AMY's Women Empowerment (AWE)
I founded Amy’s Women Empowerment (AWE) — a local support network for women navigating illness and life upheavals — after my mother and I shed our victim narratives to embrace survivor identities. This transformative shift showed me its profound impact, and I knew countless others could benefit from the same journey.
AWE unites survivors and those still navigating for mutual support and experience-sharing. AWE has become peer-led and self-sustaining, with many members first finding healing through AWE, then choosing to join as volunteers to pay forward the support they received. We provide personalized care to every member via weekly healing-focused meet-ups, guided discussions, workshops, and virtual helpline groups. Over five years, AWE has reached close to 400 community members through one-on-one support and three city-wide public talk events.
To protect survivor privacy, we do not share photos or recordings. Instead, to offer insight into the supportive dialogue and personal growth fostered by AWE, this page features the written records from event speakers, with pseudonyms (initials) used to ensure survivor confidentiality.
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How do women facing life-altering illnesses—from Parkinson's to lupus—catch their falling selves? In this public sharing event of December 2023, survivors shared their stories of ending self-stigma and internal conflict, and finally coming home to themselves.
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When pain becomes your greatest teacher, what new world will you build from its lessons? In this event of August 2025, survivors share the new purpose they forged after illness–turning their private struggles into motivation for change and their own scars into a light that guides others through the dark.
When illness locks you in a silent room, what does it take to key open the door? In this July 2024 event, survivors share the counterintuitive art of connection—how a bowl of porridge, a handwritten note, or a simple “I need help” forged the most binding ties, not by holding on, but by first letting others into their world.
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