Jeezy’s Juke Joint is the Burlesque Festival Bringing Diversity to Chicago’s Stages

“Black people are like, why am I going to go to a show if I’m not going to see myself represented onstage? Even me, in my mind, I’m always like, yeah burlesque is for white people. And we know that it’s not. But on the outside looking in, it looks very white. So of course people aren’t going to get diverse audiences if you don’t have any diversity onstage.” Continue reading Jeezy’s Juke Joint is the Burlesque Festival Bringing Diversity to Chicago’s Stages

Wanderfest: The Travel Festival for the Wanderess in You

Wanderfest: The Travel Festival for the Wanderess in You

Travel writers, bloggers, flight attendants, influencers, adventurers, activists, solo budget travelers, content creators and long-term nomads all flocked to the Big Easy to share in a festival celebration designed for the women who love to travel and explore new cultures, who are constantly learning about the world around them and how to help preserve and maintain each place through sustainable travel practices. As stated by Beth Santos, the founder and CEO of Wanderful, a women’s travel community, as well as the first annual Wanderfest, women make up 85% of the travel industry so why not create a safe space for women travelers to feel seen, heard and uplifted by fellow wanderers. Continue reading Wanderfest: The Travel Festival for the Wanderess in You

Black Lives Matter: The Lessons I’ve Learned

Black Lives Matter: The Lessons I’ve Learned

At the time, did I realize how many people have been feeling hurt and let down and belittled since the day they were born? How those feelings had been inherited and inevitably passed down to them from centuries of oppression? Are we all ready to have the uncomfortable conversations surrounding the notion of what privilege really looks like and the systemic realities behind the oppressions still existing in our world today? Are we ready to listen or will we continue to talk over each other and shout from our mountaintops that we are the only ones who are right and everyone else is wrong? Continue reading Black Lives Matter: The Lessons I’ve Learned

#FemaleFilmmakerFriday: A Prickly Woman, An LGBTQ Anthem, and the Importance of Intersectional Representation Onscreen

#FemaleFilmmakerFriday: A Prickly Woman, An LGBTQ Anthem, and the Importance of Intersectional Representation Onscreen

Wrapping up my posts about the Athena Film Festival that took place a month ago now, I’m sharing the tips I learned from three film directors about motherhood as a filmmaker, intersectionality in politics and activism, and the importance of wide-spread representation of all people in film. Continue reading #FemaleFilmmakerFriday: A Prickly Woman, An LGBTQ Anthem, and the Importance of Intersectional Representation Onscreen

#FemaleFilmmakerFriday: Athena Film Festival Spotlight on Director Julia Hart

#FemaleFilmmakerFriday: Athena Film Festival Spotlight on Director Julia Hart

“The best thing we can do in this industry is be unapologetically female. The best way to get men on board is to just do that. And I’ve been fortunate to work with men who do support that. Again, we talk about diversity in terms of gender, race and sexual orientation and disability and that means having male perspectives in the room. If we want to talk true diversity, we need to have everybody’s voice in the room.” Continue reading #FemaleFilmmakerFriday: Athena Film Festival Spotlight on Director Julia Hart

Switzerland: A Rebellion

Switzerland: A Rebellion

The fondue had begun to cool and the choices of meat to dip into the melted cheese were dwindling. The bottles of wine were nearly all dried out. Four women sat around an old dining table that used to belong to the grandmother of one of those women. The women were discussing how it felt to be a woman in the workforce in Switzerland and whether women were too linked to being emotional, and what the hell being “too emotional” even meant. Continue reading Switzerland: A Rebellion