"By 1975, the United Nations officially recognized March 8 as International Women’s Day and well, now you know the whole story. It is a PR-friendly spectacle where corporate sponsors preach empowerment while the women most in need of solidarity are left to fend for themselves and nobody recognizes the socialist origins of the day at all."
This paragraph struck a chord with me. Over the past few years, I found myself becoming a bit cynical about this day. It did indeed start to feel so... commercial. LF's own takes were beginning to feel forced and unhelpful. After witnessing the backlash to the MeToo era, it almost seemed silly, perfunctory, and possibly even counterproductive to make a big deal out of IWD. So the last couple of years we sort of laid low on this day.
That cynical feeling around this day? In these times? WHOOSH. Gone. I’m here to f*cking celebrate women—even if it’s cringe, cheesy, or basic. Bring it all on. Women deserve it all. At the very least, we get to honor them on this important day that’s rooted in deep historic meaning—and we should do so with glee. Amina’s newsletter goes on to share a lovely and modern story from her sister in Conakry, Africa, about the importance of this day, leaving me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. And also? GOOD about recognizing it. Because celebrating women is a GOOD thing.
And so, without further ado, I’m proud and excited to announce how we are celebrating IWD today.
Today we’re re-releasing one of our very first campaigns from 2016, a partnership with WomenOne founded by one of the most inspiring women I’ve had the pleasure of working with—my friend Dayle Haddon. Dayle was a force of nature, the kind of force only a woman can be. Her WomenOne, has helped change the lives of so many women and girls through education. We collaborated back then on these Educate Girls, Change the World sweaters. It is with great honor, and as a tribute to the immensely inspiring life of Dayle, that we are relaunching our collaboration with her organization with the support of her daughter Ryan. I love that we have cotton sweatshirts in the mix this time around! You can read more about my friendship with Dayle here.
I’ll be back next week with (hopefully!) an old-school style "Rachelle’s Reading List" newsletter. I’ve caught the Substack bug like everyone else, but haven’t made the leap just yet—after conducting my own personal, very non-scientific survey on IG stories, ha. So, for now, my wacky personal newsletters will stay right here, mixed in with the sales-y pitches to buy our incredibly thoughtful products, natch. It’s imperfect, chaotic, and non-traditional—much like me. What can I say? This will be the way until I have the time or energy to learn how to properly categorize our lists on Klaviyo or figure out how to best package the daily brain spillage happening in my head. (Open to help, by the way!)
xo, Rachelle
