Kathy Slamen

As a young girl growing up in the mid-1970s, there were countless limitations placed on me according to the gender I was pre-assigned at birth. The list of what I “could and couldn’t” or “should and shouldn’t do” was endless, and sadly, it was a collective list that has spanned generations.

As young women, we were taught that by design, we already had the cards stacked against us even before the game began. And the game was taking place in a man’s world.

For the longest time, I had so much shame and regret attached to the things that I never got the chance to explore in my formative school years because I was “a girl”.

For decades, I had secretly longed to be feirce – boldly unapologetic for standing in my truths and beliefs, for being able to authoritatively tell the creepy dude on the bus: “Stop gawking at my chest you pervert!!” and not only ask, but demand the salary/positions/respect that I was entitled to but was denied simply because I was of “the fairer” gender. My giant pivot point came during my 49 ½th year around the sun, and the one thing that changed everything.