Category: Bad Ass Babes

Badass Babes: Wendy Doyle — CEO of United WE on women empowerment and policy changes

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By Nicole Mitchell
Photos by Justina Kellner

Wendy Doyle is passionate about supporting women of all backgrounds, and she champions that passion through United WE, an evidence-based organization that works on systemic policy changes supporting women. Currently, Doyle is the president and CEO—a position she’s held for eight years—but she’s been working with the organization, starting as a volunteer, for nearly 25 years.

And a lot of work can happen in 25 years. Prior to her time at United WE, Doyle worked for Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas as the executive vice president where she helped many single women find support. It was in that position that she began volunteering with United WE—which at the time was called the Women’s Foundation. In 2013, Doyle stepped full time into her current role where she keeps on giving—seriously giving—from supporting financially to attending events and starting new projects for the company, she does it all.

“If we can systematically solve some of the policy challenges, this would make a great impact to these women who are needing basic services,” Doyle says.

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Justice Gatson is a grassroots organizer fighting for a better Kansas City

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Bad Ass Babes: Justice Gatson

Words & Photos By Kelcie McKenney

As a grassroots movement organizer, fighter for the end of police brutality, manager of bailout funds, legislative advocate at the ACLU, and a doula helping Black mothers bring babies into the world, Justice Gatson has been fighting for a better Kansas City for a long time. 

Gatson, the founder of the Reale Justice Network and a representative of the ACLU, is the organizer behind this weekend’s Women’s March where Kansas City will “unify to protect ALL Black Lives and ALL Womxn.”

Gatson grew up on the East side of Kansas City—in the same house her mother lives in today, just a few blocks from where she lives now. She was first introduced to social justice organizing at her middle school, Genesis Promise Academy, a nationally recognized alternative school for inner-city youth in Kansas City. 

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Madison Tufte’s debut novel The Anchor House lets women grow on their own terms

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By Kelcie McKenney

Madison Tufte was looking to read new books that made her feel inspired, empowered, and vulnerable, with leading female characters who experienced growth—outside of relationships. But she couldn’t find them. So she decided to write her own.

Tufts’s debut novel, The Anchor House, under the pen name Margaret Spencer was born of that quest, and is the product of over two years of secret writing before Tufte self published earlier this year. It’s a tale about three women, Winnie, Fern, and Eleanor, each struggling to grow in their own way—each both strong and vulnerable. A remote island in Minnesota sets the stage for these women’s stories, inspired by the lakes from Tufte’s home town. It’s a heartwarming look at life’s difficulties, filled with inspirational women who live life on their own terms.

In June, The Anchor House won Next Generation Indie Book Awards’ for Inspirational Fiction. We spoke with Tufte about writing strong women, and being one, as she walks us through the journey to her first novel.

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Poet Jen Harris’s new book Unconfirmed Certainties is about heartbreak, growth, and telling your truth⁠—even if that means saying “fuck you” to cheating fiancées.

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Bad Ass Babes: Jen Harris

By Kelcie McKenney

Jen Harris outside her Kansas City home
Photo by Justina Kellner

Poet Jen Harris is unapologetic about telling her truth, and she wants readers of her new book Unconfirmed Certainties to feel the same. 

The Kansas City poet and spoken word artist has earned her place at the center of KC’s poetry scene: She has both a Drugstore and Charlotte Street residency under her belt, gave a TED talk called “Spoken Word Poetry Saved My Life,” had a guest spot on season three of Queer Eye, founded the Kansas City Poetry Slam (aptly named because she “believes in SEO ratings”), and published two books, with her third to be released on Sunday. Harris isn’t stopping any time soon.

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Bad Ass Babe Amy Shoemaker: Queer. Artist. Pastor.

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By Rebekah Lodos

By Justina Kellner

Dancer, artist, spiritual coach, wife, pastor—the list of roles Amy Shoemaker moves in seems endless. A Kansas City native, she got her degree in theater from Drake University and attended seminary at Pacific School of Religion, Berekely, before making her home in San Francisco for 10 years. There, she worked odd jobs in tech, established a spiritual direction practice and met her wife, Carly. But her dream was always to be an artistic minister; a Christian leader who incorporates movement, dance, and improvisation into spiritual formation. She found that opportunity last year at Broadway Church, one of only 20 (out of 2,000) Kansas City churches that are affirming of queer leadership. She and Carly have been here for almost three years.

We spoke with Shoemaker about her journey, her worship, and what it’s like being a queer, female pastor in Kansas:

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