Sian Bitner-Kearney: Empowering Women and Girls With Rock Your Beauty
Sian Bitner-Kearney: Empowering Women and Girls With Rock Your Beauty

Sian Bitner-Kearney is her mother’s daughter. On a brilliant sunny morning during Mother’s Day weekend, the founder and Executive Director of Rock Your Beauty welcomed me into her Northern Cincinnati home with fruit, muffins, and a warm, friendly smile. We sat in her well-appointed, cozy living room to chat and learn more about the nonprofit and its mission to empower women and girls in Greater Cincinnati.

As it celebrates its first year of nonprofit status, Rock Your Beauty (RYB) remains steadfast in the mission to “...be a catalyst for change, inspiring women to embrace their unique beauty and empowering them to realize their full potential.”

Our discussion started with a look back at the origins of RYB.

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Outreach + Advocacy, Health + Wellness, FeaturesDawn BundmanFeatures
Photo Gallery: No Kings Protest in Cincinnati
Photo Gallery: No Kings Protest in Cincinnati

On June 14, 2025, more than 8,000 people gathered in Clifton for the "No Kings" protest. This event in Cincinnati was part of a nationwide "Day of Defiance," which took place in over 2,000 towns and cities across the country, protesting the current administration. The No Kings movement is a coalition made up of numerous partner organizations, including 50501, the ACLU, Common Cause, and the Human Rights Campaign.

Photography by Stacy Wegley.

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Features, Outreach + Advocacy, PoliticsWomen of Cincy StaffFeatures
Mary Vicario, a Catalyst for Healing
Mary Vicario, a Catalyst for Healing

On the cool yet sunny afternoon in late November, I had the immense privilege of interviewing Mary Vicario, LPCC-S, at Cincinnati’s iconic Union Terminal. We discovered a cozy nook within the terminal – a fitting backdrop for a conversation that revealed the deep personal significance this historic landmark holds for Mary. Union Terminal connects her to cherished childhood memories and the people who inspire and shape her extraordinary work to this day.

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Features, Health + WellnessCathryn SchehrFeatures
Ash Conway on Creating Space for Queer Birders
Ash Conway on Creating Space for Queer Birders

Burnet Woods, the 90-acre park near the University of Cincinnati in Clifton, is an important stopover for many migratory bird species. After an arduous flight north or south, a brief sojourn in the park for a scarlet tanager in the spring or a pine warbler in the fall could mean the difference between life and death. Here, beside a pond of gently quacking pairs of mallard ducks, I had the delightful opportunity to meet Ash Conway, the founder of the birding group Queer Birders of Cincinnati. 

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Community Mix, Outreach + AdvocacyTaylor LukenCommunity Mix
For the Love of Pollinators with Carrie Driehaus
For the Love of Pollinators with Carrie Driehaus

Queen City Pollinators began over a cup of coffee at The Upside Brew and a newfound love for bees. Fully caffeinated, Carrie Driehaus and Jenny O’Donnell set out on a mission to support our city’s pollinators through education, conservation, and collaboration with a multitude of nature-based organizations and local schools. We met up with Carrie this Spring to hear how it all started, score tips for supporting pollinators, and her message on why we should care about these special six-legged creatures. 

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Education, Features, Outreach + AdvocacySuzanne WilderFeatures
Art Shows, Music Fests, Family Reunions, and More: Summer and Fall Events in Cincinnati
Art Shows, Music Fests, Family Reunions, and More: Summer and Fall Events in Cincinnati

What can be better than attending an event full of people dedicated to energizing their city and each other? Everything feels more meaningful when you think about the time, energy, sweat, and tears that go into organizing a book reading, or speaker series. By being intentional with our time, our empathy, and our cash, we can support the people building up communities and uplifting others. 

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Events, Around TownWomen of Cincy StaffCommunity Mix
La Shanda Sugg, LPC on Love, Inherent Worth, and Community Healing
La Shanda Sugg, LPC on Love, Inherent Worth, and Community Healing

I was welcomed into La Shanda Sugg, LPC’s comfortably-curated home for our Thursday evening interview – it was effortless to get settled in and open up, feeling like a cozy therapy session. She spoke passionately about her work, often using analogies to tie grand realizations into easy-to-digest teachings. La Shanda also made sure the environment was appropriately catered for the occasion from the background ambiance music to the natural lighting. And during the conversation, we frequently stopped to check-in and regulate our nervous system. La Shanda embodies many roles in this life: a mother, a teacher, a partner and an artist to name a few. From the totally on-brand accents of gold in her flowy outfit to the Paw Patrol bandaid she humbly fashioned on her finger, she was everything I imagined meeting her in person would be like – radiant, respectful, and real. 

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Health + Wellness, Outreach + AdvocacySophia EpitropoulosFeatures, Celebrate Black Stories
Celebrating Cincinnati Pride: From 1973 to 2024
Celebrating Cincinnati Pride: From 1973 to 2024

Cincinnati Pride, like other Pride demonstrations across the United States and the world, began at The Stonewall, a club in New York City that was at the center of a police raid in 1969. The Stonewall was a popular place for Black drag queens, transgender and gender nonconforming folks, and others in the community. The demonstrations in response to the raid became a defining moment in history. While these demonstrations were not the first in the L.G.B.T.Q+ rights movement, it was the instance that these issues became more visible – and impactful. In the years following Stonewall, parades and demonstrations began across the country – including in Cincinnati.

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Outreach + Advocacy, Arts + CultureWomen of Cincy StaffFeatures
Maya Goertemoeller on Service with Passion, Purpose, and Inclusion
Maya Goertemoeller on Service with Passion, Purpose, and Inclusion

“Best all-around gal” was how the C-Ring Women's Leadership Award was first presented in 1922. It was an award given by the University of Cincinnati Athletics Department. The award, like the world around it, has evolved and transformed in the more than 100 years since it was first presented. 

The C-Ring award is now presented by the UC Women’s Center and is awarded to a woman-identifying or non-binary graduating senior student who demonstrates outstanding leadership on and off campus. Faculty and staff nominate students, and the lengthy selection process begins. Through rounds of interviews and applications, five final nominees are ultimately chosen, with one winner picked by the selection committee.

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Education, Outreach + AdvocacyOlivia TaylorCommunity Mix
Alison Rampa: An Improv Life
Alison Rampa: An Improv Life

Alison Rampa knows something about setting a scene. Entering her mid-century modern home with twinkle lights and books lining the shelves in her family room, jazz music playing quietly in the background, and candles lit all over, it felt like a scene in a movie. With Alison’s infectious laugh and the smell of coffee in the air, we felt immediately at home as we sat down for a chat about her life and work as a middle school English teacher, leader of a women’s theater company, and founder of a body-positive summer camp for adult women. 

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Arts + Culture, Entrepreneurship, FeaturesKate DuceyFeatures
Quanita Roberson on Ancestors, Elders, and Healing
Quanita Roberson on Ancestors, Elders, and Healing

On a sunny winter morning a few weeks ago, we met with author, consultant, and life coach Quanita Roberson at the Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Though we hadn’t met before, we fell into deep topics quickly – touching on race, wisdom, and much more. While we walked around the museum, we learned about her path to healing, the leadership workshop she facilitates (called Fire and Water), and the book she wrote over the course of a decade (called “The InnerGround Railroad”). 

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Health + Wellness, Outreach + AdvocacySuzanne WilderFeatures, Celebrate Black Stories
Rebecca Nava Soto on Indigenous Roots, the Creative Process, and Motherhood
Rebecca Nava Soto on Indigenous Roots, the Creative Process, and Motherhood

I met Rebecca by responding to a call for volunteers at the Wavepool Gallery back in March – even as strangers, we easily slid into an exchange of expression, direction and trust as we brought her vision to life for TLACUĀ PAHTIĀ. Across the two shows I’ve had the honor of helping her install, we’ve shared intimate words of wisdom, encouragement and vulnerability. These rich moments were embedded in the materials we lay on the ground as ephemeral offerings – an ode to the beauty of sacred communication over time on Earth. 

Coming back to interview her for Women of Cincy was a full circle moment. Nothing can be done to recreate the beautiful conversations we’ve had over the last nine months, but this feature was an opportunity to capture something that could be easily shared with the world; a chance for others to get a glimpse of the perspective Rebecca brings to the community. 

We met at her studio and worked on an experimental mixed media art piece while chatting. As we intuitively played with her selection of colored wood shavings, our hearts opened organically.

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Arts + Culture, FeaturesSophia EpitropoulosFeatures
Meet the 2023 City Council Candidates and the Women Who Inspire Them

The 2023 Election Day is just around the corner! On November 7, Cincinatians will elect nine city council members to serve two-year terms. In addition to city council members, voters will decide who serves on the Cincinnati Public Schools Board of Education, whether or not to legalize recreational cannabis use and enshrine reproductive rights into the Ohio Constitution, and several other critical issues and levies. To put it mildly, this is an important election, with lasting effects on our community. To view a sample ballot, click here.

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PoliticsWomen of Cincy StaffFeatures