Celebrating Women's History Month

Hey there, everyone. Today we wanted to commemorate the beginning of Women's History Month, which starts tomorrow (March 1). It's a holiday that doesn't get enough attention, and that's something we were hoping to remedy throughout the month with more information, guidance and inspiration about and for the irreplaceable women in business.

It shouldn't be controversial to celebrate people, but there are some who will wonder aloud what purpose there is in celebrating this month. Those folks may not appreciate the additional hurdles that women have had to overcome to even be business owners, let alone still face even today in so many aspects of life.

For a bit of perspective, women could not open lines of credit in their own names until 1974 with the passage of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and it has scarcely been more than a hundred years with the certification of the Nineteenth Amendment that women have had the right to vote. The oldest known living person was ten when women in America got a right guaranteed without question to their male counterparts, nearly 150 years after the founding of the nation.

It's Good to Have Friends

Through this and the web of misogynistic biases that continue to persist through our culture, women nevertheless persist, succeed and thrive in different spheres of business. Today, we wanted to celebrate some of our favorite women entrepreneurs in Detroit and beyond, and highlight a few of the great ambassadors who've helped not only Nakee, but so many others as well:

Jennyfer Crawford-Williams

Detroit is a better city today because of the dedication and wisdom of our dear friend Jennyfer, founder of the AskJennyfer and All Things Detroit Day initiatives and one of the most brilliant entrepreneurs in the city and beyond. She tirelessly advocates for small businesses in the city; last year, as part of the tenth anniversary celebration for All Things Detroit, over two hundred local businesses were in attendance.

Anayat and The Manifest Movement

Our friend and ambassador Anayat has thrived as a multi-hyphenate, helping to educate others through her international yoga retreats and personal coaching with a focus on both mental and physical wellness. She describes herself as "having a hard time sitting still," but that honestly undersells both her zeal to see the world. If you want to learn more about yoga, hypnotherapy, coaching and so many other methods of self-betterment, Anayat is a great resource.

Jordynn and MOVE Detroit

Also one of our wonderful ambassadors, Jordynn and the gang at MOVE Detroit are another of Detroit's businesses on the rise. They just opened their new headquarters in Royal Oak, which you should definitely check out if you haven't already; we were happy to be a part of the grand opening celebration! Group training, physical therapy, nutrition advice, a sauna and so much more are available through MOVE, and it's honestly hard to sit here at my computer and write this with how pumped their videos are.

Ksen and The Walk Forward Journal

There are few people more aware of the interconnected nature of our health than our friend Ksen, who posts everything from recipes to wellness tips and so much in between. Additionally, she created the Walk Forward Journal, a guidebook that you can use to track the progress of your own health journey.  It's also a chance to commit to writing not only your desire for self-change and improvement, but why and how you're doing it-- a simple activity that can help set good habits in stone and keep positive momentum.

Facing Tomorrow

Whatever vision of the future you might hold, and whatever it's inspired by, it will not become the truth on its own. It is both an expression of faith in yourself and in the world to create something as daring as a new business, and doubly so for those who succeed. Today, as well as the whole of March and beyond, we should celebrate those who take the chance to create something new, those who support one another in doing it and who stand up to adversity to better the world. 

The women who do so are the kinds of icons, heroes and guiding stars that we need nowadays. If you're thinking of joining them, or you already have, here's a list of resources that you can use to learn and empower yourself:

• The Detroit Women Entrepreneur's Facebook group
• Jennyfer's All Things Detroit
• Femology Detroit, a collective of diverse women-owned businesses
• Resources through the U.S. Small Business Administration
• Lists of resources created by Bank of America, US Bank and Wells Fargo

Whatever the future holds, we'll face it together, as we always have. What I said before about supporting your vision of the future-- that's a universal thing. Though there are many worrying things about the state of the world right now, negative visions of tomorrow are not set in stone either. Through the ingenuity, courage and intellect that has guided generations of great women before us, there is an honest chance for goodness to prevail. Don't ever give up hope, friends. 

Thanks for reading!