Becoming a Stronger Girl

A heroine on the quest to save herself

Welcome into my story. I’d love to offer you a cup of coffee as you consider how becoming a stronger girl can fit into your story as well. It’s not easy. It’s not always pretty. But, like a muscle getting stronger, you will grow and become a version of yourself you’ll really love.

I’m still in the beginning phase of becoming a stronger girl, but with each brave, each milestone, each connection, I am getting closer. Through Stronger Girl on Substack, I invite you to join me on this journey and discover how impactful it can be when we grow stronger together.

Moving back to my Kentucky hometown in 2019 to open a turn-of-the-century coffee shop with my husband was a culminating milestone for my family and my 28-year-marriage. A brutally sudden divorce declaration just six months later, however, threatened to steal everything I imagined for our future.

In the four years since the death of my marriage, I’ve discovered that I am the heroine of my own story … not because I am strong or brave, but because I am vulnerable enough to ask for help, passionate enough to fight for what I believe in, and surrounded by people who lead with love and who encourage me to embrace my life with strength, faith and boldness. Through Stronger Girl, I want to share what I’ve learned with other women and invite them to discover their inner strengths.

Since that divorce announcement in February of 2020, I have stumbled along the path toward becoming a stronger girl, accomplishing a few brave milestones along the way, including:

• Parenting three amazing daughters who are heroines of their own stories

• Writing a 95,000-word memoir — spoiler alert …. it’s called Stronger Girl

• Keeping a coffee shop afloat in the midst of a pandemic and earning the 2021 Tourism Business of the Year award

• Selling that coffee shop in 2022 to a non-profit which is successfully running it today as a social enterprise that impacts people in addiction recovery

• Launching an online coffee and candle brand

• Hosting women’s retreats and experiences that embody the Stronger Girl message

• Rappelling down an 18-story building

• Performing an essay in an off-Broadway theatre in New York City

• Inviting women to join me in this whole damn thing

Through shifting perspectives of love, loss and their prisoners, this quest to become a stronger girl challenges traditional fairytale endings through the powerful emergence of a heroine on the quest to save herself. It’s my mission in life to share that with others.

These three girls are my why.

They are why I fought for my marriage of 28 years.

They are why I fought for myself when it came crashing down in 2020.

They are why I launched Stronger Girl and why I share what I’ve learned with others.

They are my legacy, and so are their someday daughters + one already-here granddaughter.

With aspirations to launch a podcast, publish my memoir, deliver a TedX Talk, grow more flowers and turn my walking trail into a sanctuary, I am continuing to rise on this “becoming a stronger girl” journey. I hope you’ll subscribe to Stronger Girl on Substack so we can journey together!

If you know a gal who is in the becoming phase too, please share this post and invite her to join us!

P.S. The phrase, “Stronger Girl,” was coined by my youngest daughter on a hike in Red River Gorge, Kentucky. (And, yes, there’s an essay here you can read that invites you into that story. And, another yes, I host a retreat there to honor this journey of becoming a stronger girl.)