Women staying connected
Creating a name for the podcast was a long spin cycle. The purpose alone shifted so many times because women have been left out of the conversation for so long. But there was one resounding piece that kept surfacing; knowing what to do now is based on knowing what was done before.
The tough part is finding out what was done before because the narrative of women and BIPOC has been literally whitewashed into silence. It takes 2 or 3 generations before the outrage and disbelief of what really happened breaks through and the roar of knowledge comes forth. But what happens if that knowledge is handed over immediately, unedited, and nurtured? The next generation would have what it takes to never let the barrier get rebuilt and be free.
Think about an immediate nugget of knowledge that someone is trying to hide. Let’s say your boyfriend cheats on you and you find out from your friend. Knowing this immediately has you going, “Oh, hell no!” and changes everything. Self value rises, purpose shifts and you start looking out for yourself with more care.
This is the freedom that each generation needs, the ‘oh hell no’ moment that helps them know what to do now rather than find out when it’s too late.
But why the XX?
When creating the visual for links, I thought of women linking arms, creating space in mass and holding onto each other. But when I searched for graphics, the majority of images were chain links which only reminded me of the chains that we are trying to free ourselves from. That was a major, “No!”, or even another ‘oh hell no’ moment.
There was also the association with golf, which I love, but still don’t deem as personifying what we stand for. Maybe when athletes, who are women, get paid the same prize money as the men, we can reopen this conversation… maybe with Megan Rapinoe leading the banter.
But when I did a search for ‘women linking arms’, the images beautifully portray the arms as ‘X’s’, the biological basis of our existence… the XX, the double X. Every person is created from an X and nurtured into variations as our identities. The idea that we are intertwined and “linked” in our most base identity made me joyous. So much so, that we based our logo on it.
Beginning this podcast journey has been a lifetime of living true to myself, against the odds placed before me from family and decisions made. Staying close to my mother, enduring all her fears that wanted to change me, gave me the insight and the stories to share with you today. These stories are filled with the knowledge that often goes missing from one generation to the next, causing the break in generational equity.
We deserve equity, to keep moving forward fully supported by the women who came before us. Our job is to listen to the knowledge from before, from within and build it into today so that our presence, power and value continue to increase for generations to come. No more starting over, no more silence, no more bias or conformity.
Raise your arms next to your friend, your sisterhood, and create the visual of our moment. #LifeLnxx