Directors Note for YKB

By Jaya Ramesh

I am excited for this year’s YKB and I invite you to come listen and be a part of this transformative experience  These 9 strong women have chosen to be vulnerable with the rest of us. As a member of the larger community your role in bearing witness is vital to this process and has a profound impact.  YKB is certainly a journey for our participants, but it is also a journey for our community as a whole. We are all changed by it.

My first exposure to YKB was as an audience member a decade ago.  I’ve since been inspired to be a participant myself (2012), and am now  honored and humbled to be directing YKB 2019. As a mental health therapist, I see it as my role to collaboratively work with others in helping them find the most authentic version of themselves. My guidance in directing YKB comes from this same place of deep love and respect for the other person’s own knowing and wisdom. It has been my privilege to create space and tend to the stories of resilience, courage, gratitude, love, survival and power by some remarkable women.

The theme this year centers around  “moving from shadow to light.” It is an exploration of how shifting the gaze on and sitting in a different kind of relationship with the unspoken narratives in our lives can help transform us. This work has been facing our wounds and recognizing that storytelling frees us from the solitude of our pain, allowing us to emerge from the shadows into the warmth of connection and light.

Have you gotten your tickets yet?  

I look forward to seeing you in the audience.

With love and in community,

Jaya