March is Women’s History Month! Indego is proud to have so many amazing female riders, partners, advocates, and employees that make up our community. We had the chance this month to hear from Iresha, who is a mental health professional, organizer, writer, and Indego Passholder living in West Philadelphia.

Indego: What words of wisdom did your mother/grandmothers/aunts/mentors/other women special to you share with you?

Iresha: A wise woman once told me that as Women, when you heal, you do it by healing your relationship with your mother. That starts with letting go of the ‘ideal mother’ that was created in your mind and understanding that before your mother was your mother, she was healing from being someone else’s daughter and doing the best that she could with what she had.  We can get so focused on what didn’t happen, and what went wrong in our childhood, to the point of missing the possibilities that do exist with still having our mothers here to heal that relationship. If you don’t tend to and heal the mother wound, you will continue to bleed for the rest of your life.

Indego: How does cycling empower you?

Iresha: Cycling empowers me to feel pleasure in my body. As a bigger woman, there can be many restrictions from society imposed on what fat bodies can do in terms of movement. But when I am cycling, I feel free to enjoy myself, the bike, and the ground beneath me.  It’s one of the cheapest thrills because it provides the pleasure of going where one wills, because one will. 

Thank you, Iresha for sharing some of your wisdom with us during Women’s History Month! Be sure to follow Iresha on Instagram for more thoughtful and healing content.