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Pamilerin Beckley

@thepenwarrior

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Stories for change. Creativity for joy. Advocacy for progress. Powered by pen, purpose, and well-made playlists. All views are my own. 🇬🇧 🇸🇱

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There's something affirming, humbling and deeply encouraging about finding out that someone mentioned your name in a room when you weren't present.

That they noticed your work, thought of you for an opportunity, or simply felt you were someone worth knowing about.

And even when nothing comes of it, it still means something to have been thought of.

I have so much appreciation for people who do this for others, particularly women who make a point of championing other women. I hope we never underestimate what a simple recommendation can mean to someone.

A special shout-out to those who've done this for me recently. You know who you are. Thank you. The respect is mutual and may your kindness find its way back to you a thousandfold. 💜 by @thepenwarrior

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4 hours ago

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13 days ago

Before the night is over, a little nod to National Daughter’s Day and to the 13-year-old who has given me an archive full of content that will absolutely never see the light of Instagram. 😂

The heARTWORK felt fitting too: little Ava and little Mum, with Ava naturally taking charge of the hug.

Somehow, that tracks.

Happy National Daughter’s Day, Bubba. ❤️

And in a rare act of generosity, one item from the archive has been cleared for public release: Swipe to meet Ben the egg.

#NationalDaughtersDay by @thepenwarrior

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21 days ago

💭 Have you ever thought about how stories can become so familiar that we stop recognising them as stories and believe them to be facts? These are the stories that shape who we believe, what we notice, what we dismiss and, eventually, some of the decisions we make.

This is a little taste of Stories That Shape Systems, one of four conversations in my PenWarrior Signature Series. And a little taste of what I can bring to your conversations.

👉 Swipe for the micro-keynote. 🎧 Sound on.

Stories That Shape Systems is available for keynotes, panels and facilitated conversations.
thepenwarrior.com

#PenWarriorSignatureSeries #StoriesThatShapeSystems
#WomenWhoSpeak by @thepenwarrior

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a month ago

As the Bank Holiday draws to a close, with work tomorrow and back-to-school week upon us, I nearly caught myself doing that thing where you mentally audit and appraise the summer holidays.

What did we actually do?

There was no big trip. No carefully planned summer schedule. No endless list of activities. I worked from home. My daughter spent an impressive amount of time on her Nintendo Switch. There were a couple of swimming days. We're planning a cinema trip before school starts.

And most evenings, when I finished work, we watched The Rookie on Netflix together. That's been our thing.

For a moment, I found myself wondering whether I should have done more. Whether somehow I hadn't made enough of the summer. And then I thought about how strange that pressure is.

Last summer we spent a few days on a Disney cruise, with a packed itinerary and plenty of photographs to show for it. This summer, we mostly stayed home.

And that's the thing. Some summers will be adventures, new places and stories we'll tell for years. Others will be ordinary evenings on the sofa. A child playing a game while you work. Something you started watching together and became ridiculously invested in. Conversations you weren't expecting. Watching their interests change as they grow.

Today my not-so-little bubba announced, “I think my interests are evolving. I used to like Paw Patrol and unicorns. Now I like The Rookie and mystical, mythological stuff.”

And perhaps that's what I'll remember about this summer. The conversations. Snacking on the sofa. Having enough ordinary time together to notice the little ways she's changing.

Making memories with our children isn't really about where we take them. It's about being present with them wherever we are. Not every summer needs to be filled with “core memories”. Sometimes it's the ordinary moments that stay with us.

So, after completing my entirely unnecessary end-of-summer audit, I'm calling this one a summer well spent. ❤️

#thePenWarrior #NotesFromMyDesk #SummerHolidays #ParentingReflections #BackToSchool by @thepenwarrior

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2 months ago

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2 months ago

Finding time to read while on annual leave. 📚

💭 Something I think about a lot is: how do I make sure I have the bandwidth to engage responsibly in the conversations I choose to engage in?

💭 How do I make sure that when I open my mouth to speak, I am confident that I understand what I am speaking about?

💭 That when I pick up my pen to write, I have done more than react to whatever has landed in front of me?

💭 And when I choose to stand in the gap and advocate, I understand what I am representing, who might be affected by what I say, and why my voice matters in that particular conversation?

Part of the answer, for me, is reading.

I read. I listen. I learn. I revisit what I think I know. I deliberately seek out perspectives that complicate my own. Not because I think I need to know everything before I am entitled to speak, but because I believe there is a responsibility attached to choosing to speak at all, particularly when the conversation concerns people whose experiences are not my own.

Mikki Kendall 's Hood Feminism has been part of my annual-leave reading, and if anything, it has reiterated something I have believed for a very long time: feminism becomes performative when its fight for women fails to account for which women are most likely to be left behind.

Race matters. Class matters. Disability matters. Poverty matters. Housing, food insecurity, violence and access to education matter. The conditions in which women are expected to survive matter. You cannot meaningfully advocate for women while treating all women as though we encounter the world from the same starting point.

It reminded me of something I said years ago while speaking at a virtual female empowerment convention (SWIPE):

“Do not leave behind those who sit in the fringes of what you consider to be able, normal or traditional because they are not centred in your narrative. Their humanity matters too.”

#HoodFeminism #MikkiKendall #PenWarriorReads by @thepenwarrior

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2 months ago

A little over a week ago, I had planned to launch the PenWarrior on National Writing Day. Instead, I gave it a little more thought and time.

At first, I questioned whether I was overthinking it. But the more I worked on it, the more I realised this wasn't about chasing perfection. It was about making sure that when I finally opened the door, it felt like somewhere people would want to stay. So I kept refining. Not because it wasn't ready, I just wanted it to feel like home.

Today, I'm delighted to finally welcome you to the PenWarrior.

This carousel is a little tour of the website and everything you'll find there, from the blog and signature talks to opportunities to collaborate, share your story and explore the ideas that have shaped this space.

This has been quietly taking shape for a while, and it feels really good to finally share it.

If you're one of the people who's quietly cheered me on along the way over the years or given me an opportunity, thank you. And if you've only just found me, welcome.

I hope you'll take a look around and, if something resonates, I'd love to hear from you.

Welcome to the PenWarrior.

🔗 www.thepenwarrior.com

Special thanks:
@smarttribedigital
@studio74design

#LinkInBio #ThePenWarrior #Storytelling #WomenWhoWrite #WritingCommunity by @thepenwarrior

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3 months ago

I met her in a place you wouldn’t expect:
the basement of Wolverhampton Art Gallery.

Not on display.

Just… kept.

I remember standing there longer than I planned to.
Not quite able to make sense of what I was looking at.

She was bound, but not broken.
Held in place, yet somehow unyielding.
There was a quiet defiance in her I couldn’t ignore.

Something about her felt unfinished.
The story around her left too much unsaid.

Her story moves on too quickly.
A hero enters. The danger disappears.
And she is no longer the centre of her own story.

I found myself thinking about how certain stories are
passed down so cleanly they stop being questioned.
And how, in others, the uncomfortable parts get smoothed over.

What stayed with me wasn’t the idea of rescue.
It was everything that led to that moment in the first place.

So, as we close this Women’s History Month,
I’m sharing the poem that grew out of sitting with her,
and everything her story refused to resolve.

~ the PenWarrior🖋️
WritingForChange PoetryForChange Andromeda GreekMythology WomensHistoryMonth by @thepenwarrior

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7 months ago

The women who sit in my heart today are not the ones who usually make the headlines.

They are the women who are rebuilding their lives quietly. The woman learning to trust her instincts again. The woman discovering that peace is possible. The woman who thought what was happening to her was “just how relationships are”. The woman who is starting over with courage she never knew she had.

Strength doesn’t always look the way we expect it to. Sometimes strength looks like survival. Sometimes it looks like leaving. Sometimes it looks like staying until it is safe. Sometimes it looks like asking for help for the very first time.

International Women’s Day is about celebrating women’s achievements. But it is also about recognising the barriers many women still face in living safely, freely and with dignity. Today I am thinking of the women who are still finding their way back to themselves. And perhaps, if I’m honest, the girl I once was too.

You are stronger than you know. And your story matters.

Always.

~ the PenWarrior🖋️

#InternationalWomensDay by @thepenwarrior

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7 months ago

Today is a day to celebrate women.

Our strength, our creativity, our resilience, and the many ways we keep building and rebuilding the world around us.

But for me, it is also a moment to pause and reflect on the stories that don’t always get told.

The stories that are often whispered rather than spoken.
The realities many women live behind closed doors.

The courage it takes to leave, to rebuild, and sometimes simply to keep going.

the PenWarrior exists because stories matter. Because voice matters. Because telling the truth can be one of the most powerful things a woman can do.

So on this International Women’s Day, I begin again.

This is a space for reflection.
For advocacy. For creativity.
For the conversations we don’t have often enough.

Welcome to this new chapter.

~ the PenWarrior🖋️

#InternationalWomensDay by @thepenwarrior

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7 months ago