a little bit louder
“You can’t move mountains by whispering at them.”
~P!nk
the recent headlines that have caught our eye
“The Rainmakers: Meet The Women Over 50 Creating New Ways To Make And Move Money” [ForbesWomen]
“Melanie Newman, Jessica Mendoza to call ESPN's first all-female MLB broadcast on Sept. 29” [USA Today]
“How an Entrepreneur Manages To Prioritize Wellness (for Herself and Her Dog) Even With a Jam-Packed Schedule” [Well + Good]
Here are the things we are doing, reading, listening to or heard about
that we think can help you on your path—whatever that path may be!
NEWSLETTER: The quirky, no b.s. newsletter that speaks to your soul. It’s the content you didn’t know you needed
BOOK: Actress and TV star, and Eddie Van Halen's life long love, Valerie Bertinelli has had her share of troubles but shares in her new book how she overcame those personal demos and has fallen in love with the person she is today.
These are the ladies we follow that, in short, make sh!t happen.
Don’t you want to fan girl with us?
Photo: Instagram/@ajabarber
Aja Barber (@ajabarber) is goals! She gets straight to the point and makes real suggestions on how we all can be more conscious consumers.
Photo: Instagram/@katiesturino
Katie Sturino (@katiesturino) the founder of megababe and the author of BodyTalk gets real on her IG and across platforms. Plus her fashion is next level.
Products that get the void seal of approval, at your service! and it’s not just us—our friends and family love them too!
p.s. all the companies featured in this section are women founded or women-led, duh!
Briogeo
IG: @briogeo
Nancy Twine, founder and CEO was onlyafew years into her career on the commodities desk at Goldman Sachs when her mother died inacar accident, which pushed her to reconsider her career path. Inspired by her mother,achemist who had developedanatural face cream, and her grandmother, who taught her how to make products with natural ingredients from the age of five, she spent weekends and nights researching the beauty industry and quickly realized that the natural hair care on the market simply did not live up to its performance claims. In her tiny East Village studio apartment, her grandmother's coveted beauty recipes and natural chemist team, Nancy founded Briogeo Hair Care.
the weekly mantras, horoscopes or astrological insights to help you attract what YOu what.
A morning method to unlock your highest potential, find your purpose, and cultivate peace through Meditation. Affirmation. Gratitude. Intentions and of course Coffee -
and when you take the first letter of each of those actions - it spells MAGIC!
Founded in 2020 by Natalee Linez, actress and entrepreneur, MAGIC exists to help guide your mornings to a more present, mindful, energized day, week and life.
Natalee knew the importance of a morning routine - so magic was born!
You can find MAGIC MORNINGS at www.mymagicmornings.com
a weekly q&a featuring kick-a$$ women ranging from celebrities and ceos to the women
that are hustling every single day to make things happen for themselves and others.
How LGBTQA+ Activist and OITNB’s Lea Delaria Stopped Giving a F*ck
and Started Changing the World
Lea Delaria, known for her role as Big Boo on Netflix’s hit show Orange is the New Black is a comedian, actor, musician, activist and self-described “butch dyke.” But after talking with her, it’s clear that those descriptions only graze the surface.
Lea is, simply put, unstoppable. She wants to make change and uses raw honesty and boundary-pushing opinions to approach life, but her laughter comes easily and her enthusiasm is infectious.
Her unique and unfiltered outlook began in her hometown of Belleville, Illinois as the daughter of a jazz musician dad and a stay-at-home mom. Her mother was a feminist and ingrained in Lea to always, always, always question the norm and think about why certain things are asked of or expected of women.
Ultimately, she wants to change the status quo and push the conversation further - and we were all ears to hear what she had to say!
You’re gonna want to get to know the real, raw, and one-of-a kind Lea Delaria below.
the void: who is lea delaria? how would you describe yourself?
Lea Delaria: I would describe myself as tenacious. I also always want to always conduct myself in an integrous manner. That is why I have always been out. I wanted to brush my teeth in the morning and like the person I saw in the mirror. I didn’t know I could do that by lying.
The void: Speaking of being out, you have done so much for the LGBTQA+ community. Where did you initially find the strength to express yourself so publicly?
Lea: My first gay pride event was in 1978 in St. Louis. It wasn’t a sanctioned pride, there wasn’t really a pride organization; it was really just a protest. There were maybe 100 people there. The police wouldn’t let us walk in the street. Me and a couple of other people decided to take the street, so we did, but we were only walking around maybe four blocks.
People were so “in the closet” at the time. One person I went with literally wore a mask while we were marching—she was afraid that someone would recognize her. That’s where I came from.
I think I have my parents to thank for a lot. They both taught me to speak my mind. My entire family, we speak our minds. They taught me to do that.
When they found out I was gay, when I told them I was gay, that was a rough go because they were Italian Catholics. I said to them that they always told me that I should be who I am. The other thing was when I moved to San Francisco, which was where I got started, it was 1982. I was 24 years old and all of my friends were dying. I stopped counting at the number 86. When I started protesting, they were calling it “gay cancer,” they weren’t even calling it AIDs.
That and the fact that if you look at me—I am a butch dyke, I am a woman, I am fat, the fact that I am white is the fourth or fifth thing you notice about me—I had rage from that. I had rage from watching my friends die.
Rage is a great motivator. I am not talking anger here. Anger is a bumpy, little emotion on the side of the road. I am talking real, significant rage. Unfortunately, we live in a society that does not encourage women to be in touch with their rage—I do. Get in touch with your fucking rage and we can change the world!
The void: You were the first openly queer comic to perform on broadcast tv (The Aresenio Hall Show, 1993). What did that mean to you?
Lea: It was amazing, right? It changed my life.
There was a tiny moment right before I went out, when you’re standing behind that curtain and you hear the host introducing you. Then the curtain opens and the audience is applauding. There was that moment I heard Arsenio say: “My next guest is a very funny stand-up comic, blah blah blah… and she’s gay.” In my head, I just stood there because I didn’t know what the audience would do. Was the audience going to be anti-queer? What’s going to happen? I didn’t hear a gasp or anything negative. Then he said “Do you want to meet her?” and they all cheered. That gave me such strength.
And when I went out there, I didn’t just open the closet door, I fucking blew that door down with a blow torch.
The void: There are so many more openly gay characters on mainstream television these days. Understanding there’s still more work to be done in society, how do you think having that LGTBQA+ representation helps the cultural shift?
Lea: I think it has helped us vastly in terms of winning the hearts and minds of people, definitely. I also think that we have an issue here that very few people are talking about...
I need to ask my community, my family—the queer community, and the feminist community that are up in arms about so many things I support (wholeheartedly because I want to change the world and get laid, not necessarily in that order). But why is it that whenever any lesbian role is written—and this is happening now vastly, every movie that we had last year that had a lesbian theme—the lesbians were portrayed by straight women?
They were directed by straight men, and they were written by straight men and women. We are being written out of our own fucking narrative. Even Orange Is The New Black had no lesbians in the writers’ room the last couple of seasons.
This is a problem.
[Interview has been truncated and edited for clarity; Original interview took place in 2019.]
Photo courtesy of Tina Turnbow.
