Naqausia Pollard

"I don't think I would have been given as much time if I were a man. I was sentenced to 18 years for robbery in the first. They charged me as though I were a predicate, but I was a first time felon.  I appealed, but it was denied because I had taken a plea bargain. I was 19 years old and pregnant when I went to prison and I served 15 years." -  Naquasia Pollard turns 34 years old today.  This is her first birthday at home since was 19 years old.

Topeka K. Sam

"I think the ability to discern is a gift that is given to most women. In the Bible wisdom is referred to as a woman. I wouldn't be as wise if I weren't a woman. I call this discernment God speaking to us. This ability has empowered me to fight for incarcerated, formerly incarcerated and marginalized women and girls." - Topeka K. Sam is the founder and executive director of The Ladies of Hope Ministries. The mission of The LOHM is to help disenfranchised & marginalized women transition back into society through education, spiritual empowerment, entrepreneurship & advocacy.  She is also the c0- founder of Hope House.  Topeka served 3.5 years in federal prison and today is her birthday as well as the 2018 #dayofempathy.

Sylvie Degiez

"Everything would have been different if I weren't a woman, especially where I come from in rural Switzerland. It was very gender distinct, so much so that I never even heard about homosexuality until very late in life.  My mother said she was a feminist but there was a big discrepancy between her discourse and her actions.  She was the center pole of the family and she worked hard and earned a better living than my father but there was always a deference to the males in the family. That is just the way it was there.  In my village, divorced women were often looked down on. Even if it was the man who had a lover and broke up the marriage, it was the divorced woman who would have the lower social position.  But my mother was always kind to divorced women, well really to all women. She loved women. " - Sylvie Degiez is originally from Switzerland and is a composer/musician/educator.

Chloe Siegman

"Everything I I have experienced I have experienced in a certain way because I am a woman. The way I connect with people would be very different if I weren't female. I feel there is a learned behavior that is common in women. It involves listening and reflecting in a way that I don't see in my male presenting friends. I don't think it is a behavior that can't be learned by them, but me and my female friends have practiced more. This way of communicating leads me to see a lot of beauty in other people and opens up a depth of connection that is extremely useful." - Chloe Siegman is a theater arts major at Boston University.

Melissa Tomback

"I gave birth to my younger child, Jacob in my home and that was so empowering.  It made me feel like I could do anything. In contrast to my first pregnancy and my daughter's birth, where I had so much doubt about becoming a new mother and read books and got lots of advice.  Also, after she was born I had postpartum depression.  With the second pregnancy, I realized I had the intuition to deliver him and raise him myself. We had a family bed and I was just calmer, not as anxious." -  Melissa Tomback is a mother, lawyer, photographer and doula.

Singeli Agnew

"I've traveled a lot for work and it's rare to get real moments of intimacy and connection when you are in and out of places very quickly. Yet, I feel I have this collection of images in my mind of women connecting with me just on the basis of being a woman. In Iran I was filming the Supreme Leader and I was having a hard a time with my head scarf - I am just not that good at putting them on correctly. And then, in the kindest way possible, a woman come up to me and took our her own hairpin and fixed my headscarf so that it didn't get in the way of the camera. She saw that I was struggling with it and we were only speaking the language of womanhood. I think this sort of intimacy is particular to being a woman." - Singeli Agnew is an American producer/cinematographer currently based in Beirut.

AJ Kinney

"My own choice of my name as a professional was to keep it gender neutral. Our world is almost pushing us to reflect on gender and see that it does impact everything. When I was at school at the Chicago Art Institute there was this male student who wanted to explore what it was to be a female artist so he painted only flowers. It was ridiculous, does it really need to be that obvious? People come up to me while I am working and ask, "Did you do that all by yourself?" I would never have to have my basic skillset questioned if I didn't happen to be born a woman." - AJ Kinney is a painter living in New Orleans.

Brigida Belém Cabrera Reyes

"For me as a woman, becoming a mother was like passing on to the next level of a video game. I can't go back to the level where I was before. It's a wonderful thing. And as a woman, I have always felt a special feeling and need to care for others. Even here at my job I look after my employees. I have worked here for eight years and we are a family here. I feel like I need to protect everyone and this isn't a feeling I can run away from." -  Brigida Belém Cabrera Reyes is the manager of The Inn at Manzanillo Bay in Troncones, Mexico.

Diana Iris Muniz Navarrete

"I am nineteen years old, I have two children and I am pregnant with my third. When I was thirteen I made a sex video with my boyfriend. The video was on my boyfriend's phone and his phone was stolen and the video was published on Facebook.  Because of the video, my parents made me marry the boy. The cyber-bullying was awful and I tried to commit suicide several times and started seeing a psychiatrist.  But, when I was 15 I gave birth to my first child, my son, and because of him I knew I had to lift myself out of my depression and out of my situation.  I left my first husband because he mistreated me.  Now I am remarried and I want to write a book about my experience.  I am only nineteen and already I have experienced a lot of pain but I also know that when a woman wants to, she can lift herself up." - Diana Iris Muniz Navarrete is a mother and waitress in Troncones, Mexico.

Tasnim Sarah Clarke

"The way I have lived my life is based on intuition, trust and being present. This is a feeling I associate with the feminine.  This way of living has led me to an internship in Sweden, backpacking in South America and then I received a full ride plus living expenses to attend the New School in New York City. It is a quiet way of listening, and I know if I just listen I will be caught and I will be doing the right thing.  Even if I land in a difficult situation it will teach me the right lesson or will put me in the next right place." - Tasmin Sarah Clarke is a student studying photojournalism at The New School.

Bambi Deville

"When I got married I had a party for the family in New Orleans. At the party, my grandfather Deville said, "Well there goes the acting career."  He was right because I gave up so many opportunities. My husband was not supportive of my acting career, he wanted me to be his secretary and have babies. I stayed married for 12 years and left when I was 30. If I were a man I wouldn't of had to ask anyone's permission or question any of those opportunities." - Bambi DeVille owns a vintage clothing shop in New Orleans.

Alexandria Cmaylo

"I lost my son, Bear. Absolutely the most joy in my life came from him and the most pain I've experienced came from losing him. And that experience will never be matched. In Bear's birth and in his death he saved me. Joe Biden said, "You get to a point where the memories make you smile more than the pain hurts." He was my only one, and I'm too old to have another. " - Alexandria Cmaylo is an artist and lives in New Orleans.

Mina McCree

"I come from a background of women who didn't know their worth or see themselves as goddesses or know that they were goddesses. They didn't even have standards set for men to even meet.  It's been interesting stepping into my own.  There's no self-sacrificing that I am going to do.  Too many women don't know how to keep to their standards or how to live their standards. I am the table, you bring the gift.  I am the Queen, not you. In ancient stories the woman came first." - Mina McCree is a musician/writer who lives in New Orleans.

Shawn-Michelle Rudism

"The power of grace, women, we just have it. This grace, it's a gift. I love being a woman and I would never choose otherwise.  To me, grace means being educated, fancy, sexy and terrific inside and out.  And having a loving and inviting spirit inside and out." - Shawn-Michelle Rudism is the owner of the vintage clothing shop, Fraulein's World in New Orleans.

Dianthe Johnson

"I told myself if I didn't have a baby by the time I was 25, I wasn't gonna have one. I wanted to have a baby, raise her and still be able to be young and live my life. I raised my baby. I'm still young, I move around and I enjoy life." - Dianthe Johnson works in the construction field and is also a Lyft driver in New Orleans.

Omary Carreo

"Coming to this country ten years ago made my life. Being here opened up my mind to what it means to be a gay person.  When I got my NYC city card they asked me whether I wanted to register as a woman, a man, both or neither.  I said, "What? Wow! This is the country that I needed."  In my country, Columbia,  I couldn't come out as being a gay person.  Being here gave me the opportunity to create my business with my wife. The small business center in NYC helped us get through the legal parts of setting up our business and helped us with marketing." Omary Carreo is the c0-owner of Tangerine Cleaning Service.

Nicole Hockley

In honor of the fifth anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting I am re-posting this EVE. In her eyes I saw the sadness of her loss. But I also saw the calm determination to work towards gun control reform.  Her son who was killed would be 11 this year.  "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.