The Portraits
Past events
We PRETEND to be the person that we THINK our company wants us to be. And we don't just do this on first hangs WE DO IT ALL THE TIME. We are constantly, at some level or the other, hiding behind a mask, pretending to be the person that we think someone else wants or needs us to be. What would it be like to take off the mask? To practice authenticity in a supportive space where being REAL is the norm?
What does a maternity leave look like when you’re running your own business? We are given 3 months in corporate america to get back on their feet and come back to work. We’re told that’s not enough, so what is? When you run your own business and your first “baby” is your livelihood, how much time should you give yourself as you become a mother? It’s hard to make this decision. It’s hard to take time off. It’s hard to not take time off.
Because these ladies be getting it! Not the traditional Friday night, but 30 women gathered to learn how to kick some ass and take some names at our first self defense class! No punching mat was safe.
Every day we are ruthlessly bombarded with images and examples of what we should look like, most of which are unattainable for the majority of women. The pressure to be beautiful is constant, and it's exhausting. All too often this pressure causes us to compromise our values, and even our health, in search of these false standards of beauty. Disordered eating, negative self-esteem, poor body image and countless other ailments affect virtually every woman in our society at some point in her lifetime.
What does a Muslim woman look like? Where does she come from and could she be like me or are we vastly different? The oppressed Muslim woman who needs saving is a common trope, but what is her own story and how can we connect with Muslim women’s’ authentic voice and self-conceptualization?
LOVE IS AWK. an evening with female comics sharing how weird relationships are
This event was for the married, the dating, the broken-hearted, the single ladies, gay or straight. It’s a night out without the dudes on a mooshy holiday that either has you feeling pressured to make a romantic evening or pissed because no one is making that for you. It’s a few hours out of the apartment to laugh your ass off with other girls who are looking to block out Valentine’s Day shenanigans. It’s a reminder that it’s nothing but a day and it can be spent with some badass ladies.
Simply put, love is a two-way street, and we cannot always control what the other do, but we can control how we choose to love and what we give in love. But do you find that sometimes you don’t deserve love? Real women speaking in on this topic.
Do you feel phantom vibrations? Do you look at your phone before you go to sleep and as soon as you wake up? Have you started to find yourself spending more time with your smartphone than your loved one? Have you found yourself obsessing with how your life is meant to look like online, versus what it could be in real life? Do you wish that you could trade your “real life” out for someone else you have seen on social media? We joined with The Lily News, SipCity, & JRINK!
Who else considers eating dope ass food an actual hobby? I know I’m out here spending money on amazing cuisine whenever I can. I love trying new places and tasting everything DC has to offer - and girl, this last week’s #BrunchOfLadies at Espita Mezcaleria was hella good!
An evening spent discussing the past, present, and future friendships we've managed, are managing, and hope to manage in our lives. It's not easy learning to shut down insecurities and have healthy friendships with other women.
We made it! Somehow! A year later and Behold.Her is stronger, has cooler hair, and a more confident walk. We ate, we drank, we laughed, and fist-bumped, we celebrated a growing love and desire to strengthen the female community here in the city. Check out highlights from our evening at Sally's!
We realized that a discussion around sexuality is important. Whether we have had good or bad experiences around it, we need to normalize the conversation so we can continue to recognize dangerous signs, unwanted beahviors, or encouraged ones!
Our ladies at Republic Restoratives hooked us up with such a wonderful venue to host the second Behold.Her Happy Hour. Everyone was repping their sticker and nomming on goodies from Lil' Miss Whoopie, Cheesemonster, and Fluffness! We were definitely spoiled that evening which great things to eat and drink, but also in company as well.
When gender, class, and race intersect, as women across these planes, where does luck and grit meet? How do we balance the celebration of our achievements with the admission of our privileges in the crafting of our own narrative? How can we advance rights and opportunities, and work toward true equity, for all women through this circumspect self reflection?
What do your relationships say about you? Are they representative of who you are, what you believe in, or the balance you seek to maintain? Do we truly listen to our inner selves and follow our intuition when reflecting on our relationships? How often do we reject intuitive feelings in order to be polite or not hurt someone's feelings? How can we become reborn to find the circle that is most genuine to ourselves?
In celebration of Pico Vela's Fall/Winter Campaign, we teamed up to create a special evening for a small group of ladies to discuss Defying Expectations. We were thrilled to have shared space with The Apollo's beautiful upstairs space.
Have you ever felt like you’ve been invited to the party but you're not allowed to dance? Do you feel that society impacts your sense of confidence and self-worth? Sometimes, when you have to work twice as hard for half as much it starts to seem like the deck is stacked against you. Well we gathered at the Outrage to tackle some of those feelings and questions.
Leslie, a survivor of multiple brain surgeries, sat with a group of ladies to discuss some really hard questions: How do show kindness and compassion to those who are suffering? How do we not compare ourselves or others in hardships?
We discussed the art of negotiating with our personal lives, relationships, career choices, and time with ourselves. Why do we feel like society makes us doubt what's meant to be chosen first?
This shouldn't be a hard topic to discuss, but it is as many women face the facts: we don't really openly talk about sex. Shyness, awkwardness, intimidation... it al floats to the surface, but thankfully we had a room of curious and open-minded women who were ready to discuss sexuality and "enthusiastic" consent.
We all have our own ideas about what it means to be a woman, a feminist, or a mother. When the world projects its own preconceptions of those roles onto us, do we meet them or challenge them? Join us to talk about how our relationships with the women in our lives have shaped who we are and who we choose to be.
How often do we think that we need to start our own nonprofit, run a board, or volunteer hundreds of hours to make a difference? How often do we believe you need to be privileged, advantaged, or special to make a positive change? How often do we talk ourselves out of opportunity that we forget we have the ability to do the daily, necessary, and no less valuable smaller acts that can make the world better and brighter.
How often are we putting forward a thoughtful, curated, coherent version of ourselves to the outside world, only to have our inner world feel chaotic and muddled? How often do we apologize for our own life stories, when our choices feel erratic or incoherent? How often do we feel shame for not doing more, not being more, not having more? And why, even as we're flying, are we convinced we're sinking?
We gathered in Kathryn Zaremba's patterned studio with the women from Pineapple DC. Joanna from Wandering Wellness circled everyone up and led the discussion about taking guilt-free time to love yourself. Do we find ourselves worrying too much about what needs to be done and then feeling dragged down through the week because you're constantly giving yourself up to others?
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"Once the heaviness [of the election] began to subside, an opportunity has presented itself to make real long-term change, not just for future Americans, but in the way we view our responsibility to get involved with and stay active in our communities. Let this weight not drag you down, but help to get your heels stuck in." - Scarlett Johansson
I received a phone call from Kicheko Goods. She explained to me that she loved the portrait happy hour that she was wanting to me replicate the same vibes at her studio. We brainstormed for over a month and developed the first official Behold.Her event.
It was with this gathering of women that sparked a new journey for this series. There were endless amounts of chips and salsa, champagne (which wasn't endless), and overdue pizza. We laughed, cried, and gathered in a circle at the end of taking photos to discuss our dreams and where we came from.
Have you kept this secret out of fear that your friends or family might cast you out? Do you struggle to find your story because you don't fit the stereotype? Did you recently discover that your friend had an abortion but was too scared to share with you and you didn't even know how to talk about it with her? Do the hardlines of abortion politics lack depth needed to include your story? Do you think the topic of abortion is complicated and nuanced?