The Writing to Empower Workshop offered by the Rebecca Dykes Memorial Foundation at Highlights was a life-defining, once in a lifetime experience. Given the raw potency of the topics we were holding and wrangling, the workshop built each one of us a safe container – a space free of expectations, devoid of pressure, full of dynamic conscious acceptance and inclusivity. One could share as much or as little as one wanted. Jane and the entire support team were warm and accessible. They were a supportive network of creatives that empowered us to honor ourselves, our journeys, and our rich creativity. In finally speaking the truth out aloud, I liberated myself. I can empower others only by standing in my power. As a writer, I do this by having the courage to be wildly, breathtakingly vulnerable and speaking words of violence, trauma, pain and grief. I hope my writing can be a candle in the dark to someone who needs the light of my lived experience translated into black and white, on paper.