When I started writing The Other Women, I didn’t have a five-year plan.
I didn’t have a polished business model or a perfectly mapped-out strategy.
What I had was a feeling.
A feeling that many women were asking themselves bigger questions than anyone seemed to be talking about.
Questions about identity.
About purpose.
About reinvention.
About what comes after the roles we’ve spent years building our lives around.
So I started writing.
One conversation each week.
I wasn’t trying to create another newsletter.
I was simply hoping to create a place where women might recognize themselves in the stories we were telling.
Then something unexpected happened.
Women started writing back.
Some shared their own stories.
Some introduced me to women they thought I should meet.
Some reached out simply to say, “I’ve been thinking about this too.”
And slowly, almost without realizing it, I began to understand something.
Maybe I wasn’t just writing a publication.
Maybe we were beginning to build a community.
Over the past several months, many of you have asked me a simple question.
“Where is The Other Women going?”
The honest answer is...
It’s becoming exactly what I hoped it might.
Not another networking group.
Not another membership site.
Not another place where women exchange business cards and move on with their lives.
I want to build something that feels different.
A place where conversations become relationships.
Where relationships become collaborations.
Where women introduce one another, champion one another, and celebrate one another.
A place where showing up matters more than showing off.
That’s why you’ve heard me describe The Other Women as a movement disguised as a membership.
The membership may one day provide the structure.
But the movement is the people.
It’s the conversations.
It’s the introductions.
It’s the quiet moments when one woman says to another, “You should meet...”
Or...
“How can I help?”
Over the next several months, you’ll begin to see more of that take shape.
We’ll gather with women-owned businesses throughout the Seacoast for Collaboration Series events.
We’ll share more founder stories, more conversations, and more opportunities to connect beyond these pages.
You’ll probably even see a little The Other Women swag along the way.
Not because the world needs another sweatshirt or tote bag.
But because I love the idea of a woman spotting another woman across a coffee shop, a bookstore, or a local event and recognizing something familiar.
A quiet reminder that she’s part of something bigger than herself.
Because belonging isn’t always loud.
Sometimes it’s simply knowing someone else understands the journey you’re on.
The truth is, none of this exists because of me alone.
Every conversation.
Every introduction.
Every woman who has said, “I’d love to help.”
Every person who has shared these essays with a friend.
You’ve all become part of this story.
And that’s changed the way I think about what we’re building.
I used to believe I had to have every answer before inviting people in.
Now I think the opposite is true.
The best things are built together.
One conversation.
One introduction.
One collaboration.
One woman at a time.
The Conversation Continues
I’d love to leave you with a different question this week.
What kind of community have you been looking for?
Not just professionally.
Personally.
The kind of place where you feel seen.
Encouraged.
Challenged.
Welcomed.
Because if you’ve been reading these conversations and quietly thinking,
“I’ve been looking for something like this...”
I’d love to hear from you.
The first Collaboration Series is just around the corner.
The Founding Circle is beginning to take shape.
And I have a feeling the women who are meant to help shape The Other Women are already here.
We’re just beginning.
XO,
Cleo
