When I first saw this candid shot of Ana with the hand-drawn heart in the background, I smiled and smiled because it’s so fitting and spot on. Why? Because Ana’s heart is huge. There’s no mistaking the kindness in her eyes, and when you read about her online community, you’ll see what I mean. Ana is a beautiful woman straight to her marrow—she’s a woman’s woman, she gets it—and she’s real. Ana found a way to reach out to women all over the world, to connect, to support, and to share, and all of us who belong to her online community have reaped the benefits. And, we’ve made friends with other women as near as the next street over and as far away as Africa.

 

I’m so happy that Ana took time our of her busy schedule to be my guest on Brava and I’m thrilled to introduce her to my readers. So please welcome the lovely Ana Lewis and learn about WOMEN ON THE VERGE!

 

 

Women on the Verge (WOTV), a free global, online community that believes in and supports women, was founded by me, Ana Lewis, a year and a half ago, but truly, I think of her as her own girl.  She is growing her own identity, filled with energy, light, color and the personalities of hundreds, thousands and now millions of souls across the globe who join us, visit us and talk to us via our online community.

I sometimes wonder, what was my life before it became full of female energy? Supportive, loving, laughing, crying, real female energy. The kind you can tell your deepest secrets to and still get a hug. The kind that shares even when they are tired. The kind that reminds me sometimes of an errant daughter.  The kind that cheers with you during your triumphs and helps you keep walking when you fall. Gosh… I can barely remember.

WOTV has confirmed my own belief that women in their true nature are nurturing and supportive. Since the beginning of time, we have nurtured our children’s growth, our husband’s career, and our elderly parents. What happens when we nurture each other? What happens when we direct that kind and supportive energy to other women? Women on the Verge happens.

Our community spans every continent, except for Antarctica, and even some island nations. Our platform is the Internet, our foundation is the spirit and voices of women. We are united by a kindness and unconditional love for our sisters. We are mold-breakers, and in a way, being on the verge has come to mean doing it in your own way – and being accepted for it – as you are, when you are.

Talking over the fence has a new face when it’s on the Internet, but that has become our village. We talk to each other almost every day via Twitter and Facebook, and many of these are faces we have never seen in real life, yet we care and love. In fact, we care a lot.  A new pregnancy, a new job, a new book, a new pair of pants – suddenly has an audience that cares. Talking and nurturing women is empowering.  Member, Pam Ferris-Olson said it best, “Women empowering women is what it’s about.”

Our blogs have been a source of some of the most profound and deepest places on our site. Member, Barbara Reed calls us, “Voices coming together to support and elevate one another.” Elevating was easy, since our members share so magically – so real. There were many times in our blogs when giving a virtual hug, sharing a tear, or a joy made it our place to get it out. Some of the blog posts changed my life; some touched some core spots in me. Always, whenever I used them (as now), I was grateful for the outlet. The blogs are a very special place in our community. I can’t wait to see where they continue to take us.

Initially, the community was so very small, and cute. A few brave souls ventured onto the site and posted their information. Ann Pietrangelo, our first member, was brave enough to test the site for me – and even share many of her blog posts with us. Our first male, Michael Sherman came on board, which opened the door for a few other males to make their way into our community. Why, even Gatto Tull, our suave Brazilian cat, decided he was definitely on the verge and decided to join us. We were growing (and still are).

Today, our member list has since become a sort of Who’s Who, for those living off the beaten path. We are not a group who is afraid to speak our minds – and still love each other through it all. It’s become almost like family – and like my mother always used to say at dinnertime, “There’s always room for more.” We embrace the newcomers and we appreciate the veterans.

We continue to spread ourselves around the Internet – we have our website, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and a Radio Show. We are always looking for (and discovering) ways to get our members messages out. This is a phenomenal group – please check out these women!  We do virtual shout-outs every day… sometimes they even reach an audience. Our website gets over one million hits per month. Our Twitter followers exceed 8000 and our radio show has had over 14000 listens in less than 6 months.

In the upcoming year we hope to continue growing, loving and learning.  This year we are trying out monthly themes.  So far we had such conversations as “Angry Woman Quiet Woman”, “Healing: Woman-to-Woman” and “Big and Small Ways I am My Own Heroine”.  We have taken these discussions to new depths and hope to continue to be unafraid to dig into ourselves and live our lives on the Verge.

Thank you all for being on the Verge!

Ana Lewis

Founder of WomenontheVerge.net
CEO, Co-Op Web, Inc.