The Spotlight: Grace Club mixes it up

Scrappy feminists serve up curated stories—and community.

When the world seems destined for doom, it can be tempting to wallow. But Tavia Cosper (a marketing and communications manager) and Maggie Anderson (a seasoned yoga teacher) got proactive about it. “After the U.S. election, it felt like women were looking to mobilize, but activism can be intimidating,” says Anderson. “We’re community-oriented people, so we thought, why don’t we start a community?”

And lo: in April 2017, Grace Club was born. As a platform for the “everyday woman doing exceptional things,” the feminism-focused Grace is part speaker/storytelling series and part hyper-casual (wine-fuelled) networking event—and a physical manifestation of the sisterhood many are craving in these strange times, for women but also for non-conforming, trans and two-spirit people.

Each meet-up, taking place in a donated, woman-run space, supports a local women- or youth-focused organization. (A night focusing on love, sex and relationships at Life and Colour Salon benefited the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre, for example.) At its heart, though, are stories that inspire women to take a stand or make a change. “Stats only go so far, but stories resonate,” says Cosper. “People connect with personal stories told in a real, raw, messy way.”