We are done using our inside voice. It’s time to use our OUTSIDE VOICE.
Use Your Outside Voice amplifies the perspectives of people and communities who have been largely left out of political discourse. We encourage each other to keep learning, pushing, and fighting for a more just and diverse nation.
We:
• Provoke empathy and deeper understanding of issues or people
• Encourage healthy coping mechanisms like humor, action, empathy, and connection
• Provide thoughtful treatment of issues such as racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, religion without resorting to dogmatism
• Respect the primacy of science and discoverable fact
• Seek to unseat the ‘normality’ of gender duality and sexual dichotomies
• Treat safety, income inequality, health inequality, the environment as human rights issues
• Center diversity and diverse experience
• Encourage irreverence in approach, tone, and voice
• Engage in and uplift social discourse from the profane to the sacred.
• Center the personal in the political, the political in the personal
• Actively model and encourage those with privilege to acknowledge it, dismantle it, and use it to advocate for equity
Our Story
Use Your Outside Voice started as a Facebook page and side-project of Jill Smokler, founder of the web site Scary Mommy. In the run up to the 2016 election, the page shared articles and graphics to inform and get out the vote. After the stunning losses in the general election, the page went silent.
That’s when Jennifer Rosen Heinz, a Scary Mommy contributor, approached Smokler and asked if she could help revive the page as a source of inspiration, information, and resistance. Jennifer became the sole owner and Editor in Chief of the page and, along with help from Mikki Caplan-Zaple, assistant editor, she has been curating content and pissing people off ever since.
In late 2017, Kristin Joiner, Artistic Director, joined the team to develop the logo, look and feel, and the brand. Rosen Heinz and Joiner knew each other as former colleagues at a local women’s magazine. In 2016, they worked together to create the iconic “Kindness is Everything” sign which, to date, has generated in excess of $200k for nonprofits such as the ACLU, and single-handedly saved the Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health from closing its doors. (Follow Kindness is Everything on Facebook or buy on CafePress or Zazzle)
From just over 1500 Facebook followers in November of 2016, Use Your Outside Voice has grown explosively. It has launched viral memes, channeled traffic to articles about important issues, and kept its community active, engaged, laughing, and crying together.
In the early fall of 2018, Use Your Outside Voice launched its web presence, tapping into an amazing network of writers who have things that must be said, and messages which must be heard.
Who We Are
