It came up on Facebook, like it usually does.  Someone made a comment about how we celebrate our “Free Monday”s.  Some people had figured it was a National Holiday of some sort, but not which one.  Others realized that banks wouldn’t be open.  No one lay claim to the honor for why we have deemed this day worthy of respect.

In grade school, the day in question, today’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day, was revered and involved crosswords with his words, a history lesson of “what racism was”, and a heroic portrayal of his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.  In fact, I remember a project in 4th grade wherein the class was given the header “I Have a Dream…” and had to fill out the rest with our own dreams.  I do not remember what I wrote, but it may have been some combination of selfish worldly goods and peace on Earth for good measure.  Come on, I was 9.

Continue reading »

I am a woman, a feminist, and a small business owner in Portland.  I have become increasingly outraged by the way women are portrayed in media and are downplayed in professional environments.  It has come time to educate the public on how powerful women are.

It is time become more active in empowering women, especially young women joining the work force, and helping to discourage misogynistic marketing and advertising.  There are a number of avenues for which I feel we can collectively propel the role of women both professionally and personally.

What surprised me in my initial search for feminist activist groups, is how few of them there are in Portland!  Meetup.com has only one or two and they haven’t been updated with any new events in awhile.  In Other Words bookstore in Portland has a Feminist Discussion group the first Sunday of every month, which seems to produce really riveting conversation, but I haven’t seen any activism stem from that.  Even Feminist Agenda had an initial spur of activity at the beginning of the year, but where has it gone?

Let’s change that.

This is a new year and a fresh start.  We are setting out to host events each month that bring women together on a variety of themes: from women in the arts, to enabling women to find jobs in male dominated markets, to showcasing leaders who are transforming legislation.

I can’t do it alone.  I know, I’m am woman, hear me roar, but even a lioness has her pride to hunt with.  I am looking for other women, male feminists, women-owned businesses, non-profit groups and agendas set to change the way women are depicted in media and speak out for enabling women in a professional environment.

If you have any of the following:

• Information about an active group of feminists in Portland
• Access to documentaries like Miss Representation or Generation of Consolidation
• Funding to support events which empower women
• Job openings or internship opportunities in male dominated fields like tech, engineering, sales or science
• A sincere interest to help and a desire to change your world

reach out to me on  Twitter or Facebook.

Follow me on either social media site to get a heads up on where we are going from here.