In August of 2011, more than six years after Jennifer Marshall's bipolar disorder first surfaced, she decided to start a blog. It became a place where she turned to write about her life as a wife and young mom to two small kids, and writing helped her begin to heal. She titled it: Bipolar Mom Life.
Jennifer wrote anonymously at first, because she was afraid of being judged. She also worried that disclosing her mental illness may make future employment opportunities difficult. For eighteen months, Jennifer wrote and found community online. Other writers who were openly sharing their stories of overcoming mental illness inspired her, and when she landed her first paid writing job, Jennifer decided to stop hiding behind a pen name.
When WhatToExpect.com published her first article with Jennifer's byline, it was also picked up by AOL.com (the parent company). The outpouring of support and gratitude when that piece hit the Internet with her real name was overwhelming. She knew immediately that disclosing was the right decision. She could finally talk about all parts of her life, and not just the shiny, fun moments.
About six months later, Jennifer had the idea to launch a theater show. She wanted to give others the same opportunity she had - a stage on which to share their story of living a successful life despite mental illness. Jennifer met her Co-Founder, Anne Marie Ames, at a mutual friend's party and recruited her to help put the project out to the world.
Jennifer and Anne Marie launched This Is My Brave on Kickstarter in October of 2013 and the excitement surrounding the project grew and grew. They offered tickets to the first show and handmade "BRAVE" bracelets, among other items, as rewards for financial pledges of support. Within 31 days, the campaign had surpassed their goal of $6500 to fund the first show, ending up with over $10,000 in contributions. It was clear that the community wanted to help bring this show to life - they believed in the vision and Jennifer and Anne Marie were dedicated to delivering an exceptional production.
In May of 2014, This Is My Brave debuted our first ever show in Arlington, Virginia at the Spectrum Theatre to a sold-out crowd of nearly 400. We became a 501c3 nonprofit and went on to create more shows in cities across our country. In 2015, volunteer producers joined our team to produce shows in Harrisburg, Boston, Iowa City, New York City and Los Angeles, along with a second annual show in Arlington. By 2016, we had doubled again, with volunteers again contributing their time and energy to create shows for their communities. 2016 we featured shows in Greenville SC, Valparaiso IN (Chicagoland), Denver (spring), Iowa City (year 2), Arlington (year 3), Denver (fall), Washington DC, and Baltimore.
2017 has been a monumental year for This Is My Brave. Not only have we held more shows than ever before, by the end of this year, nearly 500 individuals will have shared their story on our stages. This year our dedicated volunteers and nonprofit partner organizations have held This Is My Brave shows in Los Angeles, Boise, Des Moines, Kansas City, Bentonville, Jacksonville, Cedar Rapids, Germantown MD (our first high school performance), Napa Valley, Valparaiso (year 2), Washington DC, and Sedona. We also created our first Women's Mental Health Summit through a grant from the hope & grace fund. PLUS, 2017 found us joining forces with Tim Daly in Australia, a passionate mental health activist who is leading our This Is My Brave Australia expansion efforts - he hosted our first international show in Canberra in May, and has produced a show in Perth in October. Also this fall we featured shows in Boston, Lewiston (Maine), Wheeling WV and our first ever comedy focused show in Los Angeles.
Our organization was devastated in late August of 2017 as on August 23, 2017 we experienced the unexpected loss of our Co-Founder, Anne Marie Ames when she died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 59. Anne Marie was a warm and caring individual who had a deep passion for raising awareness for the mental health issues that so many of us face yet have difficulty talking about. This Is My Brave wouldn’t be where we are today if Anne Marie wouldn’t have joined Jennifer in tackling what at times feels like the impossible challenge of ending the stigma surrounding mental illness. And yet, we’re doing it. One person, and one story at a time. As Anne Marie said in our original promotional video for our first show, “This show is like we’re putting a pebble into the lake, and it’ll allow more people to hear the stories.”
We are so grateful to have had the four short years we had with Anne Marie. She changed the lives of many individuals who got to know her. We miss her more than words can express, but try to find comfort knowing Anne Marie’s legacy will be kept alive as people continue to come forward to share their stories, honoring her memory through This Is My Brave.
For 2018 we are planning to produce 20 shows in the US, more in Australia, and are in production on a mini-documentary film about the impact of sharing stories of overcoming mental health issues on stage.
You can make a donation to our non-profit organization here: https://thisismybrave.org/donate/
