A few months ago, I was sitting outside a coffee shop with a bride from last year and one of her best friends brainstorming ways we could work together for a creative project. At the time we were envisioning something pretty small, like a styled shoot for their new wedding styling business. We pretty quickly nixed the idea and went with something much bigger, more important to us and something that we all really believe in.
Women. Strong Women.
We decided our project would be sort of a combination of Humans of New York, Storycorps and our wonderful city of Columbus (to start with). Amazing sources of inspiration and story.
I like the idea of strength looking different for each and every person. I look at the woman who has endured pain and loss with grace as a strong woman. A mother. A mentor. There is a quiet strength and there is a woman who rallies and organizes. I crowdsourced the following attributes of a strong woman from a facebook post a few weeks ago. My friends said: The woman who is patient. Able to say “I’m sorry”. She’s empathetic. Brave. Gracious. Kind. Resilient. Rooted. Humble. Knows what she can do and what she can’t. Isn’t afraid to ask for help. Doesn’t pretend like everything is easy. Authentic. Honest. Vulnerable. Loves herself and those around her without judgement. Empowering of others.
We decided our first Strong Woman would be our mutual friend, Owen’s grandma, Dottie. She’s 96 years old, can’t see, lives on her own in Clintonville and was a wonderful source of wisdom and humor as we sat down with her and some other women in the family (daughter, Terri and granddaughters Owen and Nora). Please enjoy this 5 minute clip, where we seek to share parts of she is and why she is strong.
Do you have a strong woman whose story deserves to be shared & we could gift this storytelling to? Email & tell us a little bit about them. We’ll share the stories on our page as often as they come in as well as pick out our next featured woman from your submissions. strongwomenofcolumbus@gmail.com
