By speaking openly about their experiences, women can build a community to love their self, one another and raise strong children.
That’s the message behind a new Facebook group launched by a team of local co-workers seeking to empower women in their personal and professional lives.
The private group, called The Honest Woman, has grown to nearly 1,000 members since being launched in late September.
“It just shows you how much it was needed … with all the negativity in the world, how much we really needed something positive and somebody just to say, ‘Good morning, beautiful,’” said Lisa Ramsey, one of the group’s co-founders.
Ramsey manages the group with colleagues Tracy Mobley and Lori Holt and her 26-year-old daughter, Taylor Ratcliff, who runs her own Facebook page for moms.
The group includes a growing network of mentors for the members. Ratcliff, a nurse at a long-term care facility, said she draws on her own life experiences — including a battle with postpartum depression — when mentoring the women.
“It helps me know that my hard times were for a reason,” said Ratcliff, who’s writing a book about her story.
In the group, women ranging in age from teens to septuagenarians share memes with positive messages and quotes and information about jobs and educational opportunities. Members have invited friends from as far as Japan and Ireland. The group’s administrators host live weekly videos.
“Sometimes it’s hard to put yourself out there or make a video with no makeup on or your hair messed up,” Ramsey said. “And this is just women being honest and as open as possible.”
Holt was inspired by a 46-year-old woman’s post about going back to school, recalling her own nine-year process to earn a bachelor’s degree.
“My feeling on the whole whatever your goal is, time’s going to pass anyway, so why not be working on something you want to do?” Holt said.
The group is discussing other ways to network with women, including a possible weekend retreat, and mentoring younger women.
“There’s more to come. We’re hoping to help the women in the community with making sure that they’re out there and prepared to vote and having a social network,” Mobley said, “and, you know, if they need help with being a leader in the community or just being a leader in their own life, it’s exciting to me that our little admin group can brainstorm how we can help the community.”
