When we talk about women empowerment The Red Bra Project feels like it is important to remember and recognize how many generations before us started to lead the way. The ones that lead the way just because that is who they were at the core. There wasn’t a public highlight reel, or beautifully captured photo that could be posted somewhere nearly immediately after it was taken. The types of resources that were available are completely different than what we have now. Women have been doing remarkable things all along, often because they had to. Any other alternative wasn’t a choice, they had to find a way to thrive, to make the best out of their situation and keep going despite very challenging situations. Truly, we can go on and on about pioneers that we know very well today who have lead the way, ie: Lucille Ball, Amelia Earhart, Maya Angelou, our very own mothers, grandmothers, great grandmothers, great aunts, teachers and so on.
Which brings us to Episode 43 on The Red Bra Project with Cheryl Hale, from Mobile, Alabama author of Girl Be Brave 100 Days to Chart Your Course and founder of the Girl Be Brave movement. Cheryl’s story pulls at the heart strings as she chose to create a movement and keep her Grandmother, Frances’ spirit alive for all to learn from. It all began with a note Cheryl & her mother found in the back of her grandmother’s bible that simply read, “girl be brave.”
Frances was brought up by her grandmother during the Great Depression. Marrying the love of her life, Frances was the mother to five children (four boys and 1 little girl) and due to no fault of her own, found herself as a single mother solely responsible for providing for her family. This was during the 1950’s when there was no structural support, no child support, no alimony, needless to say deep challenges, especially with a young family of five children. “My grandmother was not an overly educated person. She maybe went to school until the 7th or 8th grade and had a job picking needles up off of a mill floor. My momma would tell me that sometimes there was a choice between coal and food. To stay warm or eat. There was not a lot of resources back in the 1950’s for a woman of the deep south, let alone the stigma that was there with that,” Cheryl explained. Frances’ faith saw her through. During Christmas time, years later as Cheryl’s mom was battling breast cancer, they two of them found a special note that was written over 60 years ago in the back of her Grandmother Frances’ bible to Cheryl’s mom – the last line read, “girl be brave.” Talk about divine timing. That note was written from Cheryl’s grandmother to her mother when her mom was just a baby. Fast forward to when Cheryl and her mom found the note and her grandmother had already been gone for nearly 20 years and her mom was fighting her own battle with breast cancer. The power in those words written decades before held SO MUCH POWER. From that moment on Cheryl knew in her heart those words we not just meant for her family, but for every single person who could use to hear them as a reminder of her own bravery.
Girl Be Brave is a movement that understands life can be a struggle, but we are all made of strong stuff and the struggle is how we got here. “I love seeing people tackle the hard things in life succeeding where they thought they couldn’t. I want people to be the very best version of themselves and live up to their potential,” shared Cheryl.
As an entrepreneur for over 20 something years Cheryl had read that same note a few years prior, but it didn’t strike her the way it did years later when reading it with her mom. The right energy was there to take action, to take the leap. Perhaps it was because her momma was sick and all of the emotion was very raw – Cheryl knew in her gut timing was right and she had to do something with it. This past year, Girl Be Brave gave away three partial scholarships in honor of her grandmother, Frances and the importance of education. Cheryl expresses, “I feel like if she was educated it would have changed her life, my mother’s life and even trickled down to me and changed my life.”
We mention divine timing and that it was. Standing in the kitchen with her mom during Christmas of 2016, finding her grandmother’s words as her own Mom fought breast cancer and she dealt with becoming an empty nester which brought so many emotions and life changes along. Cheryl talks about some of the feelings she felt when first learning to deal with becoming an empty nester and “why doesn’t anyone talk about this?!” She would find herself walking past her child’s room and stopping in to lay on the bed and let her emotions and tears out.
When we talked about fear with Cheryl she explained that she is actually quite reserved as the first born and has that oldest child reservation. “I’ve come to know through the years it’s not really about me. It’s about the message. My fear is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that Frances word’s reach someone else who needs it – that’s all that really matters. I’m still afraid, but that’s not important, I can set myself aside for the moment and keep going forward,” said Cheryl.
The core of Girl Be Brave is the scholarship fund. A good portion of the applicants over the past year were between the ages of 35 – 55 who were women looking at going back to school. (How amazing is that?) The most difficult part for Cheryl was determining who received the scholarship. “We had so many applicants it would shut down our website. I did not read one story in which I wouldn’t have given it to them if I had it.” Girl Be Brave gave (3) scholarships away, (1) $2,500 and (2) $500 ones. “I would have loved to do that on a 100x’s scale, but that’s what we had, so that’s what we did,” she said.
Cheryl and her team read all of the applicant’s stories all of which were very, very different from one another. All incredible stories of why each could use the support. Originally Girl Be Brave was going to award one scholarship, but wound up doing 3 because there was so much need. The scholarships are partially funded through the Girl Be Brave products (which are not only inspiring, but SO adorable).
Digging deeper, we asked Cheryl to share some of the initial growing stages (aka pains & key learning’s) with us from the Girl Be Brave concept being born in her kitchen during Christmas to products to scholarships. “It was harder than I thought it was going to be. I’ve made a lot of mistakes. I’ve realized my own weakness on a business level. I assumed people know what I am saying and vice versa and I learned I need to clarify,” Cheryl humbly shared. She talked about the challenge of communication, not assuming and a pretty big key learning manufacturing mishap. We looooved Cheryl’s reflection of the growth process and how she shared what she has learned and how she has grown. “My weaknesses do not rule me,” Yessss….this was on a sticky note next to Cheryl’s bed for years. Which in turn lead to the motivational content that Cheryl chose to start sharing with others. You have to hear Cheryl explain the connection and how it lead to Cheryl writing her first book, Girl Be Brave 100 Days to Chart Your Course. She did it through fear, through self doubt, through allll of the negative gremlins, she wrote the book, did it afraid and it taught her SO much.
Of COURSE there were days she wanted to quit. We all do. She moved to the gorgeous pan several times over in her mind. 😉 “I just keep putting one foot in front of the other, I’d tell myself to get get a cup of coffee, wipe your face off and keep moving,” Cheryl heart-fully shared. Just don’t give up on yourself, there is power in that. Some days even if it is just two steps, then that is ENOUGH. (You alllll we feel this. This is where the comparison STOPS. IF two steps was ALL you could do in that moment, that is enough.)
Hard things happen along the way and letting go is often part of the growth. To stay within your purpose sometimes you have to let go. Cheryl talks about a time about 10 years ago in her mid 30’s without any judgment, while she loved her group of women, trips, mom life – she felt like she was meant to contribute more than what she was currently doing. The changes meant that she lost a lot of her friendships, she struggled with faith, but Cheryl knew she had a purpose she had to fulfill. Cheryl did face some judgment for being a working mom and faced the questions & resistance. Which leads to today and the purpose and powerful message that Cheryl hopes that Girl Be Brave can provide for someone who may currently be in that situation. “There’s a lot of people who are really satisfied with the status quo and want you to be satisfied with the status quo and if not, there’s resistance on occasion,” Cheryl shared. Sometimes you have to peel back all those judgments & social exceptions and reveal the purpose, the feeling of why something mattered, not because of what others say or think. “It is important to open yourself up to purpose and step out. You will lose people, it is intimidating.”
Cheryl’s Red Bra Moment: I’ve struggled with confidence. You don’t have to be confident to take the first step. Sometimes confidence comes later after you’ve taken the first step and you see that it worked. I felt so unqualified to write a book when approached, but I knew I couldn’t pass it up due to fear. So I acted on purpose and did it without confidence to take the first step to write Girl Be Brave 100 Days to Chart your Course.
Make sure you all make it to the end of Episode 43 to hear Cheryl’s own inspiring wisdom about growth, change, bouncing back from feeling broken and the humility that comes along with it. A huge thank you to Vanessa Galvan (a former Red Bra Guest Episode 18) for rocking it as our guest Co – host! It is always amazing to spend some time with you. 😉
Thank you so much Cheryl for taking the time to share you beautiful generational story with us and our audience. Your movement is making a difference. Your goal of 100 scholarships is within reach and we WILL be cheering you on the whole way there. Much love Xx.
Here’s where to connect with the amazing Cheryl
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The Red Bra Project
