The Best Year of My Life
Hello Dreamers
As 2015 comes to an end, the Dream, Girl team and I have been riding on an aura of gratitude, appreciation, and awe. When I look back on this year and all we accomplished to get us one step closer to releasing the film, I feel speechless.
But my heart was not always this full of girl power.
In the summer of 2013 I met Julie Sygiel, the founder of Dear Kate on Instagram. She was running a feminist underwear company and we did an interview about her on my blog. When I met her in person, I was struck by her confidence, passion for business, and her age (she was the same age as me!). I had never met a female founder that was so successful and I was in awe of her in every way.
After meeting Julie, the wheels started turning in my head about what it would look like if I ran my own business and got to be my own boss. A couple of months later she invited me to a founders breakfast club (a group I still belong to today). Because I was the founder of Feminist Wednesday (my feminist storytelling blog) I was invited to sit at the table with other women, who like me loved business, but unlike me were crushing it in their industries.
This group of women changed my life.
I started to take Feminist Wednesday more seriously, I started to think about monetizing, building a team, and what my life would look like if I could run a company full time. When I thought about this transformation I saw in myself by being among and hearing the stories of female founders, I felt humbled and electrified by it. I thought about what it would feel like if we could pass this message on to other women…
What if we grew up knowing the names of Julie Sygiel, Mariama Camara, Clara Villarosa, Annie Wang, Joanne Wilson, and Komal Minhas?
In my body I could feel the transformational change of what a documentary about them would bring. With my background in film, I hired a team and put together a Kickstarter campaign to put that dream into the universe. And you, dreamers, know the rest.
This movement and this support you give us everyday to produce the film is beyond anything I thought I would ever experience. My heart, and my love go out to all of you for making this one of the best years of my life, and I look forward to topping that next year when not only will we release the film, but Komal and I will meet so many of you on our international tour with the film.
So from our dream-team to yours, have the most lovely and rejuvenating holiday.
And we will see you in 2016.
Xx,
Erin