. As an entrepreneur, mother, teacher, website designer, and community activist, Nahamani is a woman on a mission to share her spark with the world and to light a spark in others. From balancing being a single mother of two kids to becoming a successful entrepreneur, Nahamani’s story speaks to how far kindness, hard work, and having the courage to make connections and speak your truth can take you in life.
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The Art of Caring: The Mayerson Center’s Dr. Pratima Shanbhag
From the moment you sit down with Dr. Pratima Shanbhag, she’s an old friend and an immediate joy to be around. Dr. Shanbhag’s compassion and empathy is effusive and she channels it toward her passion: advocating for children of abuse and neglect as a pediatrician. And maybe unbeknownst to her, through her example, she’s advocating for everyone she meets to view the world through a lens of compassion.
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Susan Austin: Creating Something Out of Nothing
Susan Austin is a creator, community volunteer, and fiber artworks program founder at the Barn in Mariemont. Susan combines artmaking with group activities and holds a communal space for creative expression through fiber artwork: weaving, knitting, sewing, and quilting. She enjoys the creative process of making something out of nothing, embracing mistakes, and appreciating beauty. She says every piece of art is unique, and although ideas and materials may be similar, they are imagined in brave and bold new ways of self-expression.
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Women of Cincy Seeks Treasurer
Women of Cincy is nonprofit media platform. Our mission is to create more connected, empathetic, inclusive communities by centering the diverse voices that make up the fabric of our city. We act on this mission by focusing on three pillars: storytelling, community building, and mentorship. Since 2017, the organization has shared the stories of more than 370 people, graduated 24 residents from our Residency program, and expanded to over 100 volunteers. In January 2020, Women of Cincy officially became a 501(c)3 nonprofit.
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This Is Entrepreneurship: Chelsie Walter on Putting Empathy to Work
We cap off our series with our very own, Chelsie Walter, executive director and co-founder of Women of Cincy. Chelsie talks about how this idea to capture a few inspiring stories grew into a volunteer-driven media outlet that has published nearly 400 stories in just three years. She shares how she’s dealt with this rapid growth, a global pandemic that sent the organization into a tailspin, and how she stays committed to the Women of Cincy mission by keeping empathy at the heart of everything she does.
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Sex Talk with Emma: Love in the Time of COVID
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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