(Scroll down for video interview with Leah + Idelette)
Decolonize. This is the word we heard so clearly during a SheLoves Leadership Retreat at the beginning of 2019.
What would it mean for SheLoves to decolonize, we wondered.
That day, sitting around the table with many of the SheLoves leaders, was not the first time I heard the challenge to relinquish power, however. A few months earlier, at Evolving Faith in 2018, I listened as Sandra van Opstal said something like, Those of you who run organizations, it’s time for you to pass on the leadership to People of Color.
I thought about SheLoves and then realized: I run an organization. O, my goodness. That’s me!
I felt the impact of her words. SheLoves was my baby. Could I do it?
Just as quickly as I asked, I also knew: Yes. This was what needs to be done. I felt the tension—the importance and weightiness of the moment—and then I knew that this was what we needed to do. Relinquish power. All of us becoming liberated together.
I didn’t tell anyone. I pondered it in my heart … Until that moment, when we sat around a long table and we wondered how we could decolonize SheLoves.
I knew.
I knew that if we were to decolonize, the first, most logical and very obvious step, was for me to begin stepping away from the center. I also knew it wasn’t a hasty decision. We talked about and it felt a bit scary for some. What would it mean for SheLoves?
None of us knew, truly, but we also knew we couldn’t deny this clear call to decolonize.
In June last year, I knew I had to put feet to the call. I began talking to people about how to move forward. Who could take on this role?
One name kept coming up: Leah Abraham.
Leah has been a SheLoves editor for many years. She’s earned the love and respect of every writer she’s worked with. She’s a journalist and a thoughtful, prayerful person.
So, in July, I asked her if she would consider it.
She said yes to the editorial part. Not the SheLoves organization as a whole, but stepping up as editor-in-chief of shelovesmagazine.com This segment of SheLoves.
She’s been quietly doing it for the past several months, finding her feet and her rhythm. Now we are going public with the news.
I am so grateful and excited to announce that Leah Abraham has accepted the role as editor-in-chief of SheLoves Magazine.com. I hope you will join me in cheering her on, congratulating her and lifting up her arms for this task and this season. I am excited to see where we will go.
Where does it leave me? I am still the Founder and we are exploring new titles for me. Over the past nearly 10 years, SheLoves has grown into several avenues. The editorial has been the hub, but we’ve also expanded to include a robust Dangerous Women community, events, SheLoves Circles and more.
Now that Leah is taking on the editorial hub, it frees me up to spend my energies on the larger SheLoves movement. We have good work to do. We have relationships to nurture. We have action to take. We have women to encourage, words to write, sermons to preach and communities to bless.
We still have big dreams as a SheLoves movement. We look forwarding to walking this out with you, together.
Much Love,
Idelette
xo
If you only know one thing about me, I’d love for you to know this: I love Jesus, justice and living juicy.
I also happen to drive a minivan and drink my lattes plain. (My life is exciting enough!)
Nineteen years ago, I moved from Taiwan to Canada to marry Scott. We have two teenagers, a preteen, a Bernese Mountain dog and a restaurant. (Ask Scott to tell you our love story.)
In 2010, I founded SheLovesmagazine.com and it has now grown to include a Dangerous Women membership community, a Red Couch Bookclub, events and gatherings. I’d like to think of it as curating transformational spaces for women in community. I long for women to be strong in our faith and voice, so we can be advocates for God’s heart for justice here on earth.
As an Afrikaner woman, born and raised in South Africa during Apartheid, my story humbly compels me to step out for justice and everyday peacemaking. I have also seen firsthand the impact injustice has had on the lives and stories of women around the world. I refuse to stay silent.
I am anti-racist and also a recovering racist. I am a Seven on the Enneagram, an INFP and I mostly wear black, with a dash of animal print or faux fur.
