THE GODDESS CARDS STORY Part One: How It Started Before there was the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, there was Goddess Cards. The company began in 2001, on my daughter Amanda’s birthday. Amanda was 31, in a marriage that wasn’t going well, and putting on weight. She was still gorgeous – a full-bodied, Rubenesque beauty- but she didn’t believe me. After all, this was LA. Everyone in LA knows you can “never be too rich or too thin!” Listening to her weep made me both sad and angry. How had our vision of beauty become so distorted that a young woman, sized 14-16, saw herself as “fat and unlovable?” How could I make her see herself through my eyes? I’m an artist, so I painted her a birthday card. On the cover, a voluptuous woman with an amazing resemblance to Amanda lay under a tree in front of some Greek ruins. A smitten faun gazed at her longingly from behind the tree. In the background, a trio of dancing, anorectic nymphs glared at her. What right had this abundant Real Woman to any attention? She didn’t fit the media-inspired standard of modern beauty! The one they had suffered so much to attain themselves… The caption on the cover read, “You’re a GODDESS, not a nymph!” Inside, it said “And I adore you.” Amanda loved and was heartened by the card. A friend, whose cousins had an online clothing store for curvy women, saw it and showed it to them. They loved it too. They asked me to create a line of twelve Goddess Cards for them to take to a Las Vegas convention in six weeks. I raced home and created eight. That’s how Goddess Cards was born. Once started, I couldn’t quit. My mission was now clear. I would fight the prevailing destructive myths about beauty. I would tell Amanda, and women like her, “There’s divinity inside you!” Hence my company logo: GODDESS CARDS – “Because every woman is a goddess!” GODDESS CARDS would celebrate Real Women of every size, shape and ethnicity. They would affirm that “You’re GORGEOUS! Authentic! Powerful! Filled with dignity and courage. Don't be ashamed of who you are. Live your life with passion and joy!” GODDESS CARDS has evolved since that seminal birthday card. So has Amanda. She found the strength to confront her problems. It wasn’t easy. But she’s single again, and thriving. A healthy weight once more, she’s rebuilding her life and business along with her self-esteem. She’s more beautiful than ever, because she has discovered her true worth. (Check out a recent photo of her at the top!) Goddess Cards is growing along with her. Cheering her, and all women, on. Part II: How it has Changed Nothing stays the same. Not even a great idea! Conversations (virtual or face-to-face) with my daughters, friends, and customers from North America, Australia and the UK, soon taught me that curvaceous women aren’t the only ones with self-esteem issues in today’s culture. One woman wrote, “I have the body of a 12-year-old. Can you paint some skinnier goddesses for me?” I slimmed down a few of my buxom beauties. A new friend and supporter is Christine Hartline, Executive Director of EDreferral.com, the web’s biggest online Eating Disorder Referral Center. Based in California, it helps 3,200 people every day! Christine alerted me to the flip side of overeating – anorexia and bulimia. Women who are literally “Dying to Fit In.” They too are victims of striving to achieve an impossible physical perfection. This made me focus harder on creating the “healthy images of women” for which Goddess Cards is becoming known in the wellness community. My cards are now sold at wellness centers, as well as in gift and card shops. Posters, created from Goddess Card images, are hanging in Sheena’s Place in Toronto, Ontario where young women receive free treatment for eating disorders. Anne Elliott, Program Director for Sheena's Place, is the one who introduced me to their great work. Legendary Goddesses were added at the request of my first distributor, who wanted me to include some of the great, mythic archetypes for women. It was a wonderful idea! As a child, I loved mythology. I believed that the powerful stories and qualities embedded in these ancient legends would have deep significance for women. That’s why we have eighteen Legendary Goddesses already - and will have more. A small line of Great Women of the Bible was added for Christian and Jewish friends who love their compelling stories. They too are role models. Every woman can relate to faithful Ruth, brave Esther, or curious Eve. And who doesn’t admire Makeba, Queen of Sheba, who sought wisdom and a political alliance for her people? In the course of her quest, she won the heart of Israel’s greatest king. Goddesses of the Zodiac are among my most popular cards. Originally created for Venus Divas – an online e-zine to which I contributed stories and images for several years, they are whimsical and fun. Women love the images, and the horoscopes on back. Often, they frame them and give them as birthday gifts. The primary focus of my cards, however, continues to be the Modern Goddess, who lives in such challenging times. Funny, tough and real, she is my inspiration. She’s why I created the line in the first place. She’s the one whose needs, ideas, dreams and hopes continue to shape the line. She is my forever goddess. Part III: The Future, and New Directions. “Only connect!” This statement by E.M. Forster in his celebrated novel, Howard’s End, means a lot to me. Needing a deeper connection with the women who buy my cards, I emailed them a questionnaire asking what cards they’d like to see in the Goddess line. I was overwhelmed by their thoughtful responses! Most said they wanted more Modern Goddesses. But they had other interesting ideas as well. Among them: • Gods for the Goddess: Cards for the men in your life • More Black Goddesses • More Legendary Goddesses: Inanna, Hestia, Hekate, Befana • More Thank You, Birthday, Sympathy, Get Well, Miss You! • Baby Goddesses • Older Goddesses • Birthing and Mothering Cards • Cards for women who have lost children • Affirmations and Inspirational cards: to give yourself, or to your best friend I’m considering all of them. Those that seem to resonate most with my goddesses, I’ll create. They’ll be a special group of cards, printed in short runs. I think of them as The Golden Goddess Line, since they’ll be the golden fruit of your suggestions. I’ll sign them, making each a unique, personal, mini work of art. Since the Golden Goddess line won’t be printed in typical mass-market runs, they’ll cost more to produce. That’s why, in my questionnaire, I asked customers “Would you be willing to pay more for really special cards?” ($4.00 was my guess for an exclusive, short run card. Hand-assembled cards would cost even more.) All but two women replied “Yes.” Encouraged by this response, I’m beginning to create the new Golden Goddess Line. Already, we have 4 Gods for the Goddess, Inanna, (the first feminist, thousands of years ago!), Christmas Blessings, and a new birthday card, "Bring 'em on, Girlfriend!" In the works are Hestia (the Goddess of hearth and home), another birthday card, and affirmations for friends. Cards already in inventory will continue to sell at their present price until they sell out. My goal is to build more than a customer base. My intention is that Goddess Cards will reflect the needs, hopes, aspirations, and concerns of the Modern Goddess. Dove women. Boomer women. Authentic women who try to live their lives with passion and joy. And who support each other in their journeys. Many blessings, Anne Baird September, 2007