What is a Woman Worth?

I spent the summer asking a small group of women if they felt valuable. Trump’s campaign had taken something from me. It had signaled, at every turn that I - as a woman - was not as important as a multitude of other issues. And then he took office and seemed to implement a systematic and targeted effort to devalue women by rolling back protective policies. He instituted the Global Gag Rule, withheld funds meant for the UN Reproductive Health and Rights Agency, and undid Obama era efforts to close the wage gap. And it hasn’t been just women, of course. It’s been anyone Trump deemed other. Other than male and white. Other than heterosexual and heteronormative. He has attacked immigrants, Mexicans, and Muslims. Just two days ago, Trump proposed legislation to define gender at birth in an effort to invalidate transgender individuals. But because I am a woman and it is the lens through which I see the world, I wanted to use that lens to get at the issue of inequality. I was particularly interested in why policies don’t seem to reflect women’s value. Was it because women didn’t think actually think they were valuable? Months of research and months of writing yielded results that are both obvious and astonishing to me. I am prouder of this article than most things I have produced in my life. In many ways this research is my love letter to women. It Is my declaration that things must change and my incredibly hopeful resolve that they will. And it’s a love letter to men too and to this moment they are in - in which change is upon all of us. This is for anyone who feels other or feels constricted by a limited definition of what is allowed of them. A better future awaits us. But it demands change. And it demands we vote like hell.

Midterms are in 13 days.

Read the full article here.

Companies on a Mission

When first semester ended of this school year ended, I remember coming up for air and thinking, Oh, thank God, I survived. Now I must be more deliberate. 

And then second semester ended and I thought, Less, now. Get rid of the clutter. Say no more often.

I have become obsessed with the idea of white space this summer – mostly because it is both of those things: deliberate and less. And less in a way that creates new meaning.

I've been thinking a lot about consumption. Of where and how and why I choose to spend my money. And about how much power we actually have as individuals (or groups) to shape markets. 

I posted about two companies on Instagram – companies that prioritize social good – and asked for suggestions for others. And man did you all come through. In many ways this list was crowd-sourced, and as such, is a living document. I did a little research on all of the companies put forth and then made a value-judgement on whether to include them. This list is neither comprehensive nor inclusive, and it doesn't pretend to be. It's also worth saying, my values aren't everyone else's values, so we might disagree about some of the particulars here.

Here's the thing: there are some incredible and badass companies out there who believe in totally all-natural products or reducing their economic footprint, but I looked for a bit more than that. I looked see that central to the company's mission was larger than the company itself – a mission that positively impacts someone or something else – and a transparency about how that policy is put in action.

And it turns out, there are a lot out there. So many!

W.R. Yuma prints sunglasses from recycled materials using a 3-D printer (their ethos is "waste is only waste when it's wasted"). The by-product created by Everlane's denim factory is mixed with concrete and used to build affordable housing. Better World Books has raised $26 million for literacy and donated 24 million books. Soma is dedicated to ending the global water crisis. 

Researching these companies was a fascinating experience. For example, I learned that Etsy no longer has its B-Corp Status (to describe what a B Corp is I'll use their own words: "B Corp is to business what Fair Trade certification is to coffee or USDA Organic certification is to milk"). Etsy did away with their Value Aligned Business Team and started prioritizing profit over the original mission of social and environmental impact (the New York Times wrote a really interesting article about it). But more than that, I was heartened (thrilled, actually) by just how many excellent companies there are out there, how much good they are doing, and how reasonable their price points are.

This price point thing is something to dig into for a moment. Not everyone can afford to buy the goods listed here. I get that, I really do. People should buy that which they can afford (to even engage in this conversation suggests quite a lot of privilege).  But, just as a comparison, a pair of jeans at Everlane is about $68, at J. Crew, $125. Within the world of that which is advertised/sold on Instagram or on Lifestyle Blogs, these goods are really, really reasonable. 

At the core of this list is the idea that how we, as consumers, choose to spend our money matters. As does how companies choose to do business. 

Find the full list of companies here. 

In Conversation with Laura Jane Williams...

For the launch of Places I Stopped on the Way Home, Laura and I sat down in-coversation-style to discuss the book and how it came to be. We talked about the two years we wrote to one another without ever actually meeting, how our friendship has changed in the time since, and just exactly how our books came to be. We – I think we would both say – we have both been radically shaped by the words we shared and the encouragement the other offered. My book exists because of Laura. And so it was one hell of an honor to have her be the person to ask me questions about it. If you fancy a listen, you can listen to the first event recorded at Stanfords Bookshop in Covent Garden.  

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Places I Stopped

"Give yourself permission to not be good at something. To write messy and imperfect words. To kiss a boy in the bar for no reason other than you want to. To let your legs shake during yoga. To stop apologizing for your height, for wanting to wear heels, for the actual space you take up in the world. Uncross tor arms. Regard as much as you can with awe. Carve out your life on your own terms. Try new things. Reinvent. Try again. Show up. Celebrate small successes. Make sure your identity isn’t based on something you might lose. Breath into downward down. Do the hard things. Adapt. Admit fault. The thing about life being really shitty for a long time is this: it gets better. Because the happiness that follows sadness is never the same that came before it. Everything worthy and good I learned through the lens of an unrelenting, impossible sadness. And I wouldn’t have had it any other way." from Place I Stopped on the Way Home and featured on Words of Women

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Places I Stopped on the Way Home

In just three days the book comes out.

I'm in a bit of a daze because it's all happening so fast, and also it's been so long coming, and on top of that, I'm in the last push of a semester that has taken more from me than it probably should have. 

But I just keep thinking about boarding that flight to London and having a good cry (from sheer exhaustion and total relief and a little fear, but joy too). 

Because, well, this thing--a book. A real, actual book. 

And then I'll probably just drink champagne for the next two weeks. 

Laura asked me what I want to do while I'm in London and I told her, wear fancy dresses and celebrate. the.whole. time. 

So, that's pretty much the plan. 

Laura and I will be doing an in-conversation on May 10th to celebrate the release of the book. But as it's sold out, we're going to do a second on Monday, May 14...which is to say, come. Dress fancy and celebrate with me! 

Click here for tickets. 

And oh yeah, my friend Elizabeth, who is maybe the most talented person I've ever met, did the above watercolor for me. Bananas.