It started with some advice...
The Free Woman Project started as a photo series. As a fresh college graduate filled with uncertainty, I spent months asking women about their stories, the obstacles they’ve overcome, the relationships that nurtured them, and anything else they had to share with me. I was struck by how willingly women shared their stories, and how so many mentioned passing on their experiences to lift the burden of women who would come after them. The common thread that weaved together these women’s experiences was their relationship with their mental health.
While Instagram was plastered with glittering pink graphics that demanded that we ‘Treat Yo Self’ I learned that the women I was speaking with were struggling with basic self-care. The mainstream movement that marketed luxurious self-care retreats and memberships to primarily white women-only spaces was inaccessible for many women, particularly for women of color and, specifically, for Black women.
The Free Woman Project was born.
It was a one-woman-team (I was the product development team, graphic designer, marketing lead, and event planner, and wore about 20 more hats), but with my dedicated support system of friends, family, and kind strangers, Free Woman became an avenue to pour into my community.
We had three main goals: to make mental health resources more accessible, showcase women as the voice of their own stories, and cultivate daily doses of self-care in our community’s busy lives. We achieved these goals through our website, which featured a curated library of mental health resources. In addition to mental health resources, our media library of videos and written stories by women of color address topics like colorism in our families, high functioning anxiety, ADHD as a Black person, growth from heartbreak, how to be a friend to someone who is depressed, passion, and more.
Storytelling as an avenue of healing and cultivating relationship
An important aspect of achieving our mission was allowing women the agency to share their stories — on their own terms and in their own voices. Hearing advice from women who have experienced similar traumas can help others feel less lonely in their journey of healing.
Video trigger warning: sexual abuse
Because we served Black women, intersectionality was core to our approach. Eboni discusses her relationship with self-care and activism and how they are unique in the lives of Black women.
In this series, we focused on relationships with mother figures. It’s not always easy to have meaningful conversations with the people we love, and sometimes, we just need a place to start. Videos like these gave our community that place to start.
Because we served Black women, intersectionality was core to our approach. In this video, Geo takes us through her personal self love journey at the intersection of Blackness and Womanhood .
The Guided Self Care Journal
Seeing our community want for simple ways to practice self care inspired me to create the Free Woman Journal. This self-care journal was filled with guided pages of exercises, prompts, and short passages about letting go, resilience, and more.
The overwhelming feedback I received from my community led to the development of more tools that make self-care easier to incorporate into our daily lives.
We designed stickers and tote bags with intentional little reminders to take a moment to care for yourself or take a deep breath. Our affirmation cards became staples in our community’s daily self care rituals.
Self Care Workshops
Leading intimate self-care workshops was my favorite part of Free Woman. Over three years, including a pandemic year, I developed programming for various self-care workshops and events. Events were intimate to nurture community and comfort and included journaling sessions, guided discussions, meditation, breath work, and more. To name a few of my favorites:
WORK IN PROGRESS
This was our signature event and the first workshop programming we developed. These workshops were modeled after the notion of being a work in progress and brought attendees through a process of ‘decluttering’ so that we had space to ‘cultivate’ love and care. It served as a beginner’s introduction to the art of cultivating self-care in our daily lives.
A SELF LOVE AFFAIR
The programming for our Self Love Affair workshop was first developed for a special event for Madewell. While it was created for Valentine’s Day weekend, the theme of a Self Love Affair became another signature workshop year-round and well into the pandemic at virtual events. This workshop focused on identifying our core selves, self-forgiveness, and intentional acts of self-love that allow us to fall in love with who we are.
JOY AS AN ACT OF RESISTANCE
This was a one-off event that we held in the summer of 2020. In partnership with AKxALIBI and @_charliemonet, we hosted an event for Black women as a space of release, reflection, and reclaiming our power amid the 2020 protests in response to the murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and countless other Black people.
I had the privilege of serving and being in a community with over 800 women while leading Free Woman. Like many other small business owners, I felt the ‘pressure to pivot’ online at the height of the pandemic. As a Black woman, I also carried the emotional weight of nurturing Black women while working through my own emotions about the violence of anti-Blackness on constant display. Lastly, living through a pandemic (and continuing to do so) has majorly impacted myself and my decisions as a business owner. Because of all of this, Free Woman experienced a significant shift in 2021. We decluttered to make room for our next chapter, and once we are ready, I’m excited to reintroduce the world to what Free Woman will become.
xoxo,
