Happy Mother’s Day Mamãe❤️
A few weeks ago I received the following email from Cara Belvin, the visionary founder of empowerHER:
Hi there Laurie!
I wanted to send along a note to you this weekend with a thought + question! I know how much Terri loved NYC ( and how much you all do too) and we are hosting 2 events in NYC this Mother’s Day! The LUMINARIA is a fundraiser and will be held Saturday May 7th in the evening at Beauty & Essex in Manhattan! We are looking for speakers to share more about empowerHER. The next day is Mother’s Day, and the NYC Retreat will take place in Manhattan as well at Home Studies for girls of all ages from the Tri-State area!
Side note, you may have seen that we are hosting 7 Retreats across the country this year (my dream from the beginning) and also 10 LUMINARIA fundraisers!
I wanted to see what you thought about something like this. It is a no pressure ask for Marisa. We would be honored and forever grateful for you all to join both events. Let me know any and all thoughts you have and we can chat further.
With gratitude,
Cara
Say what??
A chance for Marisa to honor Mamãe in her beloved NYC? For Mother’s Day?
I think you can guess Marisa and Papai’s immediate response – Hell Yes!
So yesterday, Papai, Miss M and I journeyed to Cousin Jeanne’s Astoria apartment (Miss M and Terri’s home away from home) and Jeanne’s parents, Auntie Mary and Uncle John, joined Miss M’s captivated audience as she rehearsed her speech.
Before we knew it, it was time to get all dolled up and head into the city!
Entering the nondescript Beauty & Essex door we found ourselves in a well-curated modern day pawn shop replete with quirky artifacts, vintage treasures, and an eclectic array of “one-off” pieces of jewelry. Walking through door number two, we encountered a grand circular staircase wrapped around an exquisite two story custom chandelier. Plush fur lined the walls as we ascended the magnificent staircase, eyes a goggle, mouths agape, smiling from ear to ear.
As the room filled, the loving energy reverberated amidst the twinkling memorial luminaria lining the walls. New and familiar faces welcomed us, all of our stories of loss binding us together.
Suddenly, it was time.
Miss M gracefully made her way forward, her Papai by her side. My heart full to the brim, I could literally feel Terri Luanna beaming down as her brave, beautiful daughter wrote her own and her mother’s painfully beautiful story on our hearts.
Here’s a link to Miss M’s speech – https://vimeo.com/707490220
10 LUMINARIA fundraisers lit up people’s hearts across the country this weekend…
7 Mother’s Day retreats took place today “guiding us by giving us a space to simply enjoy the day as well as a reminder that we’re not alone…”
All thanks to one woman’s vision to bring girls + young women together on Mother’s Day and meet others who could relate to this painful loss. And ultimately, to remind them, “you are not alone in your grief.”
Please consider donating to empowerHER today and help girls like Miss M “share their stories and keep our mother’s legacies alive.”
Love,
Auntie L and Miss M
PS- Here’s Miss M’s speech in written form for those who had trouble hearing it:
To start off, thank you to empowerHER, especially Cara and Sam for the opportunity to honor my Mamae, Terri Luanna DaSilva, here in New York City which was one of her favorite places in the world.
My name is Marisa DaSilva, I’m from Dartmouth Massachusetts, and I’ll be 13 by the end of May. I am part Brazilian, so I call my mom Mamae because it means mother in Portuguese. I am originally from New York City, in fact. After my Mom met my Dad and got married, I was born in Manhattan.
My Mom and I went on many memorable adventures together. We loved to travel to a countless variety of places, including Canada and Brazil. She liked baking with me, having mini dance parties in the kitchen, and enjoyed helping other people, as she was a social worker. She liked to advise and guide others, even in their times of struggle. I believe it to be one of her greatest traits.
When Mamae was around my age, she decided to change her name from Luanna to Terri, but when she received the news she was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer she embraced the name her Mom originally gave her because it means Graceful Woman Warrior. And that’s exactly what she was.
My mom had a blog that she wrote to help others as well as herself through her cancer journey. She asked my Auntie Laurie to publish it for her right before she passed away. I was 5 during that time. That name Luanna was what inspired the title of our book, Graceful Woman Warrior. Publishing my Mom’s book with Auntie Laurie helped me so much with my grief. Cara, Diane, and Joanie from empowerHER drove all the way to our book launch of Graceful Woman Warrior.
Another way that helped me through my grief was talking to family, especially my Dad and my Aunt. My friends supported me as well. I used to write all the time in my free time and still do. Sometimes I would express the strong feelings I was having through my writing and use it as a way to cope.
But grief groups and programs like empowerHER are one of the main sources of guidance that really helped me. When I was in third grade Auntie Laurie found empowerHER, a group for girls that lost their Moms. Through awesome events and a mentor program, empowerHER helped me to know that I wasn’t alone. Auntie Laurie became my mentor and I went to my first empowerHER event when I was eight years old at a writing workshop in Boston.
As I’ve been enrolled in the empowerHER program, I have taken part in many enjoyable events. I went to yoga, a photo shoot, the beach bash, and even a cooking class. They give the girls a fun experience while also letting them know that they are supported and loved.
The Mother’s day retreat is an amazing example of that. During a holiday where you’re supposed to celebrate by either going out to lunch with her, giving her a card, or maybe just staying at home and relaxing, we don’t have a Mom to do that with and it’s hard to know what to do. That’s when empowerHER comes in. They guide us by giving us a space to simply enjoy the day as well as a reminder that I’m not alone.
When I did feel alone, I wrote letters to my mom. Auntie Laurie asked me if I wanted to put those letters in the Coda of the book, which is at the very end. I would actually like to share the final letter I wrote to her with you.
(8 yrs. Old, January 3rd, 2018) Dear Mamae, I miss you. I miss you every day and I love you. And I want you back. You were everything to me. You were the one that made me. I wish you were here making new memories. The old memories are fine with me right now. The most important thing is that I was with you.
Thank you empowerHER for helping me and so many other girls share their stories and keep our mother’s legacies alive.