About Portraits of Her
This podcast grew out of a personal and cultural desire to hear more women’s stories. It is not an original concept to say that the greatest growth can stem from meeting and engaging with those different than you, and we now have the technology to do so across many mediums. I hope this podcast can be a space where our guests share their personal narratives, and listeners may hear versions of themselves mirrored in someone’s authentic tale, hopefully providing an opportunity to feel seen and highlighting that the parallels of our humanity pulse beneath our differences.
(opportunity for the rest of this to “expand” – so you have to click “more” to see more; thereore, someone simply on the landing page will see first paragraph about the podcast and about me?)
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Women are in the spotlight more than they have been in the US and world’s history, reflected in movements like TimesUp and MeToo that have given title and community to the inequities and violence against women. More women are in positions of leadership in business, the entertainment industry is telling more women’s stories, and more women than ever before hold government roles. Women are poised to impact the cultural fabric of our country as much or more than at any other time in history, and we should be listening to their unique and shared histories. Let’s share how women’s cultures/childhoods/role models influenced their lives, how they have made their life decisions, how they have achieved and how they have struggled. Our stories are varied yet thematic… resiliency, determination, strength, hurdles, resources, supports, trauma… there are myriad factors in how an individual becomes herself. Let’s speak, share, listen, and truly see each other.
ABOUT MARIS:
I’m Maris, a middle-aged (I guess?) woman raising 2 young, white, upper middle-class boys with my soul mate in an NYC suburb. I’m the baby of four children to two phenomenal people, northeast born, raised, and eventually resettled. I have always been curious about people… what does the world look and feel like through that person’s unique lens. The last to quiet down at a childhood sleepover and the last to leave a girls’ dinner as an adult, I have always valued and enjoyed engaging in meaningful and truly present conversation with others. I laugh and cry in equal measure and often at the same time, have a gigantic mouth that can chatter endlessly for hours with loved ones and strangers alike, with an actual master’s degree skillset in listening and reflecting. Having become a clinical social worker, I spent my professional history focused on health, mental health, and disability – primarily addressing the impact of chronic illness and chronic pain in an individual’s life and family system. I’m also an avid consumer of entertainment, think tangents may be the best parts of a conversation, and want to open up this space as a safe place for vulnerability and intimacy.
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Personally, becoming a mother changed my life. That statement is obvious and ubiquitous, but I was unprepared for how much my identity changed. For a long time, and admittedly possibly still, my identity was quite lost. This transition to motherhood has consumed me, and I am endlessly curious about the ways women become mothers, the examples and role models they had, and the cultural elements that informed how motherhood or mothering should look. It is one of the many ways being a woman is arrestingly and beautifully challenging, and there seems to be no moratorium on the multiple layers that make each of our experiences completely unique and yet joins us in an ever-expanding sisterhood across generations and cultures. It is only one of the many areas I hope to explore together.