Louisa Irele shares her story on stage at SheSpeaks in December 2018 at One Longfellow Square, Portland, Maine. Louisa's story at this annual women's storytelling evening, hosted by SheChanges, is about learning to love yourself and tell yourself that you belong—you deserve to be here—as a means of decide how to be in the world. Especially when you're emotionally busy.

Her story is : My Queendom.

"We can't truly see anybody else's story—we have to have them tell it to us, and we have to be able to hear it and listen to it. My story is important because it says a lot about how I move through space...I spend a lot of time in spaces where it's really, really visually obvious that I'm different...which means that I spend a lot of time in spaces that I exist in thinking that everybody around me is wondering..do I belong..."

- Louisa Irele, SheSpeaks 2018

http://www.shechanges.com/experiences-for-women/shespeaks-womens-speaking-series/upcoming-shespeaks/

Photo Credit: Melissa Mullen Photography