"I was lucky they caught it early. I had cervical cancer and three surgeries and the experience was a real eye-opener. It was an opportunity to look at death and my own mortality." - Alison Abrams
Bonnie Novella
"Sometimes I just can't imagine my life without my son. By the time children are 18 months you notice how unique they are and it is such an amazing experience watching them grow. He is 21 years and in the National Guard and was deployed for the day he finished training. Fortunately he is not in combat and we Skype once a week." - Bonnie Novella is a real estate investor in Schenectady, NY.
Tattum Yvon
"I had a miscarriage. It was rough." - Tattum Yvon is a fashion stylist.
Kasey Adams
"Why live my life in fear? I was physically and verbally assaulted by a man while I was in the women's restroom. I figured if it could happen there, in a small Southern town, it could happen anywhere. It was a wake up call. I decided I needed to change my life and I moved to New York City. " - Kasey Adams is a photographer and lighting assistant.
Natalie Williams
"Joan Rivers took a photo with me not long before she passed away and she told me, "You passed. You look hot." I was so excited to get a thumb's up from the fashion police. I love fashion; the lipstick, the nail polish, the sexy little lingerie, the swimwear. This is how I express myself. I love being a woman."
Hortense Bell
"I was a Pentecostal Preacher for 40 years. Now I'm too old, I'll be 92 next Christmas. My arthritis and sciatica make it hard for me to walk and get around so I have to take it easy. But God has blessed me and people always help me when I need help." - Hortense L. Bell sells clothing at the Brooklyn Flea Market.
Nicole Lowry
"I've done a lot of things that women don't typically do. I made a conscious choice not to have children. In my twenties I raced stallions in the dessert with an Egyptian man. In 2008 I became one of 200 women who have summited Mount Everest. All these adventures, and all these decisions have shaped me and my idea of what it is to be a woman." - Nicole Lowry.
Nicole Hockley
"That protective instinct that comes from becoming a mother - you want to be your best for them. Feeling the movement of the babies inside you and knowing you are growing a person is overwhelming, humbling, exciting and scary. I have two boys, one is no longer living. He was murdered when he was six years old in the Sandy Hook School shooting." - Nicole Hockley is the Founder and Managing Director of Sandy Hook Promise.
Dannie Getz
" I was sitting in a business meeting, during which I shared my honest opinions. Afterwards the women who were also in the meeting asked why I had to say things so harshly. That I wasn't being nice. I answered, " Isn't it more respectful to give my honest opinion and not sugar coat it?" If a man speaks his mind, even if he used the same exact words as I did - he would not be told he wasn't being nice." - Dannie Hetz Founder + CEO of TOPRO.
Sweta Vikram
"When my mother died, my response was to heal the world. I started to connect the dots in my life and took up the matriarchal role of being the nurturer. I often wish my mother was around to see my transformation. My husband says, "What makes you think she isn't?" - Sweta Vikram is a writer and wellness entrepreneur. Her 11th book, just released this week, Saris and Single Malt is now available for purchase.
Susan Mendelson
"I am single. I have always been single and I think that God has kept me that way. But God has made me profoundly content and God functions sort of like my husband." - Susan Mendelson is a member of the ministry, Jews for Jesus.
Lindsey Bochacki
"I don’t think that being a woman has affected my life either positively or negatively." - Lindsey Bochacki
Delia Paine
"The experience of being pregnant and giving birth offers a unique intimate connection of bringing that tiny being into the world. Even once the baby is born your body reacts physically to their cries. It's a special thing about being a woman." - Delia Paine is a button artist with ViaDelia
Laurie Phillips
"I wanted to take Latin in school but I was told I couldn't because I was a girl. I played basketball and the girls team had to practice outside on the cracked cement courts and buy our own uniforms but the boys could use both indoor gyms and didn't have to pay for their uniforms. So much has changed the whole world of opportunity is open for my daughter." - Laurie Phillips is an Attorney.
Tenne Thrower
"I dedicated six years to helping young women through Boys Hope and Girls Hope of Baltimore. I worked there from 2010-2015 - I lived with the girls and helped them to support them in becoming better people with more opportunities. I left the job, but then I had to come back and stay involved. If I weren't a woman I wouldn't have had that opportunity because only women are hired to live in the house with the girls." - Tenne Thrower works for Black Girls Vote and Boys Hope Girls Hope of Baltimore.
Abrar Omeish
"I am visibly Muslim because of how I dress, but I think about how this is different for Muslim men. Sometimes this means I am asked questions ,which is ok, but sometimes it results in insults. An Uber driver threatened to shoot me. When I got in the car I said, "Good Morning." And he said, " Are you going to shoot me?" and then said, "Oh,I better get my gun." Then he started leaning over like he was going to take something out of the glovebox. I made a joke and diffused the situation somehow." - Abrar Omeish is a student at Yale University.
Sister Mary Ellen Lacy
"I was going to become a doctor and then along the way I decided to become a nurse. It was the best change of path I could have made. As a nurse I was really able to care for my patients and be with my patients in a way that doctors can't. People always remember the nurses that take of them in the hospital because we are the ones by their sides. Later I became a lawyer and then a Nun. Now I work in impoverished communities and I get to encounter God everyday." - Sister Mary Ellen Lacy is a public housing attorney with the Legal Aid Society in East Illinois and part of Nuns on The Bus 2016.
Sharon Alexander
"I gave my body over to science to have a kid at 45 years old. I tell my friends everything else I did before having a baby was just a hobby. I didn't get married until I was 40 and then we had to try different infertility methods, IVF and eventually assisted hatching worked. She was born with a genetic spinal condition but she is doing great." - Sharon Alexander is teacher, vocalist and community leader with ShirEcstasy.com
Julie Tyler
"I didn't end up having a baby or adopting a child. Knowing this campaign was so important - being a woman has brought me into this activism. I'm doing this for future generations and I don't even have kids. I think, "How dare some people sit on the sidelines. I am doing this for your kids. I don't even have kids. I'm just really emotional, we all thought, I thought, Bernie was going to take this all the way."- Julie Tyler is the founder of Golden Goose Films.
Regina Garcia
"I was 17 pregnant and single. I didn't tell my family because I was scared. They thought I was getting fat and kept putting me on diets. When I was 9 months pregnant I started having pains and I called my friend. I snuck out of the house and my friend took me to the hospital. She went back to my house to tell my mother I was pregnant and in the hospital and my mother passed out. I was going to give the baby up for adoption but my Mother said we should keep him and raise him. When he was 20 he was shot in the back by a kid who had to kill someone to get initiated into a gang." - Regina Garcia is part of the New Jersey Chapter of Mothers In Charge