Who are you?
I’m a people, pet, and planet-loving mother to one year old, Sydney. I’m an apprentice childbirth educator, an aspiring pre and post natal fitness instructor and a midwifery advocate. I’m a novice Mac-user and a finger-pickin’ guitar player. I’m a West Coast transplant from Newfoundland. I love my bikes, my Birks and my Fluevogs. I’m a champion for UBC business students. I am on a mission to bake a moist and delicious vegan brownie.
What do you do for fun?
Eat good food, stare at my baby, talk to strangers, laugh at myself, lounge with loved ones, hang out at community centres, hug, cry over beauty and broken hearts, read organizing blogs, make killer kale chips, smell roses, learn from smart people, silly dance with kids, hold-out for the lessons, listen to stories, play disc golf, and sit on my porch watching the day wiggle its way by.
What is your favourite community? Why?
The amazing community of women empowering families to choose natural pregnancy, birth and baby care. Birth, and everything that comes with it, is so cool! I could talk about it all day. When I was pregnant, my partner and I fluked into the wickedest pre-natal education classes. Everything I thought I knew about having a baby was turned upside-down. Births on TV and in the movies are portrayed as scary, screamy and gory. Your average doctor doesn’t offer women information about natural birth so families often assume that medicated birth is the norm. Why? Because women’s health is undervalued and C-sections are more profitable for hospitals than vaginal birth. It’s an absolute tragedy that women aren’t presented with positive stories about normal birth. Thanks to my great midwives and the online communities of mothers, we had a home birth. It was beautiful, empowering, and 100% not scary. My wish for our community is that midwives deliver most of the babies in this province, rather than the 12% they do now. And that everyone watches Ricki Lake’s wonderful documentary, The Business of Being Born. Check it out. It will change your life!
What is your superpower?
Listening. You’ll never catch me wearing earphones. I don’t want to miss the sounds around me. If you watch me long enough, you’ll definitely catch me eaves-dropping. I can’t help myself. People are so interesting! I also have a staring problem.
How do you use it to build community?
I love learning from other people. I love watching people talk about things they care about. I love figuring out why people have chosen the words they do. I love hearing people speaking different languages. I love feeling another persons spirit when we’re communicating deeply. I love seeing people feel heard. I love that my questions help people to feel valued and cared for.
My Three Favourite Things About Mary Henley Are…
1. Listening Skills. Absolutely! Mary Henley’s active listening skills are exceptional and beyond reproach. She makes excellent eye contact. She nods whilst taking it all in. And, most importantly, she asks the best darn questions that you’ve ever had asked to you. Her perceptiveness is absolutely outstanding and it is with these wicked awesome skills that Mary Henley gets to know people.
2. Direct Communication. The first conversation that I had with Mary Henley came about after I made a mistake by going behind her back and talking to one of her contacts (we were colleagues at the time). She called me on it. And, while it was a fairly awkward conversation, Mary Henley’s kind assertiveness brought everything out in the open, established the proper process for doing things, and set me on the right track. The conversation could’ve ended with revenge on my mind and malice on my tongue, but because she’s so darn genuine and honest Mary Henley saw that our chat ended with the beginning of a fantastically fruitful professional relationship. Oh, and when she called me on my mischief it was, like, my fourth day…
3. Professionalism + Communityism = Awesomism. Mary Henley is one of the most professional people with whom I’ve ever worked. And I define a professional as someone who works hard and smart to deliver on the goals as established by themself and their boss as well as someone who goes above and beyond to creatively explore other value-adding things in their job, too. As I was saying, her very professional nature is only matched by her very community-minded nature, which means that she is constantly finding ways to integrate business, education, and service with local, regional, national, global, and galactic neighbourhoods. And it’s a beautiful thing.
Hi John- What a great post on our mutual friend Mary! You are right on with the title- Mary is an amazing listener! And an amazing woman!
I’m a positive person and can find the best in everyone and everything, sure. But with Mary Henley, it was almost too easy. She’s a gem and a true community-builder in every way.
Thanks for following, Rebecca!