2019 was my most privileged year yet. Only in my teenage dreams had I gotten to meet some of the most influential women of our time. Of course at that time I saw Gwen Stefani in my dreams and the cast of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. sitting at my table, but with time I started having more and more important conversations with the women that surrounded me, my mother, my aunts, my cousins, and I realized how essential these women were for my life. Of course I heard of grand women doing great things in public…changing laws, fighting wars and speaking their mind. So I read their words, applauded their speeches and tried to follow their examples of action.
The thing is, the older I get the more I realize how grand and influential every woman is that I encounter. Not just the famous ones, not just the ones in the public eye that have been noticed for something, but also the ones behind the scenes, that live a less public, less insta-famous life with an equally important message and a loud enough voice. In their circles and in the smallest of audiences this year, I saw and heard the most fully respected words, the truest feelings and the most selfless, humble reasons for the purpose of life. (This is not to say that they won’t become famous, because believe me, THEY ARE AMAZING, but I was lucky enough to have one on one time with them and that privilege was not lost on me.)
From January to December I had the full pleasure of meeting and photographing women that have not only changed lives but have given even me, answers to the questions only God has heard straight from my thoughts. Women that so clearly I needed, but that others quietly discovered long ago. In 2019 I watched women start businesses, reach their goals, fall down, get up. I watched them create out of thin air. I saw them uproot their lives and move across nations with their littles in tow. I spoke to women that made the hardest of decisions to step away from relationships that gave them both life and pain…women that meditated to focus their energy on good, women that endured poverty with a smile and women that explored the corners of the earth in awe. I saw them sweat and bleed for their service, women with 10 children, with no children, with loved ones and with no one…in good spirits, in giving spirits, and some even deeply in love. I met women that financially supported entire villages and women that had been quiet for too long. I watched the latter speak and laugh, and dance for the sheer joy of being alive. I met heroic working mothers, stay at home champions and saw women literally bring life into the world! I saw them give each other everything…from community, accountability, acceptance and appreciation to validation, respect and reassurance. I watched them nurture and be nurtured. I met some true heroes, the ones that move life forward in the day to day. I heard their conversations and the things that occupy their minds, everything from the loud to the tender…and it was a privilege.
These are the women that influence the world at every moment. They raise the future and they prepare the way for change or consistency, whichever is needed in their part of the world! These women are also the voice of the collective, wanting joy and survival, progress and roots. They’re looking to fortify nations that begin from within. I met them and I spoke to them, I laughed with them and I captured a little moment in our existence together. They taught me things and I wondered how much more they have taught those they love.
In 2020 may we cheer on the women that are publicly making a difference. May they be brave, strong and loud against evil, unfairness and acts against humanity…and may we also be lucky enough to notice the women that are changing the world for good right in front of our eyes. Fix your neighbor’s crown every chance you get and I hope to see you very soon, wearing yours proudly.
