The Community Builders Nina Lorez Collins, Margit Detweiler, Gina Pell, Amy Parker
Founder, The Woolfer (now Revel); Founder, TueNight; Founders, The WHAT
20 WOMEN REINVENTING MENOPAUSE
How Margit has been changing the menopause conversation:“I wanted to share stories about midlife that no one was talking about, to change the way the world sees (and values) women over 40, and to change the way we see ourselves, affirming all that’s good about our badass, experienced selves.”
How are community and health related? For one, people with stronger communities and networks are generally happier and healthier. Thankfully, four women have spearheaded spaces where hundreds of thousands of women over 40 can find a safe place to call home. After learning to cope with her own midlife malaise and perimenopause, Nina Lorez Collins launched “What Would Virginia Woolf Do?” a New York Times-featured secret Facebook group in 2015 that has since evolved into The Woolfer, a thriving community of 30,000+ women that recently merged with community platform Revel.
Another community builder, Margit Detweiler, was inspired to change the narrative about women over 40. “I wanted to share stories about midlife that no one was talking about, to change the way the world sees (and values) women over 40, and to change the way we see ourselves, affirming all that’s good about our badass, experienced selves,” Margit shares on TueNight. Through various events and workshops, essays, live conversations, and a weekly newsletter, TueNight provides a space for women to come together and elevate topics that matter to them.
Long-time friends and community-building entrepreneurs Amy Parker and Gina Pell started The WHAT as a weekly newsletter. It has since evolved into a global sisterhood of over 100,000 women, who gather in private online communities and during annual retreats to share wisdom. Something these builders have learned along the way? The importance of authenticity.
