Trigger warning: Please be aware that this story includes a graphic description of childhood FGM (Female Genital Mutilation). This was one chilly afternoon in the month of November in the...
Sampler of Stories
A rotating collection of past stories…
Room of Ashes
I can detect the scent all the time. The apartment stinks. The building stinks anyway – apartment blocks usually do. But our apartment is where I can smell that pungent, bitter smell...
My mom. My hero.
Strong. Humble. Powerful. Courageous. Brave. Independent. Hard-working. These are the words that come to my mind when I think about my mom. Raising two little girls in a single-parent...
Keep Telling Your Story
VIDEO: Esenam Nyador reminds us that it is our right to share story and important that tell it ourself, and shares some aspects of her story in this brief conversation with Elisa Gambino...
Stories Lift Us Up
VIDEO: Margaret Kyakunda Mubanda talks with Elisa Gambino, One Production Place, about #ThePowerOfStories to lift us up, to educate and to inspire ourselves and others.
“Bringing Life to These Issues”
VIDEO: Jama Jack, of Think Young Women in the Gambia, talks with Elisa Gambino, One Production Place, about the power of survivors’ stories in efforts to end female genital mutilation and...
In Bloom Not Broken – Mental Health
I have suffered with mental illness for most of my life starting with self harm and depression at the age of 14 which then led to anorexia in my 20’s and later being diagnosed with...
What Makes you Vulnerable Makes you Beautiful
We learned about it in grade school when we were astonished to see a caterpillar turn into a butterfly. How could something so guarded and caged transform into something so colorful and...
Learning to love myself
Growing up I watched my mom deal with low self-esteem issues and I believe because of that, she didn’t teach me to love myself. I don’t blame her or resent her for it because my...
Some Girls Don’t Fit In
Some girls are not meant to fit in. This has always been the story of my life. As a child, I never dreamed of weddings. I didn’t give in to peer pressure. Pink was never my favorite...