Hello Friends and Fans of She Said!
2023 was an incredible year for The She Said Project and we want to thank each and every one of you for your support of our mission as we continue to expand, evolve, and grow.
In 2023, we celebrated 10 years of That’s What She Said, and we celebrated BIG!!
The year kicked off with our 10-year anniversary show in our flagship community of Champaign-Urbana! We welcomed 9 incredible women to share their stories on the stage at The Historic Virginia Theatre. We laughed together, we cried together. We talked about everything that has happened since that first show launched in 2013 and thanked our founders, Kerry Rossow, Jill Pyrz, and Casey Wakefield. And the cast rocked the finale with a beautiful rendition of “Brave”.
That same night, we released our first published collection of women’s stories: “That’s What She Said, From the Stage to the Page, Vol. 1” brought to you by the She Said Press. This book features 16 stories from the first decade of That’s What She Said, with extra content by the original authors. The book is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, as well as many retailers. We also had the super fun pleasure of welcoming these authors into a recording studio to read their stories for the Audiobook!! You can now buy the audiobook on all major platforms and enjoy the stories read to you by each author.
The She Said Press was formed to publish these collections of stories, celebrating women’s voices in a whole new way. We are also excited to work with women who want to publish their memoirs with us!
That’s What She Said shows returned to the incredible communities of Peoria, St. Louis, and Bloomington-Normal in 2023. New shows were launched in Danville, IL, Columbia, MO, Indianapolis, and St. Clair County!
Every TWSS show raises funds and awareness for a local nonprofit organization, and we are truly honored to be able to say that to date, our events have generated over $60,000 in nonprofit donations to support our local communities.
We also launched our teen empowerment program, “That’s What Teens Say” in Peoria and Bloomington-Normal, and are ready to bring this important opportunity to more teens in more communities.
The She Said Project Podcast aired 2 more seasons, welcoming 20 incredible women from 6 cities a chance to chat about their stories and their experiences on the She Said Stage.
To round out our 10-year anniversary celebration, we launched The Power of Storytelling Women’s Conference in October. The conference offered women in Central Illinois and beyond a chance to dive deeper into personal and professional development with amazing speakers and workshops. The Keynote Speech was delivered by nationally acclaimed speaker, Vicki Clark and the conference ended with a mainstage presentation of “That’s What She Said,” featuring 1 woman from each of the 8 cities that hosted TWSS shows in 2023. It was a remarkable experience, networking with local businesses at our Ladies’ Night Out party, learning from women who brought their expertise to share, and connecting through the power of storytelling.
It is so exhilarating to look back at how much we accomplished in 2023, and we could not have done it without the support of our sponsors, our friends, and the women who showed up and bought tickets and cheered on their friends onstage.
Congratulations to our TWSS producers and speakers! We are ready to take on 2024 with new shows and dozens of new women sharing their stories! Loud and proud Ladies!
