As a resident of Women of Cincy, I was charged to create a capstone project, something that would top off this experience and serve as a culmination of my work. While at Women of Cincy, one of the most surprising aspects was the emphasis on empathy. I’m always astounded by people taking the initiative for others, or wielding selflessness for the health of a community.
Read MoreQ: Who is Ratee at this moment?
A: I'm a newly retired professor from the U.C. College of Business. I taught international business for 17 years. I am the founder of the Cincinnati Sister City Association (Mysore, India) and also the founder and executive director of the Indian Film Festival. I'm also a co-founder and vice president of the consulting firm, Artesia Global Consulting, and an entrepreneur. I run a commodities business called Tellicherry Pepper.
Read MoreOn a chilly winter afternoon, we grabbed a latte at blaCk Coffee Lounge with Lisa Sloane, founder and C.E.O. of More Inclusive Healthcare. Lisa talked with us about her work improving the health of our country, and about how to establish your credibility at tables where you may not be invited to sit. She also gave some sage advice about staying true to yourself and your values, even with a quarter-million dollars on the line.
We met Chris Ashwell and Shawn Braley at MOTR, the place where it – Cincy Stories’ first event – all began. Cincy Stories is a nonprofit centered around community and storytelling. In a time of divide, Chris and Shawn realized that sharing stories helps connect people; storytelling is what helps us come together and relate to one another.
Read MoreWe got the chance to chat with Michael Cottrell a.k.a. Brooklyn Tate-Steele, drag queen and community activist. Michael has seemingly endless energy. He performs as Brooklyn at Below Zero Lounge a couple times a week, is the president of the Cincinnati Pride Parade and the Gay Chamber of Commerce, and is an active member of Imperial Sovereign Queen City Court of the Buckeye Empire (I.S.Q.C.C.B.E.), which has raised over $1.3 million for charities across Cincinnati. Oh yeah, and he has a regular 9-to-5 gig working for a mobile medical company – and he thinks you can do it all, too.
Read More“Community means solidarity; it means reaching out to other people, confiding in other people, helping other people.”
Poet and Recovery Center of Hamilton County project manager Amanda Stoddard works every day to make the world and her community a better place. She does this with compassion and vulnerability. Women of Cincy is excited to introduce you to this phenomenal woman of Cincy.
Read MoreAll the tea in the world comes from the exact same plant, Kathleen Kern informed me when we sat down to chat at the Rookwood location of her business, Churchill’s Fine Teas. I find this hard to believe as I survey the options available: The whole wall of the shop is devoted to a menu of more than 250 loose-leaf tea blends – green, black, oolong, and more. We covered Kathleen's tea journey up to this point, but it was clear that she has an exciting journey still ahead.
Read MoreThe whole concept is that the women were home with their children, so they had time to get involved in organizations like this. That’s not as true anymore; however, it’s important because women didn’t have the right to vote for so long. And we were lucky to get suffrage, but other groups had to wait so much longer. We certainly believe we were on the right track when we got women the right to vote, and that’s our legacy.
Read MoreIt's always nice to feel like you belong. To feel like you are among your tribe of people. To feel like you have people you can relate to, and that what you say resonates with them. I have many of these tribes, and each fulfills a different need in me.
Among them all, the one I can say feeds my soul is the tribe of immigrant women. I’m excited to introduce a new column here at Women of Cincy called “Home Away from Home.” I’m thrilled to be involved with this fab publication and to share illuminating stories of Cincinnati's immigrant women.
Read MoreI would say that I’m a supporter. First of all, I play second clarinet in the Cincinnati Symphony. That’s been my position since 2001. I never wanted to be the star and have all the solos and glory. I was much more interested in creating harmony, playing chamber music, helping other voices shine, and being the sideman, like in a band.
Read MoreSitting down to interview a female business owner on how she balances work and family is a little daunting. There’s the obvious question: Would we even be having this discussion if she were a man? And, how do we not make it sound like a version of the book I Don’t Know How She Does It – part awe and part comedy? Talking with Jackie Roberto, founder and partner of Madison Design, the importance of having these authentic conversations becomes clear. Over a glass of wine (but, of course) at Hotel Covington, Jackie candidly shares how she creates space for herself, her family, and her business. Sometimes it’s rocky; sometimes it’s smooth. But it’s all worth it.
Read MoreIt’s that month of the year, friends: February. You might have love on the brain. You might have Singles Awareness Day on the brain. But whether you’re involved with somebody or highly focused on your self-love, there’s one thing we all know we can experiment with, right? Sex!
Read MoreMichelle’s studio is the result of a desire to uplift others and share confidence with everyone who walks through her door, and it shows. My chat with Michelle was memorable, enthusiastic, and even a bit emotional. And you better believe I tucked a few of her quotes away for days I need a little reminder that I, indeed, am capable of most anything.
Read MoreZia is humble, but don’t let that fool you: She has fierce ambition. The world she lives in now is quite different from the life she knew in her native Zimbabwe, and I’m looking forward to uncovering her story. She offers us fruit and water before we settle in to talk.
Read MoreCincinnati is a city alive with art, music, and theatre. Art is the heartbeat of our culture. It is present in every corner of the city, and it didn’t happen by accident. ArtsWave (formerly the Fine Arts Fund) focuses on funding the future of the arts and bringing it into the community. Alecia Kitner, president and CEO of ArtsWave, strives to keep the organization’s focus on what Cincinnati needs from the arts. That focus also helps ArtsWave make its funding decisions. We sat down with Alecia to discuss the upcoming POWER OF HER project and what that looks like for the community.
Read MoreContinuance is a community arts collective that takes memories and turns them into art. For the past year, they have collected memories in response to the prompt, "tell me about a place you cannot return to." The memories come in many forms: handwritten notes, letters, emails, audio recordings, Instagram messages, photographs, video interviews, and family dinners.
Read MoreSister Caroljean (C.j.) Willie is the program director at Earth Connection, an environmental center affiliated with the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati and adjacent to Mount St. Joseph University in Western Hills. Sister C.j. brings to Earth Connection her years of multicultural work experience from working with teachers in developing countries such as East Cebal, Uganda, Guatemala, and Mexico, her Peace Corps service on the island of Saint Lucia in the Eastern Caribbean, and her work for eight years at the United Nations as the N.G.O. representative of the Sisters of Charity Federation which includes 14 congregations working in 26 countries. As an educator, Sister C.j. quoted a teacher who said, “Everything you teach has to have hooks on it that attach to something else in someone’s experience,” which has influenced her environmental sustainability efforts to encourage communities to work together.
Read MoreWomen of Cincy began on a whim on January 20, 2017, as a way to document stories from the Cincinnati Women’s March. We were a few 20-somethings with cameras, recorders, and an Instagram account. We had no idea what we were creating, how much it would evolve, or how much it would change our lives.
Since that day, we’ve reached over 93,000 people, graduated 18 students from our residency program, expanded our volunteer team beyond 70 people, and so much more.
Read MoreWe met Sarah Curry Rathel at the Ronald McDonald House, where she works with critically ill children and their families. She tells us these children are her heroes, and through her nonprofit, the Smile Books Project, she captures their stories as heroes in their own books. She is a mother, storyteller, and legacy-maker.
Read MoreKate McCracken is a relatively recent Cincinnati resident – she moved here less than two years ago from Los Angeles. But in her short time in the city, she’s joined a local dance crew, found her favorite places, and started a body liberation community. Nestled at Lydia’s on Ludlow, we talked to her about moving to the Midwest, why she describes herself as “fat and witchy,” and more.
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