Brave Like BARB

One December weekend Rachael and Lisa were taking a two day Wilderness First Aid/Responder Recertification Class at a college in Central Pennsylvania.  The college promised free camping opportunities for any attendees and their cars were packed with myriad piles of hodge-podge gear.  Bright-eyed and bushy tailed they were excited for a weekend of recertification and camping amongst the pines.  What they didn’t expect was a blizzard.  

As the blizzard conditions intensified, the instructors worried about the campers.  New acquaintances, Rachael and Lisa looked at each other, and started a list of their combined gear to assess how uncomfortable their evening amongst the single digit temperatures and snow would be.  Ultimately they were saved from their own ignorance and lack of supplies by another classmate who offered some floor space and sparked a lasting friendship.  

It has been a decade since that fateful blizzard and Rachael and Lisa have grown immensely as individuals and as friends.  They have been each other’s role models, coaches, support systems, and voices of reason.  And the biggest lesson they have learned, is that other women need these things too.  

Women need role models who have listened to their hearts instead of society’s wants. They need coaches that tell them that they are strong enough, smart enough, and resilient enough to achieve their goals.  They need friends they can cry with and laugh with and have ukulele sing-a-long hour with.  They need to know that it’s okay to dislike what society deems should work for women and then break it, redesign it, or find a fix that works. 

That’s where the community of Brave Like BARB steps in.  Rachael and Lisa hope to inspire, motivate, inform, and foster positivity.