Social Story: "See Her Story" Event Report
I am just floored and honored and over the moon at the response we had (and continue to have) from our very first See Her Story event last Thursday. As you can read in my announcement about the event, not only was this event to fundraise and collect items off the shelter needs list for InterAct, it was also to give women a positive environment to get in front of the camera by themselves. That sounds like no big deal to some of you, but for many women that is really hard and creates anxiety. Your story is worth telling and we wanted to show women that they are beautiful and worth photographing all by themselves. I shared my heart for this idea with some like-minded local businesses, who I later realized were all owned by women. I wanted to share in this post the amazing work that these other vendors did for the event, as well as share the grand totals for what we collected for InterAct. Remember that what we raised is only part of the point of the event - the other part was that I wanted women to feel proud to visually represent who they are and the story they carry within themselves.I am proud to share with you that (despite the terrible storms that evening) we had 59 women come out to participate in this first ever See Her Story event. These 59 women gave over $2200 and collected over 375 items off the shelter needs list. I am so so so very proud of you all! The gratitude that I feel towards my team and the vendors that took this leap of faith with me overflows. April and Rebecca, I feel so lucky any time I get to shoot along side the two of you. You have both taught me so much over the past nine years - I would not be the photographer or business woman I am today with out you both so freely sharing your knowledge, creativity and your hearts with me. I love you two SO MUCH. Leah, you have been the most amazing "administrative guru" that I didn't realize how badly I needed. Thank you for showing me that I can trust someone else to help run this thing (the business and this event) and do it so well -- and a shout out to Abby for letting your sister drag you along and being such a huge help. Ladies at the Merrimon-Wynne -- you allowed us into your beautiful venue and gave us the most perfect space to host this event. As always you went out of your way to show us hospitality - we are always so impressed with you. Sara and The Cupcake Shoppe, I have always admired your heart and how you run your business so it was no surprise to me that you were the first business I wanted to get on board for this event. Thank you for providing some delicious cupcakes and cheerleading during the planning process. Jennifer and ladies from Makeup for Your Day - as usual, you went above and beyond to give women a glow with your hair and makeup touch-ups. You are always so sweet as you chat with each woman, sharing hair and makeup tips and keeping women looking natural while enhancing the beauty they've already got going on. Lorin, Joseph and staff at Catering Works - just get on outta' here with how amazing your involvement in this event was. Of course I knew that the food would be delicious and the "left over" flowers lovely, but OMG did you blow me away with how incredible the food was and how stunning the florals were. The surprise centerpiece with the frames on the food table brought me to tears. How lovely and thoughtful!!!You can find several different ways to give and volunteer with InterAct of Wake County on their website. One of the ways that I give to InterAct is by contributing clothes to their in house thrift store. Please check back to see images that we took of women that evening and to read the stories they carry with them. I cannot wait to share those with you.
