We all have a voice. We are all wonder women, vital, transformative, fighters, mothers, daughters, friends, hard workers, entrepreneurs, princesses, citizens, courageous, beautiful.

Throughout my life I had experienced my fair share of bumps and turns. Change and adversity had been a natural state of being, a constant. Bring it on my motto, or so I thought.

Being diagnosed with breast cancer at age 33 was the type of news I was not prepared for. Impossible!! was my first reaction. I knew of no one my age with breast cancer, let alone many women who had gone through the same experience. I had also lost my youngest brother to leukemia 12 years earlier. I found out, the hard way, that lighting does strike the same spot twice.

The first few days after the diagnosis, all I wanted was to sleep. I did cry a little but more as a mere reflex, it was not the violent or agonizing cry which came later. Two weeks after the diagnosis, once reality had already been ingrained, I did cry, with all my stomach, heart and soul, I cried my life while my husband hugged me.

Then the calm came, and afterwards, inner strength, both fueled by so much I had to live for: daughters, husband, mother, grandmother, uncles, friends… the survival gene of our species had kicked in. As most breast cancer survivors, the experience transformed my life. I took stock of the things I enjoyed doing and dropped the heavy luggage sometimes we carry unnecessarily throughout our lives. I did not join a hippie commune in Nevada or traveled to Tibet for wisdom (which I would have loved). I simply realized there is more to life.

“It is not the dog in the fight but the fight in the dog” Mark Twain

On January 2008 I underwent a radical bilateral mastectomy. Saying good by to my two daughters as I left to JHH in Baltimore with my husband and mother was the toughest part. I decided to leave them both with a memento of my love for them. I made a special drawing for each one of them and printed the drawings on t-shirts for them to wear on surgery day.

After surgery I underwent eight sessions of chemotherapy and it was during this time that I took back my old hobby and began to draw.  As I began drawing I realized that I liked the results. I drew mostly women adorned with inspirational phrases.  I then started making handbags, t-shirts and aprons with my drawings, and behold!!!! They began to sell, at first two a week, then four , then six.

At this point and with the help and encouragement of my mother and husband I decided to quit my old job as a marketing manager for a nonprofit organization and went into business with my mother as my partner. We called the business The philosophies of Vebeche and Cayetana. Vebeche, for my name: (Violeta Barcenas Chamorro) and Cayetana for my mother. By December we had our products in at least six stores throughout Managua and sales were very good.

“If not you, who. If not now, when” Old Jewish proverb

In January of this year there came another milestone for our business. I received a call from Mercedes Deshon, one of the founders of Vital Voices in Nicaragua. Mercedes told me she had seen one of our aprons and that she was interested in commissioning me to make a drawing for the launch of Vital Voices in Nicaragua.

I had a meeting with Mercedes, Maria Nelly and Egda, the other founders,  and as I learned more about the work of vital voices, an urge to share my experience with other women began to overtake me. Through  this art that I was commissioned for, I could promote in other women a self discovery of the power within each one of us to create, protect, educate and grow.  Mercedes also mentioned that in The US chapter, wonder women, the marvel character, was an icon for vital voices. With these ideas in mind, the theme of my drawing for Vital Voices became that of wonder women… not so much as the marvel character but more of the real thing. We are wonder mothers; wonder entrepreneurs, wonder daughters, wonder fighters, wonder wives, wonder women who are vital to our communities and yes, courageous too.

After finishing the drawing I was already in love with the project. In my professional experience as a nonprofit executive I had never been so overtaken by the strength of Vital Voices philosophy, which I simply define as women helping women and making a better world.

As I continue with my business  I hope  I  become not only a successful business woman but also an agent of change for many Nicaraguan women who are struggling everyday with the harsh reality of our country, and having no one promote their inner strength.  Vital Voices allows us to create a support network, a virtuous circle through which we can be empowered and our voices  heard  with the profound strength that defines us women.

“The dog that trots about finds a bone”. Golda Meir (Prime minister of Israel 1969 – 1974)

By April of this year we are providing business to three other women entrepreneurs who assemble the products to which we affix our drawings.

Drawing VVs:  We all have a voice. We are all wonder women, vital, transformative, fighters, mothers, daughters, friends, hard workers, entrepreneurs, princesses, citizens, courageous, beautiful