Hey Ladies of SheWired,

SheWired’s Editor Tracy was nice enough to invite us to introduce ourselves and OffOurChests.com beta site (now, just 2 weeks new) to you.

I’m Erin, the editor of the site, which was started by a mom and dad of a 5 year-old girl who want to do whatever they can to make sure their daughter grows up able to get her happy on, speak her truth, and let hear freak flag fly (even if it’s not very freaky at all) - and the creators of the site know change isn’t going to come without all of us.

Our philosophy?  If you like it, do it. If you want it, go for it. If someone or something gets in the way of you feeling as happy as you can, feel good enough about you that you can (nicely) flip 'em off and move on.  It’s just like in nursery school, where we’re taught not to let anyone else yuck-yuck on our yum-yum.

But the truth is, it’s just not all that easy to be a truly, madly, deeply happy woman.   Expectations, messages, standards, ideals, images...what we see, hear, watch and listen to...can all combine to be quite the buzzkill on happiness, no? And @OffOurChests.com we think it’s high-time to fight back against anything – and sometimes, yes, even anyone – who’s hating on our happy.

So we’ve built Off Our Chests as a UGC platform where women can get their happy on, and talk about what gets in the way of it.  We’re like a digital canvas for your expression of self...however you understand it, however you’re feeling it, and however you want to express it. We want OOC to be a comfortable, inviting place to speak your truth (cause as Naomi Wolf’s said, “there’s only one more frightening than speaking your truth, and that’s not speaking it.”) and hear other ladies speaking theirs.

What does all of this have to do with you?  Well, we admire you (yes, we pander), and we'd love if you’d share your stories – stories of growing up or growing older, of identity and body image, of coming to terms or coming undone.  We hope you’ll visit us at www.offourchests.com, and express and expose a little bit about your self, how you’re feeling, and why.

Together, we figure if enough of us speak our truth out-loud, maybe that’ll give some other woman the permission to speak her truth too.

So check us out.  Come on in, have a drink, and get your happy on.  We hope to see you there, (and please always tell us what we can be doing better).

Erin Bunch, Editor of OffOurChests.com

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