Hi!

[insert a Mama hug]

We’re so ecstatic you’re here. We imagine you clicked here, because you want to know a bit more of who we are–the voices who gather here and the ones who work behind the scenes to make it all happen.

If you’d like to write for SheLoves, please read our Writer’s Guidelines for SheLovesmagazine.

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We are made up of an Editor-in-Chief, Day Editors for the six days we publish and regular Contributors.

Founder & Editor-in-Chief: Idelette McVicker | @idelette

Translation: I’m the global girl at the front door who gets to give you that hug when you come in. I’m also the one in our editorial kitchen with my apron on, working behind the scenes. I am so grateful there are now six+ of us who stand at the door and welcome you to our daily gathering of heart and words.

My name? It’s Idelette (pronounced Ee-de-lette) and I like soggy cereal. I would like to go to every dot on the earth to meet our world’s women.

I was born and raised in South Africa which has left me with a passion for justice and equality. I dream of a planet where no women or girls are for sale. I also dream of a world where women and men are partners in doing the work that brings down a new Heaven on earth. I believe it’s possible.

My word for the year is “Exponential,” because I love that when we stand with each other, we can help unlock the God-poured gifts in each of us and become the women we are meant to be–a person to the exponential power of her God, her strengths, vulnerabilities and community. An exponent is also a champion and an advocate–what I desire for us to be for each other, both in our local world and our global world.

I have three children (9, 7 and 5) and SheLoves is my fourth baby. I am African, although my skin colour doesn’t tell you that story. I am also a little bit Chinese, because my heart lives there amongst the tall skyscrapers of Taipei and the mountains of Chiufen. My favorite quote is the Chinese proverb: When sleeping women wake, mountains move.

I believe in kindness and calling out the song in each other’s hearts. I also believe that Love can cover so much–my gaps, my mistakes and the distances between us. Here’s a piece that expresses some of that: Let Us Be Women Who Love.

I currently live in Vancouver, Canada and I pledged my heart to Scott 13 years ago. Give me some sweet chai, vanilla rooibos or pearl milk tea and I’m in heaven. And if you don’t know this about me quite yet: Jesus is my hero.

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Now, please meet our Editorial Team: #drumroll

MONDAY EDITOR: Holly A. Grantham

Holly is a wife, very relaxed homeschooling mom of two boys, snapper of photos, coming of age writer and a soul drowning in grace. After years in Atlanta where she attended college, married the love of her life and lived in an intentional community, she found her way back to her home state of Missouri. She now lives in an antebellum stone house, raises chickens (sometimes) and pretends that she lives in the country.

WEDNESDAY EDITOR: Claire De Boer

I’m Claire, otherwise known as Clairebelle or Clairebear. I was born and raised in the UK but my heart is definitely in the Pacific Northwest of Canada. I’m a writer, woman of God, mother to two little monkeys and wife to the lovely James. I like to dip my toes into all genres of writing, so while I’m currently setting up my own business providing clients with web content, I am also working on my first women’s fiction novel and a collection of short stories.

I am a graduate of The Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and mentor students at SFU on their own writing journeys.

Join the conversation about writing at clairejdeboer and follow my tweets @ClaireJDeBoer.

THURSDAY EDITOR : Sarah Richardson

I’m more likely to answer to Sars than Sarah. That’s because years ago my brothers started calling me Sars and, as the name implies, it was infectious. I’m a visual journalism grad from Western Washington University and a self-proclaimed writer-photographer-Jesus-lover-painter-adventurer-foodie. I have a near obsession with ending injustice and I’m a sucker for a good cause.

I blog at sometimesscreaminghelps.com and tweet at @sarsrichardson

FRIDAY EDITOR: Tina Francis

My name is Tina. Loved ones call me: Teen.

Words are my chocolate. Music, my caramel. Photography, my bread. Girlfriends, my butter.

Confession: Some girls dream about Manolo Blahniks or their next Hermes bag. Not me. I dream of freshly baked bread, perfectly barbecued meat & steaming bowls of Pho. My dream lover *cue Mariah Carey song* is someone who would read out a menu to me in Barry White’s baritone voice.

I celebrate food, ask for help, interrupt conversations, laugh and cry hard, acknowledge the elephant in most rooms, fight for the underdog and believe in the power of storytelling.

My word for the year is “leap.” If something scares me, I do it.

I was born and raised in Dubai and currently live in the beautiful city of Vancouver, known for some of the best sushi in the world.

SATURDAY EDITOR: Winnie Lui

The wave of Asian immigration in the 1990s brought Winnie to Canada on a little red-mast junk. To fulfill her family’s dream of running a business in Hong Kong and giving the children a Western education, Winnie’s father commuted home to Canada during Christmas and Chinese New Year, and Winnie herself spent her childhood between the two continents and among many different schools and neighbourhoods. Her growing up experience has become a mosaic of cultures, languages, and perspectives.

@SHELOVESMAG TWITTER MANAGER & OVERALL WITH GIRL: Rebecca Graham

I am a Lover of God, wife to an incredible man, and mother to two amazing boys! We live in the Greater Toronto Area, where we live life every day to the fullest. That includes the blessing of being a stay-at-home mom, baking, crafting, creating, and just taking the time to ‘be’ together. Life circumstances brought me to Mercy Ministries of Canada as a resident in 2010, where I learned of the Love that God has for me. My life is now about showing that Love to everyone I meet!

Our Regular Contributors

Kelley Johnson-Nikondeha, Bi-weekly Columnist: ShePonders

Kelley Johnson Nikondeha is co-director of Amahoro Africa and international staff member of Community of Faith with her husband Claude. She’s a thinker, connector, advocate, avid reader and mother of two beautiful children. Kelley lives between Arizona and Burundi. She loves handwritten letters, homemade pesto and anything written by Walter Brueggemann. Check out her beautiful new blog at KelleyNikondeha.com Yes, and she tweets at @knikondeha

Helen Burns, SheLoves Mama & Monthly Contributor

Helen Burns and her husband, John, speak around the world on the topic of relationships. They host the popular TV show “Relate with John and Helen.” For years Helen has tended the hearts and spirits of women through LifeWomen at Relate Church. That’s the beautiful soil SheLoves magazine is planted in.

Sarah Bessey, Monthly Columnist

Sarah is a writer and blogger. She lives in Abbotsford, British Columbia with her husband and three tinies. Her first book Jesus Feminist: An Invitation to the Kingdom of God Waiting on the Other Side of our Church’s Gender Debates will be published by Howard Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) in 2013.

Kathy Escobar, Monthly Columnist: Down We Go

Kathy Escobar co-pastors The Refuge, an eclectic faith community in North Denver dedicated to those on the margins of life and faith. She blogs regularly about life and faith at www.kathyescobar.com and just released a new book called, Down We Go–Living out the Wild Ways of Jesus in Action. She lives in Arvada, Colorado with her husband, Jose, and five kids.

Enuma Okoro, Monthly Columnist

Enuma was born in the United States and raised in Nigeria, Ivory Coast and England. She holds a Master of Divinity degree from Duke University Divinity School where she served as Director for the Center for Theological Writing. She is an author, speaker, spiritual director and continues to lead workshops and retreats on varied topics engaging the literary and visual arts, and spiritual disciplines.

Her spiritual memoir, Reluctant Pilgrim: A Moody Somewhat Self-Indulgent Introvert’s Search for Spiritual Community (Fresh Air Books, 2010) was a winning finalist in the 2010 USA Best Books Award and received the 2011 National Indie Excellent Book Awards Winning Finalist in “Spirituality and African-American Non-Fiction.” She is co-author with Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove of Common Prayer: Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

Okoro’s new forthcoming book, “Silence,” will be released in Summer/Fall 2012

She writes an online column at Patheos called “Cornering God” about women’s ways of knowing and engaging the holy. You can find her online at www.enumaokoro.com

Danielle Strickland, Monthly Columnist

Danielle serves Jesus as the Corps Officer of Crossroads Community in Edmonton, Canada. Her passion is social justice, including establishing human trafficking response teams in local situations and giving leadership to the global team for the Stop The Traffikcampaign. Danielle speaks and teaches around the world and has written several books: Just Imagine: the social justice agenda,Challenging Evil, and newly released this year, The Liberating Truth: How Jesus Empowers Women. Danielle is married and has three sons.

Desiree Adaway, Monthly Contributor

Desiree is a consultant, strategist, coach, speaker, storyteller and explorer. She uses her superpowers–her voice, sense of adventure and belief in the transformative power of community–to help organizations design programs that create unrestricted revenue, volunteers and advocates.

You can find out more about her at www.desireeadaway.com, or follow her on Twitter at @desireeadaway

Stephanie Motz Skinner, Monthly Contributor

Stephanie is a humanitarian and portrait photographer for fakeleft.com where she shares stories of hope and dignity. She blogs at fakeleft.com/blog and tweets at @stephmotz

Angela Doell, Monthly Contributor

Angela is a lover and a fighter. She and her husband Rod have been married for 17 years and they have two beautiful children, Madison (15) and Miller (11). Angela works with the creative & media teams at Relate Church in Surrey, BC where she oversees graphic design, art direction and marketing. She loves finding beauty in everyday life and is passionate about communicating hope and the reality of a living Jesus through media and design.

Rachel Pieh Jones, Monthly Contributor

Rachel Pieh Jones has written for the New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, EthnoTraveler, the Desiring God blog, and Skirt. She lives, writes, and runs in Djibouti with her husband and three children. She blogs at www.djiboutijones.com.

Stefanie Thomas, Monthly Contributor

Stefanie is a Registered Clinical Counsellor living in Vancouver, BC. She feels blessed to work in a helping profession and is grateful that her work requires her to show up not in a power suit but with listening ears and a compassionate heart. Stefanie enjoys spending time with family and friends and has never met a kid or baby she doesn’t like. She is a noticer and appreciator of birds (chickadees, herons, eagles) and many a beach rock has come home in her pocket. Stefanie is a lover of music, tv and movies, and she is gifted at absorbing and retaining useless pop culture trivia. She loves walking, fresh air, the smell of dirt, and anything of the salt and vinegar persuasion. She can often be found puttering.

Ashley Mandanici, Monthly Contributor

My name is Ashley and I am the Children’s Ministry Coordinator at Relate Church in Surrey, B.C. My mission is to develop the God-given potential in every child who crosses my path *Insert Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All” here*. I love all things jazzy, particularly music, and I tend to break into song throughout the day for no apparent reason. I blog here and tweet @AshleyMandanici

Saskia Wishart, Monthly Contributor

My name is Saskia. Pronounced (sus-key-a). Cool Fact: Saskia means “valley of light.” The coolest part about that fact is that I have the greatest job, bringing light into some of the darkest places in our society. Exposing modern slavery on the streets of South Africa, in the brothels of Europe and anywhere else I am sent.

My passion-–abolition. My calling–Freedom. My equipping-–A crazy love rescue.

I am not organised, not a good sleeper and not a multi-tasker; thank goodness I am a problem solver.

I love my country—Canada, drinking coffee, creating beautiful things and Cape Town (which was my home for three years). I miss the mountains, snowboarding, surfing and all things natural as I make my way in the city of Amsterdam (my new home).

 Daniela Schwartz, Contributor

Daniela is stepping into the role of stay-at-home mom. She loves Jesus, her husband and kids and jumps feet first into opportunities to serve in her community. Daniela lives by this statement, “Preach the gospel always, use words when necessary.” She loves to live life big and laughs a lot. She blogs with her twin sister Trinity at Lime in the coconuts.

Alumni & Occasional Contributors:

Trisha Baptie

Trisha Baptie is Executive Director of Honour Consulting and founding member of EVE (formerly Exploited Voices now Educating). In 2008 she won BC’s Courage to Come Back Award for her bravery in transitioning to a healthier lifestyle, for giving the murdered women of Vancouver a voice through her trial coverage of Vancouver’s serial killer and for her ongoing activism. Follow Trisha’s tweets at @trisha_baptie or friend her on facebook. She recently founded EVE (formerly Exploited Voices Now Educating.)

Sabrina Connell

An artist-turned-academic, Sabrina spends her days navigating between a wide variety of roles including that of mother, wife, graduate student, researcher and daydreamer. She is currently a doctoral student in the Communication Studies program at Northwestern University where she researches the various ways in which children and parents engage media and technology and the potential effects these interactions might have on the development of children. Prior to her time at Northwestern, Sabrina earned a Master’s degree in child development from Tufts University, as well as a Master of Arts in puppetry from the University of Connecticut. She has a passion for all things involving play, whimsy and the art of nurturing. She tweets at @sabrinaconnell.

Christina Crook

Christina recently traded the seaside views of Bowen Island, BC for the banks of Toronto’s Humber River where she, her husband and two young children attend Grace Toronto Church. Her work has appeared in MUSE and Vancouver magazine, and is forthcoming in UPPERCASE, Geez and the Literary Review of Canada. She is the founder of SeekingEve.ca and blogs at www.christinacrook.com.

Shirley Eu

Inquisitive quidnunc (without the gossip), voracious learner, atypical culture vulture, impulsive linguist, simplicity-addict, people-watcher, friend-collector, food-experimentalist. I have a bio. It’s somewhere.

Katherine Folkers

Wife, mother of two little ones, business owner, entrepreneur, actor/writer/director, filmmaker. I like to keep myself busy taking care of my family and chasing my dreams! I am passionate about encouraging others to follow their dreams and giving a voice to those who have no voice. Always ready for a fight, I love to take on new battles that seek justice while secretly dreaming about being Wonderwoman. Often quiet around those I’m getting to know, you’ll find me blunt and honest, outspoken and goofy with my besties.

My taste in film and music is likened to that of a 60-80 yr old. I’ll be watching psychological thrillers, period films, indie flix and listening to jazz, motown, opera etc.

I love education, constantly learning and sharing what I have learned.

In the mornings you’ll find me grumpy and crawling for my soy, hazelnut latte. At night you’ll find me energized and hammering away on the computer or getting into a good TV show with my hubby, who, might I add, is an incredible supporter of my career and of fighting for women’s issues (which I do on a daily basis). You can find my website over here and I tweet @KatherineSHill.

Shekinah Jacob

Shekinah is a drama queen who lives in Chennai, India, with her knight (not always in shining armour because it tends to get too hot to wear metal clothing) and their two toddlers who make her laugh, and love her on bad hair days. Her idea of heaven is coffee, a good conversation, and cupcakes with zero calories. She likes writing about her family because it’s a good way to preserve the memories, and more enjoyable than taking photographs.

Kisa MacDonald

Kisa completed her law degree last  year and is currently at a law firm in Vancouver. She grew up on Vancouver Island but has lived all over: North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. In this next season of life, she hopes to see creative community and access to justice established in Vancouver. She tweets at @kisamac.

Njoki Mbui

My name is Njoki. I was born and raised in Kenya. My family immigrated to Canada 13 years ago. If asked to introduce myself, I would say: I am a daughter, sister, niece and friend … my family defines who I am. We love to love, cook, eat and laugh-out-loud. The happiest days are spent hanging out with my family and close friends. I am a pediatric nurse, driven and passionate about issues affecting women and children.

Vera Raposo

Vera Raposo is the Founder & Creator of YourCreativeBiz.com, devoted to helping women entrepreneurs realize their dreams in all aspects of their lives and to have a business that is customized to who they are. Vera was born and raised in beautiful British Columbia. She’s a Mom to three wonderful kids.  She often blogs at YourCreativeBiz.com & tweets from @yourcreativebiz  &  @veraraposo

Musu Taylor-Lewis

My life is lived out of the calling “to advance Christ-centred work.” I am currently Director of Marketing and Development at Mercy Ministries, working to get the word out about the life-transforming work that takes place here. Prior to my work at Mercy, I directed a Crisis Pregnancy Centre, studied Christianity and Culture at Regent College and co-led women’s programs at my local church. I have four great children and am married to Steven, a gift to me from the Creator.

Christi Walter

Christi has a Communications degree from Trinity Western University. She loves stories and feels privileged to have heard some truly incredible ones while interning at Childcare Canada. Christi hopes to figure out how she can best use her gifts to impact the world around her. Her greatest passions are writing and travel. Over the next few months she’ll be in Australia where she’ll hopefully do plenty of both.

Stacy Wiebe

Stacy Wiebe likes biriyani, books and things that grow. She’s lived in Chennai, India for the past three years, writing and speaking with WOW and other non-profits.

Emily Wierenga

Emily is a wife, mother of four boys (two of which are her own), artist, and the author of Chasing Silhouettes: How to Help a Loved One Battling an Eating Disorder with Dr. Gregory Jantz (Ampelon, September 2012), available here. For more info about Emily, visit emilywierenga.com.

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The tent is large … Do you have a story you’d like to share? Email us at shelovesmagazine (@) gmail.com