WTL 5: Meet Andrea Hylen

     Five provocative questions answered by an inspiring and fabulous woman  – a woman with something to say.

Meet Andrea Hylen

Andrea Hylen is the Founder of Heal My Voice, a global community of Empowered voices. The mission is to empower women to heal a story in their lives, reclaim personal power and step into greater leadership at the dinner table, in their communities and in the world. Working with everyday extraordinary women, projects in 2013 include Voices of Peace, Voices of Love, and Voices of Feminine Leadership. Current pilot projects include working with women with the experience of prison: letter circles and opportunities to write their stories. Andrea is a speaker on Collaboration as a Business Model, Empowerment and Grief Transformation and the author of four books. She lives in Santa Monica, California where she can be found regularly dancing on the beach.

People would be surprised to know that:  I worked at Johns Hopkins University for over 5 years as a GUTA, teaching interns and residents how to perform the pelvic exam and breast exam using my body as a demonstration. For about 5 months out of the year, every Saturday, I had 5-7 pelvic and breast exams. It was an innovative program that included traveling to five large Hospitals in the Baltimore-Washington, DC area.  It was empowering to teach young doctors from a patient’s perspective.

The WTL 5:

What’s the conversation that changed your life?

When I was 10 years old, a conversation I had with my grandmother. I lived all over the United States growing up. My grandmother lived in California and I only saw her every couple of years. One winter, when we lived in Minnesota, she was visiting and I was home sick with a cold. She told me that I had the power to get well and that I had the power to create anything I wanted in life. I have drawn on her words many times over the years when everything felt hopeless and when everything was sunny.

What are you most conscious of today? 

FEAR and feeling unsafe that is present in ALL women. We fear criticism, humiliation, shame, rape, and violence. When we see a woman criticized, humiliated or hurt physically we shut down. We do not feel safe. We fear it could be our children or ourselves or our “sisters.” Women have stayed hidden, taken fewer risks and been afraid to ask for more. We have hidden our desires, our words, and feared ridicule when we share solutions to the problems around us. Sometimes it is subtle. We are inwardly paralyzed and it affects our Voice and taking action in the world.

What part of you have you yet to give voice to? 

Sexuality and sensuality. It was something I explored in the late 70’s and early 80’s when I worked at the Women’s Health Concerns Committee and Planned Parenthood. At that time, I discovered a powerful book: Our Bodies, Ourselves.  In addition to breast self-exam, we taught pelvic self-exam with a plastic speculum, mirror and flashlight. Body awareness. Body sensation. I want to talk about the power we have tied up in sexuality. There is a hidden super power in our sexuality that supports the expression of our creativity and our voice. I am ready to give voice to this conversation. 

What’s the conversation women need to be having collectively? 

How we can support and encourage each other. More and more women are saying this out loud. How can I support YOU? Let’s all acknowledge that sometimes when we see a woman who we think is smarter, prettier, and more successful, we feel less than. Let’s ALL take responsibility for the less than feelings we have and heal them together. Let’s shine a light on each other. Celebrate our unique gifts. There is room for ALL of our VOiCES in the world. It is time for more cooperation and cocreation.

I BELIEVE in YOUR Brilliance. No more holding back. 

What needs to be said bigger, louder, stronger? 

In Heal My Voice, we are calling out to every woman to share her VOICE. It means being vulnerable. It takes courage and we are doing this together. Every time a woman shares her story, her journey, the things that she has hidden because of trauma, shame, grief or loss, she gives another woman permission to do the same. Marianne Williamson said this in 1997 in her book, Return to Love, and it is still true. If I take a risk, be vulnerable and share my VOICE, it creates a pathway for you to share yours. YOUR VOICE MATTERS!

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 Thank you, Andrea, for sharing your powerful voice with WomanTalk Live.