Web Presence Workshop: “Life as a woman is tough!”

This blog post was written by Xena Leycea Bruno a Girls Write Now mentee about the Web Presence Workshop on May 16, 2015. The workshop focused on developing your presence online as a writer and featured two incredible speakers Bridget Todd (@BridgeMarie) and Tracy Clayton (@brokemcpoverty). 

“Life as a woman is tough!”
This is the truth. I have not lived long enough to know all the hardships of being a woman, but I see its effects on other women around the world. While sitting in the workshop, Tracy Clayton’s next words resonated with me.
“If I didn’t have anything to say, I wouldn’t be seen as a threat. Don’t be intimidated into not speaking your mind”
Every piece of advice that Clayton was giving at the Web Presence Workshop reinforced what Girls Write Now, an amazing program that empowers women through writing, has taught me. For example Clayton said that you don’t have to engage with people that you don’t want to. I understood what Clayton meant. Girls Write Now taught me that what I write is my writing and if I disagree with a critic I’m not obligated to follow their suggestions. Criticism shouldn’t steer you from expressing yourself.
Clayton ended her presentation with “Stay strong and stay mindful.” Thank you, Girls Write Now, for teaching me what it is to be a woman who is strong and mindful and can utilize her voice.
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Tracy Clayton is a writer and humorist originally from Louisville, Kentucky. She currently works as a staff writer at the news and entertainment website BuzzFeed.com, and is also a contributor at PostBourgie.com. She recently launched a podcast called “Another Round with Heben and Tracy,” which she co-hosts with her colleague Heben Nigatu, also a writer at BuzzFeed.