Katie Paris met Jennifer at the gym. It’s a gym of mostly women, where encouragement and high-fives are the norm and pull-ups are celebrated alongside wins for reproductive rights. 

But neither woman could have predicted that their gym friendship would lead to Jennifer co-creating a TroubleNation group called Hope In The Heights that now has more than 400 members! And still, Jennifer considers herself “humanitarian” rather than “political.” She says it’s just about doing the right thing so that we’re all able to live up to our potential.

We can find friends — and fellow TroubleMakers — in every part of our lives. For many women, the gym is a place of community and strength. Jennifer says the women she’s met there, and in Hope in the Heights, have helped her work through the anger and grief over last year’s election. Now they’re getting together every month to fight extremism and bring hope back to Ohio.

“You’re going to lose your shit,” Jennifer says. “And it’s okay! Feel the fear and do it anyway.”

For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected].

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