Five years ago, my mentor and former boss, Stephanie called me about an idea she had to take disabled young women camping and teach them advocacy skills. She didn't really know what the camping part would be like but knew I liked camping and had worked at a summer camp and asked me to join her. I didn't realize how serious she was about it so I laughed and said yes.

 When she called me about 6 months later saying she couldn't keep up with social media or how to plan out posts and would I help I said yes again. Five years and a whole lot more yeses (I'm really bad at saying no to Stephanie), I've had the incredible fortune of getting to claim a small part in supporting the hundreds (that feels wild to say) of disabled women, girls, and nonbinary people that have come to Disability EmpowHer Network since the start.

There is not enough time in the day for me to share just how impactful our programs are on the people who come through them. Our team puts our hearts into the spaces we create and the relationships we have with our participants, and every day I get to marvel at the amazing staff, volunteers, and participants who are part of our network, their growth, their leadership, and their love. Few people are as lucky as I am to get to spend every day surrounded by amazing, compassionate, kind, dedicated disabled women leaders making a difference in the world. 

My unending dream for EmpowHer is that we can continue to grow to reach more people and strengthen the bonds of those who are already in our network. I don't know where we will be in five years but I do know that with each day and year we will ensure that more disabled women, girls, and feminine aligned people will know their power and have the confidence to lead.