Celebrating Women: Look at Who Changed My Life

It's International Women's Day, and I'm taking this opportunity to shout from the rooftops: I Love when Women! Because taking up space is the bare minimum, and if we're being honest with ourselves, Women being Women is a cause for celebration.

I want to shine a spotlight on three someone's who changed my life last year.

I'll start with the first, and most well known- who quickly became everyone's favorite female Athlete in 2024, because she clanged through my life like a tuning fork. Everything changed when I saw her, heard her, followed her. I'm going to risk sounding like everyone else who's fallen for her since the Olympics, but I didn't know how much I needed her until I learned who she was.

Ilona Maher stole the stage, left right and center, and I've been obsessed ever since I saw her on that rugby pitch. What a Machine! What a beast! And I mean those statements as the best compliments.

Here I am, feeling weird and out of place because as a woman I have NEVER been dainty, or demure, or quiet, or anything that is generally associated with femininity. I hate wearing pink and lipstick. I don't wear heels, dresses are more of an air flow requirement for me, and I'll be damned if I ask a man for help when I can do the heavy lifting myself. As an Independent Woman, seeing Ilona Maher show the world a side of Womanhood and Femininity that I'd only ever been told to hide (so I don't upset a man) was like drinking water after a month in the desert with only my spit to keep me going.

I felt like suddenly someone took a blindfold off.

Like a truth I'd been experiencing my whole life was finally, actually, TRUE, and not just for me.

I was never pushed into athletics as a kid, in fact I was barred from them. Stick to art, stick to literature, stick to history. Quiet, soft hobbies that couldn't intimidate anyone unless you were trying to do the same things.

But I am not quiet, soft, or demure. I am a battle axe amongst stuffed animals.

Ilona Maher showed the world that being a Woman is not defined by the size of your breasts, or how softly you speak, that wearing lipstick while tackling someone into the ground at a full sprint- is just another brand of femininity. She showed us that being covered in blood, sweat, mud, tears, and a smile so wide it could (and has) lit up a stadium is most definitely sexy as fuck, but more importantly- it's Powerful. Ilona is a woman who has taken back her Power in a very Male Dominated Field, in a time when women are being erased from history on the daily.

Multifaceted As Fuck. Those are words I would use to describe this Girl Next Door who has taken over my obsessive brain. She's goofy and funny and flirty, and a total girls girl, but she is also intense, strong as an ox, smart, determined, disciplined, honest, and fierce. Ilona is every woman who has ever wanted to be everything all at once, except she's actually doing it out loud and in front of everyone without a care in the world.

Ilona Maher healed my inner child and my inner teen, and I never even gave her permission. But she healed parts of me that I hadn't even realized were so broken. Bruises that I didn't know still lingered from traumatic childhood encounters that made me want to close up and mask myself into a shadow- she healed them.

And all she did was be herself.

For the rest of my life, I will charge myself with living life like Ilona. Out Loud, proud, in your face, sweaty as fuck, with a Mega Watt smile challenging anyone watching me to match this energy. To be bold and unencumbered by the opinions of any unwashed ass that might not agree with or support me.

Now for a special lady who is probably my spirit animal or something, I swear the things she says either have me cackling or nodding in agreement: Coach Elexis, aka Dark Divine Fitness Cult.

This Woman. I just kinda wanna swoon a bit. Just give me a minute.

First of all- my NeuroSpicy Queen has unlocked what a successful autistic entrepreneur can look like- and it's everything I ever dreamed of. Elexis has singlehandedly built herself an army of women who refuse to even glance at the scale, or starve themselves for aesthetic, and are focused solely on prioritizing their health, overall wellness, and being the Feral Goddesses they are- no apologies to be found.

She's relatable. She's smart as fuck. She's gained 70lbs over the last two years and turned herself into a real life Goddess, her body would inspire the sculptors of old to create works we would house in museums and worship. I'm not trying to sound extra or to objectify her, but holy SHIT when you see her, you'll know what I mean. She has embraced every curve and nurtured every muscle, and you could not convince ever in any world that she is not divine.

To keep it simple: Elexis keeps me honest with myself. She keeps me thinking about the ways that I get in my own way and how to overcome them. Not to mention the empowerment she provides her clients and her fans- to be who you are, love how you love, to come up with tools that are specific to your needs that make your life more bearable. I've had personal conversations with Elexis that have inspired me to take on new languages, to investigate and study different methods and avenues of anything that interests me, and to apply things to my life that are relevant. She's that girl who gets mad for you when life's injustices are bogging you down, and then she reaches out a hand to help you up. I can't stop being inspired by her refusal to let life knock her down.

Next up is a Social Media Star, and Women's Health Pioneer- Tea Lady BK.

I found her on IG, and immediately was all about the vibe. Katie is an entire Lover Girl's Mood Board, an ode to women's bodies and minds everywhere, her social media feed is like sitting down with all your girl besties and basking in their love and support and honesty.

Her Mission: teaching baddies and queens everywhere how to listen to your body, and support it with natural herbs and healing tea blends that she makes herself whilest shaking ass and meditating on what her Best Life looks like, and she's building it as she goes too.

I've been paying close attention, her lessons and tidbits on living life as a woman in a patriarchal world have been breathing new life into me. I've been cycle syncing for a couple years now, but she took it beyond just eating right for my phases and exercising based on where my hormones are at. She's taught me that my WHOLE LIFE can be easy as fucking pie if I stop trying to hustle like a man, and instead live like a Goddess. She even told me (and the rest of her social following) that she doesn't do any of her business building in a traditional 9-5 setting, but she uses her cycle to dictate what projects she's working on and when, and LET ME TELL YOU MY MIND WAS BLOWN.

Imagine a life where your business flow was centered around your menstrual flow, and your energy levels as they fluctuate throughout the month, imagine not fighting with your body or your brain because you've organized your business model and whole life around the natural rhythms and flows of your hormones, your energy levels, your healing. No I mean like really visualize it. That's how Tea Lady BK is running her business and her life, and now it's how I'm running mine too.

It's all been part of my rebrand baby, embracing the dark and feminine aspects of myself and embracing all the chaotic energy that is Womanhood and using it efficiently and effectively to Live in My Power and romance the hell out of myself and my life! Tea Lady Bk taught me how.

Never again will I look at my daily schedule and think about how much I can cram into one day. Never again will I force myself to work against my body and my needs in favor of productivity. I will only ever go with MY flow, and embrace the tides of my Womanhood and use them to help me live my best life.