Our 2019 Extraordinary Women
"I am the thread that holds a lot of things together."
That quote was spoken by Jenny in the video above. She was one of the 13 extraordinary women we flew out to NYC last weekend to feature in this year's International Women's Day campaign. Watching this video (put together by our amazing videographer Isabel Bethencourt, Izzy, and her editor Elisabeth McKeon) late last night left me in joyful tears. It was the best birthday gift I could have ever received, equaled only to last year's Resistance Revival Chorus shoot and the preceding year's first Lingua Franca IWD shoot, which featured several of my amazing resisters friends (each one shot by my incredibly talented friend Pamela Hanson.) International Women's Day has naturally become a big thing for us here, creating memories that will last a lifetime.
I don't remember celebrating International Women's Day as a child, do you? This date has been such a focal point for us these last years - we've organized every big campaign and photoshoot around it - and yet I never really stopped to think about how or why it started. So, I did some digging. An easy google search will tell you that the earliest Women's Day observance, called "National Women's Day," was held on February 28th, 1909 in New York, organized by the Socialist Party of America at the suggestion of a one Theresa Malkiel. I love this line from Theresa:
"It was not...a woman's fancy that drove them to it, but an eruption of a long-smoldering volcano, an overflow of suffering, abuse, and exhaustion.” ― Theresa S. Malkiel, The Diary of a Shirtwaist Striker.
[Photo by Pamela Hanson]
Here's to women everywhere today! Past, present and future. We are all connected in a powerful sisterhood that is holding the threads of life together. We are erupting, we are strong, we are extraordinary! xo Rachelle
Extraordinary Women, 2019
At Ladurée, for our parting brunch on Sunday
Special thanks to: The Ludlow Hotel who provided rooms for our winners and spaces for us to run wild in; our amazing gift bag sponsors; our friends at The Whitney museum who hooked our winners up with a private tour of the Warhol exhibit; The Park Restaurant, and Ladurée. Finally, Pamela, thank you so much for being you and taking on these shoots in between shooting famous cover stars and fashion models. You are just the best. And to the LF team who puts up with me and my crazy last-minute ideas each and every day? Thank you for (mostly) always going along with me. I'm just getting started so buckle up! xo