Hi I’m Lisa and I’m the Founder of the Not Ladylike Community.
I started the Not Ladylike Community because I was struggling with building connections to other folks that were in alignment with my values. And I kept bumping up against traditional expectations around my gender, my mental illness and my neurodiversity that didn’t feel like they matched how I wanted to interact with the world and my fellow beings.
“Ladylike” is a list of behaviours or expectations of how a woman should act. Not Ladylike is a vehicle to push against those boundaries, and welcomes any and all folks to do the same with all historical limits placed on their identities.
Not Ladylike Community events and meetups give you the third space you have been looking for to meet new folks and make equity-centered connections in your community. You’ll have an group of caring people to hang out with, who share your values and interests, and respect your neurodivergent, disabled, introverted self. We give you the freedom to stretch your goals at your own pace and no pressure to fit into a traditional expectation of showing up in a community space.
ACCESSIBILITY PLEDGE
You will notice that we are always reflecting on our role in the community, and continually evaluating our work to ensure accessibility and equity remain our focus.
Our accessibility pledge is as follows:
- we will always include information in our write ups about the specific accessibility of our events
- we will aim to meet all accessibility needs in the majority of our events, meetups, and clubs; if we missed yours please send me an email (we are always learning and expanding)
- we personally practice covid safer actions, and where possible, ensure our events are masked
- we are built on sustainability and DEI principles and actions
We are constantly learning, growing, and doing our own work to ensure our club meets all of our equality and accessibility values. Thanks for being here, and thank you for your contributions to this growth – both ours and yours!
THE FOUNDERS CLUB
Right now, Not Ladylike Community is the work of one person, and that’s not ideal. My goal was to always have more folks help out at the granular level – selling admissions at Crafternoon and hosting Not Ladylike Hikes – while I built up super engaged folks who wanted to join me behind the scenes. I want to build community within a community. I have lots of ideas of tasks and roles and actions! But NLL needs to de-centre Lisa and be a team player. If you think this sounds rad, please get in touch.
Meetup Coordinator?
- Help choose upcoming meetup themes and locations
- Connect with and recruit Guest Hosts
- Scout new locations, with an eye to different levels of accessibility
- Expand our outdoor offerings
Creativity Coordinator?
- Crafternoon!
- Help create other events or meetups where creativity is the main focus
- Help connect our community to the creative community in Edmonton
Justice and Equity Coordinator?
- Ensure that our events, meetups and clubs are accessible
- Help keep us on track with our core values and foundations
- Help develop NLL equity goals
Lisa’s Identity! This influences how Lisa is showing up in the space:
- Neurodivergent, “high functioning”
- Mom of one, amicably divorced and equal parenting
- White, Canadian citizen by birth, English-speaking
- My parents were born in North America, but not in Edmonton (my birth place, and the only place I have ever lived)
- I own a home, and my mortgage is my only debt
- I work full-time in an office with PTO, health benefits, and for above minimum wage
- Partnered, but not married (he is also employed FT)
- I have experienced sexual assault and harassment
- University degree, paid for by my parents
- Formerly fat, with current mid-sized privilege
- Atheist, hopeful Buddhist
- Epilepsy, but it doesn’t impact my daily life (health privilege)
- Cisgender
- Tech-literate, financially literate
Not Ladylike Community 