We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Stephanie Hanrahan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Stephanie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

The personal and professional freedom I have now is directly related to a risk I took while sitting at my kitchen table one balmy evening in September.

For almost three decades, I had been living a duplicitous life: posting my prettiest moments and concealing my cracks. I was certain that if the world, or simply the people in my inner circle, knew my truth I would be pitied and penalized. I kept my truest self hidden and only allowed her to be seen in the short captions of a private Instagram account; a space I was using as my journal. I was so discrete about this endeavor that even my husband didn’t know it existed. I didn’t want friends or followers, I just wanted a space to be myself.

So for two years, I wrote about myself to myself. And unbeknownst to me, by doing this practice I was getting incredibly good not only at writing but also at authenticity. So much so, that when I posted our family photos to my personal page, and all my friends commented on how “perfect” my family was, I could no longer digest that as truth.

I decided to take a risk and make that private Instagram, my private journal, public.

It was my hail Mary. My one chance to find one person who could potentially understand.

To my surprise, I found thousands.

My story went viral, publications began to take note of my craft, and now every day I get to write and speak my truth.

Now, every day, I get to be me.

Stephanie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I was just your seemingly average housewife until I grew tired of pretending and decided to make my private journal public. Since sharing my story, I have achieved viral success with my website, Tinkles Her Pants, which chronicles my journey as wife to a husband with chronic illness, mother to special needs children, and a woman who candidly discusses her own experiences of abuse, mental health, infertility, body image disorder and more. I can be found leaking nothing but the truth on the Today Show, CNN, Yahoo! News, Google, The Daily Mail, and most recently my TEDx Talk: The Problem with Being Perfect.

I am also a founding board member of the 501(c)(3) non-profit, Labeled and Loved, which provides online resources and connective experiences (such as an annual retreat) for special needs moms. I am also the host of the Labeled and Loved Podcast found on Apple, Spotify, and iHeart Radio.

I spent the majority of my life feeling alone and ostracized because of my hardships. Little did I know, those exact things were my connective tissue, and when expressed openly, would lead me to a more full and enriched life. My main goal now, whether through public speaking, writing, hosting, or the non-profit is to minimize that isolation for others.

There is no label that should ever keep you from being loved.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I once heard that we should eliminate the word “creativity” and replace it with “curiosity.”

I am in huge favor of this mindset shift. When we talk about creativity, the narrative often shifts to that of the arts or writing, which is horribly unrelatable for most. Not everyone wants to write novels or run an Etsy shop.

But every single human alive is curious about something. And if you’re not, therein lies the next step toward your own personal or professional freedom.

Find what lights you up inside. What is it that makes you keep scrolling or turn the pages of a book? What is it that causes you to pause? Is it a particular social interest group? Maybe that’s your next volunteer venture. Do you have a special interest? Perhaps that’s your next pursuit academically.

A creative life is simply a curious one.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

I founded a non-profit for special needs caregivers with three other women whom I had never met.

This sounds like a recipe for disaster, but what has actually unraveled since the inception of Labeled and Loved in October of 2020, is four women all working with the same mission in mind: to love those whom the world has unfairly labeled.

Life-long connections don’t always equate to success, but like-mindedness does. My co-founders and I all fiercely love someone with a disability. We have all experienced the caregiver fatigue and community disconnect that often accompanies a diagnosis. So when we came together, there has never been an ounce of competition or contentment because we are aligned with the same cause. We are four powerful businesswomen who want systemic change, not the spotlight on them. It’s a rare find, and a rather fortunate one. It was also an extremely easy yes when I was asked to join. If you’re the smartest person at the table, it’s time to move seats.

Here, with my fierce founders, I’ll be staying seated for a while.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tinklesherpants.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tinklesherpants/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TinklesHerPants
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAJAGR5_H4I&t=356s

Image Credits
Jennifer Baumann Photography Jenny Martell Portraits