Jackie Leonard
“This skirt gave me the stage to make some noise.”
đź’śJACKIE LEONARD
🧡LOCATION: SAN MARCOS, CA
đź’›PHOTO BY: @HONEYPHOTOGRAPHS
🖤BLACK ”TEARS” ITEM: SHIRT/EARRINGS BY @ALEXDAVIESLIVING
❤️JEWELRY: FERTILITY NECKLACE BY @BANGJEWELRY
đź’™SKIRT BY @INDIETRUE_CLOTHING
đź’šFOLLOW @TEARSANDTULLE
🎤IN JACKIE’S WORDS....
This skirt gave me the stage to make some noise. For my time with the skirt, I am choosing to create awareness around informed consent - specifically in women's healthcare.
I started my day visiting @beautifulonemidwifery, the midwifery practice of Kelly Pappas and Tiffany Alblinger. On this day, the rainbow skirt highlighted the power of women leaning into informed consent, receiving compassionate care, and prioritizing their health.
Here I am pulling the “skirt” back to reveal what a well-woman exam with a midwife looks like. You see me in a comfortable environment asking questions, handling the medical equipment that will be used on me, with a practitioner who is letting me take the lead in so many ways.
I didn't actually get a real well-woman exam in this photo - and yet, Kelly still educated me and humored my questions. Kelly and Tiffany often use a plastic speculum, for example, because it is less cold than metal, and the clear plastic makes it easier to see any abnormalities.
After my “exam” was done, I wanted to share the skirt with Kelly & Tiffany too! These two women represent the power that our healthcare providers have and can give to their patients!
I forgot to mention earlier that this day was also a rainy day. I’d like to think the rainbow brought the rain. Such a beautiful rain. The power brought the release.
I had an opportunity to step into this reclaimed power afterwards.
Embracing the rain, letting myself get wet, confidently (and carefully) owning the street, all came because I was given CHOICE and AGENCY and left EMPOWERED.
When you're given those things, when you can take them for yourself, you can also let down all the walls you’ve built up so high - you can smile, you can laugh, you can dance and spin, you can get soaked in the rain and not care.
You can have FUN because you aren't worried about having to protect and hold on and guard yourself from everything outside. You can just BE!
Read the full essay here: https://motherscope.com/jackie-is-writing/tears-and-tulle
About Jackie…. Jackie is the founder of Motherscope, a magazine and platform for women to write and share their own stories of motherhood.
Becoming pregnant was an eye-opening experience for Jackie who, for the first time, spent the next nine months fully nurturing and prioritizing herself. During this time, she also attended the 2017 Women's March in LA -- an experience that lit a fire in her, and challenged her to take action. After having her son, and making the tough decision to step away from her paralegal career, she spent the first few months of motherhood embracing the possibility of her dreams. It was in this precious space that Motherscope was born.
With its first print issue released in May 2019, a collection of birth stories, Jackie realized the immeasurable power created when women collectively share their experiences through story. Storytelling and truth, capturing the moments of our lives from our unique vantage-point, has been a lifelong obsession of Jackie's. She's compelled to help women embrace writing as a way to preserve their history, their legacy, and most importantly, to never lose sight of themselves.
Jackie has an MFA in Creative Writing, and worked as editor for multiple college and literary publications. Her over ten years of writing, editing, and teaching experience gave her the tools to launch Motherscope, but it was her two years in motherhood that showed her the value of storytelling for everyone. She truly believes that stories have the power to solve our world problems -- and that the best way to start is by focusing on the voices of mothers.
A native of the Coachella Valley, Jackie is currently a San Diego resident -- though her heart is in Kauai. Jackie feels energized by positive, empassioned women, and when working in collaboration. Her writing and her son make her feel most powerful. Her garden, the ocean, and her husband bring her peace.