For Women’s History Month, we asked you to share what you appreciate about a woman, whether it’s someone you know or your favorite historical figure.
You called Mirror Indy and left us messages that made us smile. A few made us tear up, too. Take a few minutes and listen to the love your neighbors shared for the women who have changed their lives.
Shoutouts for a basketball GOAT and a First Lady
This is a shoutout to our GOAT and legend Tamika Catchings, who has done so much for the Indianapolis community, including doing stuff for our youth and also coming back for basketball season. Go Fever and go women’s sports!
I am inspired by our former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. She was a person that knew how to showcase talent, how to support humanity. And in the work that I’m doing currently as a curator for ‘The Tuskegee Airmen: America’s Freedom Flyers’ exhibition that is currently at our airport, Indianapolis Airport, we highlight her. Read more
I look up to her because she was the one that went to Tuskegee when the army said Black people could not fly airplanes. And she said, ‘I want to see for myself.’ So she did. She talked to Chief Anderson at Moton field in Tuskegee, Alabama. She said, ‘Take me up in the plane.’ And they were up there for about an hour. She was thrilled. She said, ‘Not only can you fly, you can fly incredibly well.’ So she made sure that she went back to talk to her husband, the President, and she got the Tuskegee Airmen involved in the war effort. It was a great success, and I give all credit to her for shining a spotlight on the unseen and the unheard and the unsupported. She was an amazing woman. She’s my inspiration.
Lots of love for moms
Hi. This is for my mom, Patricia Darlene Michaels. She adopted me when I was nine months old and raised me by herself as a single mom, working two jobs. She made everything happen for me, even when things necessarily weren’t happening for herself. She’s the strongest woman I ever met in my life. She had a heart of gold, and loved everyone. She never met a stranger. Unfortunately, she passed in 2022 to lung cancer. And I miss her every day, and I think she exemplifies what womanhood is. I miss her. I love you, Mom.
My mom inspires me with the way that she takes care of everyone around her and still makes time for herself. I’m so grateful for her because she has made an immense impact in my life to where any time that I have fallen down and had a really, really rough go of it, she is always there to do anything to help me get back up, no matter what. Read more
I also want to say, I’m grateful for all of the women in my family, my grandmother, and my great grandmother, who are no longer alive. But they’ve also made a profound impact on my life, and I do my best to uphold their values and uphold their name with absolutely everything that I do in life. I’m grateful for the values that they imparted on me when I was young and showing me that family is really important. You should also prioritize your own values as well and find out who you are and how you want to help other people. So thank you so much to all the women in my life, and I hope they have a wonderful Women’s History Month.
The woman who inspires me most is my mom, which is so cliche, but every single day she makes me want to be a better person to everyone. And my cat agrees. Growing up, people would always be like, ‘Oh my God, you’re just like your mom.’ I was like, ‘I don’t want to be like my mom.’ And now I just can’t even think of a higher compliment. She’s really the best. She’s the best mom in the world. So shout out to you, mom. I love you. Mwah.
The woman who inspires me the most is my mom. She’s been with me through everything, and she’s my biggest supporter. Happy Women’s History Month. Love you, Mom.
I just wanted to leave a message for my mom saying that I loved her. And I’m so grateful for the strong, fierce and courageous woman that she is, and all the things that she’s done for me and allowed me, paved a path for me to do and to be. I am just so in awe of her.
Messages for friends, mentors and coworkers
I want to thank Robin. We worked together at Lebanon Starbucks, and Robin, you’re the reason that I believed in myself enough to go to college and I think it’s brought me really far. You’re the reason that I’m excited to get older, and I hope to be like you when I grow up.
Hi, this message is for Dr. Shannon B. Campbell. She is the dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at North Carolina A&T. And she was, once upon a time, my mentor and professor at the University of Kansas. Read more
I would love to honor her because she is the type of academic, educator, friend and woman who inspires, challenges, pushes. She saw me at a predominantly white institution. You know, I was just a lonely little Black girl in the journalism school, and she was there for me, and she gave me office hours and her time and her attention. It warms my heart to see her as the dean of a college now, offering that same kind of support and energy and encouragement to so many other students. She’s just great. Thanks.
This is for Carrie Black. She has made such a huge impact on me professionally. I have never felt so cared for and just really empowered in the workplace. I really feel like you really believe in me, Carrie, and that means more to me than anything else. I’m really grateful and so appreciative to the way that you continue to guide and lead me and our team. We’re really lucky to have you. Thank you so much.
I want to leave a message for Luna. They have been just such a wonderful friend to me, and they have taught me so much about what it means to love your friends and be in community with them. I just feel so seen and taken care of by them. I’m just really grateful that they’re in my life, and that they have had such an incredible impact, not only to me, but so many people around them. I think if there are more women like them, then the world would be a lot better place. Love you.
Hi. I’m calling just to share: I have a community of women that I’m really, really thankful for in my community, in my neighborhood. These are women that I can call or text if I’m in a crisis, or when I want to celebrate, or when I need to vent about something and just asking for recommendations about what to make for dinner. Read more
You know, these are women who have shown up for me on my worst days and on my best days. These are friends who have collected money and replaced my wagon when it was stolen off my front porch or brought Aldi gift cards when we lost a job in our family. You know, these are people who meet me for drinks or coffee or show up to celebrate my kids on their birthday. And I’m really lucky. It’s not just one person. It’s a community of women that I’m lucky to be involved in. And on an individual level, you know, not everybody can show up for each other every time. But I have never put out a call for help and not had someone show up, not had someone answer or offer help. We take turns, we take breaks, you know, in this group, everybody steps in when they have the capacity, when they have the skills, they have the time, they have the funds. And a lot of times, it feels like I’m bragging, but it’s really just being incredibly thankful for a group of women who have just consistently shown up for me over the last 10 years. I watched these women get s**t done, you know, running families, but also working full time, or being a stay at home parent, or organizing our neighborhood. And just figuring out how do we show up for each other, how do you show up in meaningful ways for each other? I’m just incredibly grateful for this group of women, pretty consistently, and that’s all I have to say. Thank you.
I am literally so in love with my best friend. Platonically, of course. But she is an amazing woman. We share all of our stories, and struggles, and joy, and successes, and she inspires me to be powerful, to set boundaries, to keep going creatively. She listens when I need her to, and she gives me advice when I need her to. And she tells me I’m wrong when I don’t want her to, but I need to hear it. I think that she truly makes me a better person. I’m so grateful to have her in my life.
I can’t even begin to tell you how inspired I am by your creativity and your ability to just push yourself. Oftentimes, we have completely opposite ideologies, and there’s nothing that I wish more than I could spend every moment with you. You bring out all the playfulness and joy of being a kid again. And I wish that we just lived closer and that my affection wouldn’t scare you away. I love you.
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Mirror Indy reporter Sophie Young covers services and resources. Contact her at sophie.young@mirrorindy.org.
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