I’m grateful for the opportunity to use my camera to lift up stories of women across our city. - Stacy
Womenof Cincy is a nonprofit media organization dedicated to creating more empathetic communities.
We are creators, storytellers, and community activators. We are people of all identities who believe that when we uplift women, we uplift everyone. We are founded on respect, diversity, and purposeful disruption.
We put empathy to work.
“I think we’re talking about mental health a lot more, so I’m very encouraged by that. That gives me hope. We feel very strongly as an organization that the youth is going to change this conversation faster than the adult population, so I love working with the kids. ”
“Our mantra here is: “Your voice is your power, but use your power to speak its truth.” And our motto is: “Once Never the Less, always Never the Less.” It doesn’t matter how old you are – you can always come back here, no matter what you’re going through, and we’ll always stand beside you and be with you. We have girls who have graduated from our programs and become mothers; we’ve been at their births and baby showers. Two of them just buried their mothers, and we were there for the funerals through the whole process. The girls always come back when we need them. ”
“I wrote a book called Cries from the Dark Side of the Moon, which shares the stories and experiences of Black women in America. The book’s title comes from the common misconception about the moon’s dark side: That side of the moon is not really the “dark side” – it’s just the side of the moon we don’t see from Earth. It actually gets as much sunlight as the side we do see. However, it’s often associated with fear, the unexplored, and the misunderstood. The title is comparing Black women’s experiences to the moon’s dark side because they too are so often unseen, unexplored, and unheard. In writing Cries from the Dark Side of the Moon, I wanted to share people’s stories.”
Raneem Salem: Creating Community Through Music and the Revolutionary Power of Joy
“Right, if you have power, privilege, skills, and resources, there is a pull and a demand to redistribute that within your community. I have a lot of ugly feelings about our very clinical, individualistic capitalist society that has divorced us from what it means to be a community – community care models rule my life. I can’t imagine living and not participating in these extensions of community.”
“It has made it challenging to break through certain doors and sit at certain tables. But all it takes is for one person who is at the table to say, “Come on and join us.” All it takes is one person to say, “You have potential. I believe that you can do this work,” and see that you have what it takes – to see that you have potential to get into conservatories, and colleges, and programs, to get to the next level. Though there are very far and few people that actually would invest in people who look like me; I’ve been honored to be led down a path where people have helped me get to where I’m trying to go.”
“It can be reversed when you slow down. That’s why you unknit knitting mistakes. With weaving, you unweave any mistake you make with your feet and your hands and you always learn from your mistakes. ”
“There’s a core group of individuals who totally believe in what we are doing and really want wildlife to be saved. There are those who are just going to look at you and say, “It’s not going to affect my daily life and I don’t really care.” I work very hard to convert those people. It’s extremely hard. I won’t give up trying.
We do try to relate how it will impact the overall human quality of life, as well. It’s not all about the animals. The quality of life we have is enhanced by natural resources. You have to take different approaches. In some cases, it may be trying to find a common ground in that water contamination is affecting our wildlife and us, which people understand when their children have high levels of contaminants in their blood. ”
“We have to go where we’re needed and do our best. We have to get people excited about the issues and excited about exercising their right to vote.”
Having Heart: A conversation with Melyssa Kirn and Michele Tibbs of Grainwell
“We’ve learned not just to be sisters, but also to be business partners and support each other in our dreams and utilize what each of us is good at. ”
“It takes so long to establish change. You’re doing this for your family, kids, my nieces and nephews in the future. It may not benefit me. We have to be in that mindset: It may not benefit me, but it may benefit the future of this city, this county, and this country.”
“Diversity and inclusion is not a substitute for equity and justice. That is the number-one thing people need to know. Secondly, I think we have to change our focus from how we talk about race and racism to how we listen. That’s what a lot of my work is doing: helping people listen to other people and their own experiences. I think too much focus has been on “what I can’t say” or “what I can’t do.” We aren’t even at that place – not everyone is on the same page yet. There is still a lot of listening that needs to be done. How do we foster that in our communities? ”
“It’s taken me a long time to feel like I’m comfortable saying my name – “Here I am; this is what I do” – and it’s only recently that I felt okay to stand up and talk or stand up and take a solo. But there’s a place for everybody, a path, a way to listen to your own heart and clear out all the other voices that are in your head. ”
“That has been a valuable thing, not only as a working person, but as a woman, to find other women who help you make your case for things.”
“We are working to put an end to starving artists...Don’t be afraid to think what you think creatively. Don’t be afraid to express yourself. The world is so different now, especially with the internet. You can be whoever you want to be, but be you. I meet youth today that are struggling to find their identity, but you know your identity. You are searching for the wrong thing. It’s right there with you. My advice is: Be creative; be a free thinker; be considerate; be awake.”
“I talk [to them] about the importance of networking and pouring into yourself; the importance of a handshake, eye contact, some of the things that we may not really think about in terms of really solidifying opportunities for ourselves. And most importantly, their network. I don’t think people really understand that when you tap into your network, you are essentially tapping into your net worth. It’s important to have a substantial network around yourself. ”
“My grandma was never afraid. She raised six girls. She made sure none of them would think, “I shouldn’t do this because I’m this gender.“ And if she saw something wrong, she always did something about it. And I think that transferred over to my mom. She is the same way: She would rather say the truth with her neck on the line than sit in silence and see injustice. ”
“It’s easy to speak out to people who support you. The more difficult thing is speaking out to people who don’t support you, which I realized when I started dealing with gun violence. That’s when I started talking to people who hated everything I was saying.”
8 Female Filmmakers: Laura VonHolle on Balance and Barrel Rollers
“I wish someone would have told me, you know, find a balance. Because looking in hindsight, that’s not healthy – to work like that. It’s not healthy for your spirit; it’s not healthy for your soul. Today, I feel like I have made huge strides in finding balance.”
Kiana Trabue: Making Health Happy
“I think I’ve become more aware. Sometimes in my circle of friends, we’ll say we’re “the only.” So whether it’s you’re the only woman, or you’re the only African-American, or you’re the only African-American woman in the room, it happens quite often.”
Abagail Murrish: On Our Midwestern Life
“We’re afraid to be vulnerable with our stories because they get made fun of, they get caricatured. The people of the Midwest can easily be dismissed as a bunch of hillbillies, farmers, rednecks that care about God, country, and guns. But it’s a lot more nuanced than that when you hear the stories of the people, when you see their vision for the common good, and there’s lots of opportunities to engage those stories and find common ground.”
Lauren Eylise: Life, Death, and Black Girl Magic
“I will never forget it: I walked down to my bank in the rain, because I didn’t have a car, and I bought that ticket. I just deposited $3 in quarters. I was like, wow. I kept praying, “If this is meant to be just make a way; I don’t care what the way is.” When the way appeared, it was like, you’ve got to walk in the rain, girl.”
Annie Woods: The Richest Life
“Everywhere I looked I saw how I wanted to live, how I wanted to eat. That’s when I started putting all the pieces of the puzzle together. These systems were producing “good food that’s good for people,” and it was really integrated into the community. It felt genuine, and it was something that made sense for me.”
Katie Nzekwu: Finding Your Villedge
“These kids are the most powerful human beings ever created. They are resilient and brave. They are beautiful and complicated. To have gone through some of their experiences and emerge from them with a strong and hopeful spirit is incredible. ”
Shanequa Johnson: The Confidence of Glam
“I have learned that I can’t be Superwoman all the time. I have to take off my cape sometimes and just relax. ”
Kelly Dolan: Putting the “Why” in Work
“You know what? That’s what’s really holding me back. I’m afraid of not only failing, but I’m afraid of losing my identity as someone that has been well-accomplished. I’m earning great money. I’m supporting my family. People look at me a certain way, and I’m afraid I’m gonna lose that identity if I go do this and I fail.”
Amy Van: Give Like a Mother
“I would like to take all the people that have things that they are not using and take all the people that need things and be the bridge for that.”
Jenna Shaifer: Stories Behind the Booze
“I wanted my son to know that he should never let fear hold him back. Even if my business were to fail, which it’s not, but even if it were, that he would know that Mommy went for her dream. ”