Tag: career

Not Waiting: How I Learned to Love My Detour

Amy Oestreicher

I’ve spent a lot of time “waiting” in my life. As a kid I grew antsy with impatience, waiting until I was “older” to start dating, to go to the mall unsupervised, to learn how to drive. I was counting the days until I turned 18, giddy at the idea Read more

Amy Oestreicher

Amy is a PTSD peer-to-peer specialist, artist, author, speaker for RAINN, writer for The Huffington Post, award-winning health advocate, actress and playwright eagerly sharing the lessons learned from trauma through her writing, performance, art and speaking.. In 2012, she wrote, directed and starred in a one woman musical about her life, Gutless & Grateful, touring theatres across the country for three years, and earning rave reviews and accolades since it’s BroadwayWorld Award-nominated NYC debut. As a visual artist, her art has been featured in esteemed galleries solo exhibitions, and her mixed media workshops emphasize creativity as an essential mindset. Amy’s “beautiful detour” inspired her to create the #LoveMyDetour movement, a social media campaign inspiring people to flourish because of, rather than in spite of challenges. Recipient of the Great Comebacks Award. Her Washington Post and On Being with Krista Tippet, and is a regular contributor for numerous publications including Elite Daily, The Mighty, Indie Chicks and Career Girl Daily. Her story has appeared on the TODAY Show, CBS, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen Magazine, among others. Amy's passion for the arts as a means of healing and expression led her to devise storytelling workshops for the Transformative Language Arts Network National Conference, the Eating Recovery Center Foundation, and The League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling. Determined to bridge the gap of communication between wellness resources on college campuses and students, Amy is currently touring college campuses with a program combining mental health advocacy, sexual assault awareness and Broadway Theatre. For information on keynote presentations, private coaching, workshops and signature talkbacks, visit amyoes.com.

Now What? What do I want, and why?

Rachel Hamm Gertz

Raise your hand if you’re still trying to figure things out. (Extra points if you are over 35). Yeah, me too. I’ve kind of amassed a reputation for being unreliable and making poor choices. If you ask anyone about me, they will probably tell you they like me, and that Read more

Rachel Hamm Gertz

Rachel Hamm Gertz is a self-taught writer working on her first novel. She has written semi-professionally for multiple venues and started the process of writing a "fictional biography" (which turned into the beforementioned novel) when the suggestion that she keep a diary was made by her therapist. She writes from an unfiltered voice, often filled with chaos, always from the heart. It is not always pretty, but it will be said. Unapologetically. In great detail. Maybe not like every woman, but their darkest sides. Nothing is off limits. Sometimes the truth hurts. Embrace it and the strength you gain is immeasurable.

Not Enough

Jayme Beddingfield

Be beautiful. Be Fit. Be a compassionate mother who feeds her family well. Be smart. Be independent. The list of societal pressures on women seems endless. All of us checking ourselves and comparing our ways to others whether we intend of not. The demand we put on ourselves feeds directly Read more

Jayme Beddingfield

Jayme Beddingfield is the host and producer of 'Too Many Words' a comedy interview podcast. She is also the creator of 'Elliot Granger and The Clueless Brigade', which is a weekly serial that follows Elliot Granger as she stumbles through grief and growing up. The series is featured as both a fictional podcast and written story that appears on The Scribbler. Jayme has been crafting stories since her third-grade assignment to write her own fairy tale. She prefers to work from the sofa with her dogs by her feet. Originally from Northern New Jersey, she now lives in Seattle, the city of her dreams. She lives with her husband, two children, and a slew of adopted pets. She is completely post-apocalyptic obsessed and also admits to being an audio enthusiast and recovering supervillain.

Alice, TX

Tennessee Hill

If I could play the violin I would’ve left a long time ago. Splinter me, kindly and save the sweet parts for tomorrow in your secret places, string alleys. If I said this place was purple would I be wrong? Something else would be better but the mauve is fervent Read more

Tennessee Hill

Tennessee Hill is a sophomore at Stephen F. Austin State University working toward her BFA in Creative Writing. She has been featured in Elke Journal, Kaaterskill Basin, and HUMID. She is also a featured contributor on Teen Collective (teencollective.me), Feminine Collective's blog written by teens for teens.

How to Stop Nagging and Start Loving

SA Smith

We’ve all been there. We’re tired, overworked and can feel it coming on. We lash out at the people around us, knowing we’re doing it, and yet we can’t stop. That’s usually when the nagging starts. We nag at our partners, our children, hell we even nag at the family Read more

SA Smith

SA Smith has always loved the magical life. She is the bestselling Amazon author of FOREVER, her four part young adult paranormal romance series. She is an advocate for women of all shapes and sizes. Believing that we are all enough just as we are, and needing to spread that word far and wide. Having been diagnosed with CRPS over 12 years ago, SA also uses her writing to increase social awareness of the disease. Writing is her passion. She often tells friends that writing is a journey for her. It’s like spending time with friends. "I just follow my characters along on their adventures, like a fly on the wall, and see where they take me." SA currently lives in Florida with her best friend/husband and their one son.

10 Ways to Live Your Life to the Fullest

SA Smith

I was at a funeral the other day of a dear friend’s daughter and child. After many tears, the clergy stood to read us the eulogy. He told us of a poem by Linda Ellis called “The Dash”. He spoke of the date of birth and the date of death, Read more

SA Smith

SA Smith has always loved the magical life. She is the bestselling Amazon author of FOREVER, her four part young adult paranormal romance series. She is an advocate for women of all shapes and sizes. Believing that we are all enough just as we are, and needing to spread that word far and wide. Having been diagnosed with CRPS over 12 years ago, SA also uses her writing to increase social awareness of the disease. Writing is her passion. She often tells friends that writing is a journey for her. It’s like spending time with friends. "I just follow my characters along on their adventures, like a fly on the wall, and see where they take me." SA currently lives in Florida with her best friend/husband and their one son.

Lip Gloss and Roadblocks Along the Female Career Highway

Erin Righetti

When I was very little, we had a big window in the family room, and every weekday morning when my dad would go to work, I would rush to the window and stand behind the drawn curtain facing our gravel driveway. My dad would start up the car and back out Read more

Erin Righetti

Erin Righetti is a professional writer across multiple media channels. She has over 20 years experience as a freelance writer/reporter, and has been a contributor to newspapers and online magazines and blogs. Erin works as a public relations and social media strategist in Carlsbad, California.

The Art of Being a Woman in a Man’s World

Julie Anderson

Sugar and spice and everything nice that’s what little girls are made of. Sunshine and rainbows and ribbons for hair bows that’s what little girls are made of. Tea parties, laces and baby doll faces that’s what little girls are made of. —Unknown Cinderella and a prince. Straight A’s and a Read more

Julie Anderson

Julie Anderson is the Creator and Publisher of Feminine Collective. Julie was inspired to create this safe place for women to share their secrets, desires, triumphs and pain as the antithesis of what mainstream media offers women today. In her column Pursuit of Perfection, she explores the importance of rectifying the balance of inner and outer beauty through essays, poems and articles on self-esteem, shame, family, and self- acceptance.