About Viola Jean
You don’t have to work so hard to be you.
We named this after Viola, my great-grandmother, and Jean, my mother. Their homes were the ones where you left your worries at the door, always had a plate in your hands, and stayed so long it got dark without anyone noticing. 02 · Four questions, answered plainly
Ask. We'll say it.
A collective of women who already know.
Accomplished, tired, funny, and done explaining the headwrap. Some of us are three years into a pivot. Some of us are perimenopausal and furious about it. All of us have a group chat that deserves hazard pay.
Come with your whole personality. It fits through the door.
Say this
Come with your whole personality.
Not this
Bring your authentic self.
Mostly online. Sometimes in your city.
A group chat that shuts down at 11pm, monthly calls where no one has to be on camera, and conversations that carry on for days. Then a few times a year, a real room in a real city, with real food.
No breakout rooms. No icebreakers. No one asking you to share a fun fact.
Say this
We're going to laugh. Loudly.
Not this
Restorative connection and community.
Because being the only one in the room is exhausting.
Most of us spent a decade editing ourselves down to a size that made other people comfortable. Smaller laugh, flatter voice, hair explained. That is a full-time job on top of the job.
Here you get the whole evening off. Stop mourning the doors that closed and eat something.
Say this
You don't have to work so hard to be you.
Not this
You are allowed to rest.
Girl, I said what I said.
Not a wellness retreat. Not a networking mixer wearing a scented candle. No unsolicited advice, no toxic positivity, no ranking whose season is harder.
And nobody is fixing you. You're not broken, you're just tired and possibly hungry.
Say this
Nobody here needs it explained.
Not this
A safe space for women of colour.
I stopped explaining myself somewhere between my annual review and my second glass.
03 · This was built for you
If two of these land, you're already one of us.
Impressive on paper. Running on fumes.
The CV is beautiful. The Sunday nights are not.
You want friends. Not a funnel.
Nobody here is going to pitch you their newsletter.
Community, not a leaderboard.
We're not comparing salaries or step counts.
Tired of translating yourself.
They mean well. They still don't see you.
Something needs to shift.
You need somewhere to land before you decide what’s next.
Sound about right?
Then you already know ...
Close the laptop. Pop the cork. Put your feet up.