WHAT ARE YOU DONE APOLOGIZING FOR?

The NO APOLOGIES Project was founded in 2016 and features intimate conversations of pivotal moments in the lives of women. These are our insanely brave and splendidly powerful stories, in the form of images, words and sound. The project exists to give voice to the experiences that define us, break us, change us and shake us. These are the stories we may not always share broadly and may even apologize for. We hope that our project inspires, connects and invites you to stop apologizing for who you are. www.noapologiesproject.com

JAHMELIA

“My abortion. I’m still processing a lot of shame around that, but I feel like it’s really important, given our political climate. You’re not supposed to talk about it, especially publicly. It’s disenfranchised grief. Just having words for the way you feel is so helpful. But it also has to do with the fact that we’re not widely given access to an idea like that, because we’re supposed to feel bad about this, for the rest of my life and beyond. I’m done apologizing because I’m human. And I feel that, even though it was a very painful decision, it was the right decision.”

JAMELIA / 35 yrs / Los Angeles, CA (via Jamaica) / Yoga Pro / @yogihustle / www.yogihustle.com

ANNA

“I hope I’m done apologizing for not accommodating for others. What I mean is that, while I want to be a part of things with others, I don’t want to accommodate my whole life for those things. I don’t want to be completely selfish. But I’m also done apologizing for it.”

ANNA / 40 yrs / Los Angeles, CA (via Minneapolis, MN) / Motion Picture Locations Manager / @annacoats

MEERA

“Not being enough. So fuck that. Not being enough of everything. And for everybody. Not being the best at work or in a relationship or with family, everything. I am enough, that’s the thing. But I’m done apologizing for people who think I’m not enough. In my work, I’m dealing with humanity, and I carry a lot. But somehow the magic comes through at the end. It does, you do know that, because it’s sitting right here.”

MEERA / 36 yrs / Burbank CA (3rd generation Kenyan Nairobi) / Speechwriter and Comedian / @manekmonday / www.manekmonday.com

BERNADETTE

“I’m done apologizing that I’m not okay being mediocre. I’m done apologizing that the things which are important to other people may not be important to me. And that’s okay because it’s not my definition of what I want to be doing. I feel a really good pressure to doing something important with the next phase of my life, and a lot of people don’t understand what that means or what it demands of me. And so when I say to people, ‘I can’t do this’ or ‘I don’t want to do this’ or ‘I don’t have time for this’ because I’m focused on these other goals… I’m done apologizing if they don’t understand it.”

BERNADETTE / 40 yrs / Minneapolis, MN / Photojournalist / @dettesnaps / Photo credit: @annacoats