When the World Is On Fire, Women Gather

I don’t know about you, but the world feels like it is constantly on fire. Every time I open a news feed, scroll social media, or even listen to NPR, I feel it in my body: that conflicted pull between wanting to hide and wanting to fight. Between the urge to shut down and the urge to take action. Trauma gets triggered. My nervous system says, run. My heart says, don’t look away.

And I know I’m not the only one.

So I want to talk about it—because this is bigger than a news cycle. This is about what happens inside women when the world keeps proving that safety is conditional, justice is inconsistent, and our voices are still too often treated as optional.

The Work I’ve Been Doing (and What I’m Seeing Everywhere I Go)

It has been a while since I put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard, in this case). Travel and speaking have been occupying my life, along with building my business and taking on more clients. Each has brought challenges and moments of absolute awe and triumph.

My partner and I have also been bringing the Big Picture in Waitsfield back to life. Ok, truthfully, it has been 99% him, but as a board member, I’m proud to be part of bringing more programming back to our magical valley.

And professionally? It’s been a ride.

My travels have brought me to Jackson Hole, Wyoming for the International Congress of Alpine Rescue (ICAR), speaking on psychological safety for non-dominant groups in alpine environments. I was a keynote speaker in Steamboat for the Snowsports team, discussing inequity in their department and beyond. PSIA/AASI East hosted me as their keynote speaker and workshop facilitator at Mount Snow in Vermont, where we talked about safety and belonging. And NSAA East and West created space for me to facilitate a panel discussion along side Kari Brandt of Women of Patrol with female Mountain Operations leaders in the industry and the challenges they have faced. All of this came on the heels of the research I conducted for my story featuring the challenges of being a female ski patroller in the NSAA Fall Journal.

Phew. It has been a lot.

But here’s what matters most: Across every one of these events—different mountains, different states, different countries—the same truth keeps showing up. Women need each other. Not as a nice-to-have. Not as an “extra.” As a survival strategy. As a leadership strategy. As a healing strategy.

The Power of Gathering Women (Even When It Feels Like “Extra Work”)

When Janna and I prepared for ICAR, we were given the opportunity to host a Women’s Night, generously sponsored by Arc’teryx. Admittedly, my first response was, Why do we need to do this? It’s going to be extra work. But what we found out was this: there is immense power in gathering. Women from 40 different countries in one room. Stories traded like currency. Gifts exchanged. Drinks helping dissolve the awkwardness so the truth could finally surface. And what surfaced wasn’t small talk—it was shared experience.

That’s what happens when women gather. We remember we’re not alone.We stop pretending we’re fine. We stop performing competence at the expense of our humanity. We breathe.

The Conference Moment That Changed Something in Me

The last conference I spoke at was the NSAA Western Show at Snowbird in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah—an absolutely spectacular setting at the base of Mount Superior. The same faces showed up along with new ones. My friend Kari and I were debuting a topic we’re familiar with: The Advancing of Women in Operations. We were both familiar with the challenge of being the outnumbered gender in the boardroom—and too often, in the white room. We assembled a panel that represented a cross-section of departments in the West: Snowsports, Ski Patrol, Mountain Operations, CEO leadership, and an Executive Director of a local nonprofit. I’ve been both an attendee and speaker at many conferences, and I’ve also served as President of the longest-running industry nonprofit in the country, ISAA. What has been consistent over my 30+ years in this business is the outnumbering of women by men in these rooms.

But this day was different.

The room was packed. Women traveled from all reaches of the West to be part of what I hope becomes a moment—and then a movement—to create spaces of belonging for women in operations. There is a desire, need, and drive to gather. There is a hunger to be as successful as our male counterparts. Women want to show up as their authentic selves—showcasing their talents without having to mask their vulnerabilities.

And then came the full-circle moment.

A mentor of mine, Pat Campbell—former President of the Mountain Division of Vail Resorts—stood up in the middle of the session and said (and I’m paraphrasing):

Bravo… If we had these conversations when I was coming up through the business, maybe I would have been able to show up as ME.

I knew in that moment we were having the right conversations with the right people. We just need to do it more often. Because so many of us—most of us—have lived lives stamped with disapproval, being unseen, and discounted because of our gender and the biases we navigate both professionally and personally.

In its simplest terms:

We want the RIGHT TO BE.

Where Do We Put the Rage?

This week, our news feeds are full of the Epstein Files. And I feel it—rage. Disgust. Grief. The kind of anger that comes from watching victims be dismissed, doubted, delayed, and denied. The kind of anger that comes from realizing (again) that systems protect power long before they protect people.

So where do we put that anger?

We don’t bury it. We don’t “stay positive. ”We don’t pretend we’re unaffected.

We gather.

Because the power of gathering women is not just emotional support. It is political. It is cultural. It is a refusal to be isolated. Our collective voice and action is the thread that joins us. We can’t change everything. But we can create spaces where we see each other and hold each other. We can challenge each other to show up as the best we want to be. We can create safe spaces of growth and prospering.

During interviews for my NSAA Journal story, I once asked a female patroller in Austria, “What can I do to support women in the business?”

She simply said:

“Tell our story.”

So that is what I do now—because every voice deserves to be heard.

And you deserve to be seen in this wildly crazy and unfair world.

A Quick Story Outside the Ski Industry: The Bluebird Café

Lastly—and unrelated to the ski industry—Kevin and I dropped off Annie at college in Nashville, Tennessee this past fall. We had the opportunity to go to the Bluebird Café, a coveted spot in Music City. As luck would have it, the musicians that night were all accomplished singers and songwriters with connections to artists like Willie Nelson. What struck me most wasn’t just the talent—it was the support.

It was unfiltered. Unselfconscious. It was as if they were each playing for each other. Music alone is a healer. But the magic of gathering and storytelling—the way it stitched people together—felt like something our ancestors would recognize. Like something they’d be proud of.

And it reminded me again:

Gathering is how we survive. It’s also how we lead.

What the Gathering of Women Provides

1) Safe Space to Exhale

Women gather to create places where we don’t have to armor up. Where we can tell the truth. Where vulnerability isn’t punished—it’s welcomed.

Life’s hardships—personal loss, trauma, professional inequity, social unrest—bring intense emotions. A women’s gathering becomes a nervous-system reset: I’m not alone. I’m not crazy. I’m not too much.

2) Practical Support (Not Just “Feelings”)

Gatherings aren’t only emotional—they’re functional. Women share resources, strategy, safety tips, and real-world solutions. In many cultures, women pass down wisdom about health, nutrition, childcare, and survival through informal gatherings. That’s not fluff. That’s resilience.

3) Collective Strength and Advocacy

When women gather, we stop whispering. We stop thinking our experience is “just us.” We stop accepting the narrative that we’re the problem.

We organize. We advocate. We create change.

This is how movements begin: not with perfection, but with connection.

4) Ritual, Creativity, and Healing

Sometimes words aren’t enough. Gathering creates space for expression—writing, music, art, ritual, movement. These are not hobbies. They’re pathways through grief and rage and into meaning.

5) Networks That Last

The bonds formed in women’s gatherings don’t end when the meeting ends. These connections become networks of mentorship, friendship, opportunity, and mutual aid.

They become community. They become belonging.

How to Start or Join a Women’s Gathering

If you feel the pull to gather women—follow it.

Start small. Start imperfectly. Start anyway.

• Identify a purpose (support, storytelling, skill sharing, advocacy, leadership growth)

• Choose a location that feels accessible and safe (home, community space, outdoors, or virtual)

• Set simple guidelines: confidentiality, respect, listening without fixing

• Encourage truth-telling and real conversation

• Include something connective: storytelling, shared meal, creative activity, or a group project

• Reach out to local orgs or online communities to find women already gathering

  
  

You don’t need a title. You don’t need permission.

You just need to begin.

Because in times like these, gathering is not extra.

It is the medicine.

With Love and Brevity,

Dana

PS.....Stay tuned for an incredible gathering I am putting together. A Woman's Collective. If you want to be part of this journey (truthfully we don't know what this looks like yet), send me a message!

JOIN THE JOURNEY!