WOMEN FOR WOMEN
The annual International Women’s Day celebration serves as a reminder of what has been done and what needs to be done. “International Women’s
Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women, while also making a call to action for accelerating gender balance," according to the International Women's Day website.
The question is, how are we contributing to this mission in the local scene? One such group is She Talks Asia, which is comprised of five passionate women: Sarah Meier-Heredia, Lynn Pinigu, Victoria Herrera, Iza Calzado-Wintle, and Bianca Gonzalez-Intal. It is a movement sparked by the current issues women are facing, with the objective to inspire, empower, and support. CEO and Creative Director Sarah Meier-Heredia shares, “Our vision is really a world where everyone is equal, and everyone has a seat at the table, and everyone’s voice is heard and respected. Our mission is to spark dialogue, sustain conversations, and document womxn’s (women and women identifying individuals) stories. We want to honor, protect, and perpetuate the collective female wisdom so that the future generations have a foundation of courage and empathy to build on.”
After mounting their very first conference in 2017 with the theme “Every Girl Can,” they realized that there are alarming issues that needs to be resolved. This serves as fuel for She Talks Asia to consistently mount projects. “I strongly believe in the power of storytelling to spark empathy, catalyze discourse, and trigger global change. By serving as a platform and safe space for womenfocused narratives, She Talks generates much needed awareness about the different struggles and triumphs of women. Our aim for these stories is not only to provide a unique window to educate the world about the genderbased challenges that a woman (particularly an Asian woman) goes through, but also to inspire collective action and concrete solutions toward building a more just and equitable society,” explains Lynn Pinugu, COO, Finance and Operations.
This March 16 conference’s theme is “We Are Enough,” with the mission to guide women in realizing their self-worth and potentials. This effort is just one of the many projects lined up for the year, including Tribe Meet Ups (focused discussion groups), grassroots programs, and online accessibility via Facebook Live episodes and other content. Sarah shares, “The bonus is that we raise money for our mentorship programs and workshops for young women and underrepresented girls.”
Get to know these women more and their plans to reach and help more women all over the world:
I think we’re uniquely positioned to amplify women’s voices and stories, and shed light on the nuances of feminism as it evolves in different regions across the globe. I’ve realized, being a third culture kid and living in multiple cities, that empowerment to one woman may look very different from what it looks like to the next. It’s a little bit abstract, but my dream is to educate and inspire people from all over the world to actively engage in defining their individual paths to empowerment, all while holding space fordiscourse and dialogue with others whose paths may look very different. More tangibly, I’d like to collate 100,000 stories from women of different cultures and use them to understand how we can celebrate each other’s differences based on our inherent similarities. Sarah Meier-Heredia, CEO and Creative Director