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Inside the Ladies’ Lounge

As the Unfiltered Conference nears, I think I’m beginning to realize just how many amazing speakers we’re going to have. There are so many people, men and women, who are going to be speaking on so many different issues: from women’s health to finance, to relationships. I think everyone who will attend is in for a really big treat! One thing I’m really looking forward to is the Ladies’ Lounge. I believe it will be a great opportunity for women to get together in a judgement-free environment to discuss issues we face on a daily basis.

What Is the Ladies’ Lounge

The Ladies’ Lounges are a chance for the women at the conference to break into small groups and discuss topics that are often labeled as “taboo.” This judgement-free setting allows for open conversation and an honest dialogue about these issues.

Each Ladies’ Lounge will have a specific topic or theme. To be honest, it’ll be difficult for women to choose which one to go to. Here is a look at two of the topics that will be covered in the Ladies’ Lounges and why I’m excited for them!

  • Financially Fierce

We know that women are not treated the same as men, that do not have the same opportunities. That inequality goes back centuries, but now the conversation and dialogue has been started. Now we have a chance to speak openly and honestly about just how unequal things have been and still are. In many ways, I feel like men are really starting to see the value women bring to the table, emotionally and financially, and they are starting to see the benefit of a diverse home and workplace.

In the past, men have not seen women as providers, but the truth is that we are and we have always been providers. We may not have been providing financially, but we have been providing emotionally and spiritually for a long time. With more women in the workforce than ever, we are also providing financially.

  • Women’s Wellness: I’m Afraid to Ask My Doctor

The problem with the health-care industry is exactly that; it’s an industry. All industries are based on profits. Their main reason for existence is to earn money.

While there is nothing wrong with making a profit, it becomes a negative thing when it comes in conflict with the health and wellness of women. Unfortunately, that’s what seems to be happening in our world today.

Women have a lot of questions about their health, fertility, and reproductive health. Some of their top concerns are:

  • Women are waiting longer to have kids. How does that affect their relationship?
  • How to handle the mental problems and anxiety people are dealing with?
  • What to do with stress, even in children?
  • Teenagers are far more suicidal than they’ve ever been. What can we do?

Having an honest dialogue about these topics and others that are affecting families is very important, even when that means tackling uncomfortable subjects.

Why These Conversations Are Necessary

Why is it so important to talk about these topics?

Without having serious conversations about these topics, no progress can be made.

I saw a special on PBS live from the Lincoln Center. It was about a teacher who worked in NY or some inner city public school system, and I really liked how they showed her interaction with all these different people in an everyday life.

It took me on a journey on the highs, and it was really effective. I saw how cathartic she was.

That was really so amazing to be able to bring people in and talk about what’s going on in your own world. She talked so openly and vulnerably about stigmatized issues like coparenting and new relationships.

She was talking about her life, and she was talking openly. That’s an area of my life that I’m still walking through, and it just becomes normal, but healing takes time. You just have to be in the position where you just have to deal with those emotions in the present instead of acting like they don’t exist.

We are just not used to dealing with emotions, but we have to. Not to say that we govern our lives by emotions, but they have a very important role in our lives. You can shut down and become a machine. We are pretty good about putting out this image about what we want people to see, but is that the real you, or is that something that you put out there because it’s comfortable?

Real change can not happen if you are not honest. This is why having these conversations is so important now.

One of my hopes for the Conference is that this is just the start of what can become a global conversion. These women and men come to the Conference, talk and engage openly and honestly, then they take that conversation home; to their children, partner, and their friends! We plant the seed of conversation and they take that out into the world, we’ll see the fruit of those discussions blossom for years to come!

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