When you write your truth, you set yourself free - Julie Fairhurst (She Talks)

Have you ever experienced a moment that completely altered the trajectory of your life? Those rare turning points that reveal your purpose in startling clarity are exactly what sparked the Women Like Me movement.

Through a mystical dream instructing "you are your purpose," followed by the word "write," and later the devastating loss of her 24-year-old niece to a fentanyl overdose, Julie Fairhurst found her calling. These pivotal moments led her to create a platform where women could share their most painful, authentic stories. What began with 13 women has exploded into over 350 true-life stories across 29 books, each writer driven by the hope that sharing their truth might help someone else heal.

Anna's story exemplifies this healing journey. After surviving a brutal assault at 22 as a new immigrant to Canada, Anna carried her trauma in silence for 30 years, fearing shame and family rejection. When she finally shared her story through Women Like Me, the outpouring of support from over 100 friends and colleagues freed her from decades of hidden pain. This transformation from secrecy to liberation illustrates why sharing our stories matters so deeply.

Perhaps most revealing is how silence around trauma damages families across generations. When Julie's stepsister read about their mother's trauma for the first time, she confessed, "I thought she hated me"—a misunderstanding she'd carried into her fifties. The truth was vastly different: her mother hadn't hated her; she had hated herself. This poignant revelation illustrates how unspoken pain can create false narratives that damage relationships for decades.

Ready to break the cycle of generational trauma? Consider the power of writing your own story, as Julie reminds us, healing begins when we stop burying our truths and start sharing them, one courageous story at a time.

 Listen now to discover how writing can transform not just your life, but potentially your entire family's legacy.

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Who is Julie Fairhurst?
Julie Fairhurst – Speaker, Author, and Founder of Women Like Me

Julie Fairhurst is a champion for women’s empowerment and the founder of the Women Like Me Book Program. Since 2019, she has published 30 books and 300+ true-life stories—at no cost to the writers—giving women a platform to heal, inspire, and reclaim their power. Dedicated to breaking generational trauma one story at a time, Julie’s mission is to uplift women emotionally and financially, helping them create better lives for themselves and their families.

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Chapters

• 0:52 The Dream That Changed Everything
• 2:03 Tragedy Becomes Purpose
• 3:51 Anna's Trauma and Healing Journey
• 7:44 Breaking Free From Shame
• 9:05 The Cost of Family Silence
• 9:45 Stopping Generational Trauma

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:26

Hi everyone. I'd like you to think of a moment, a moment that might have changed everything for you. It could have been a moment of loss, a moment of gain, it could have even been that aha moment that we get sometimes, but a moment that would have changed everything for you. I have two moments in my life like that, that changed everything for me. The first one was in 2016. I had a dream, and I was in a bright light in this dream and a voice said to me you have to go back now. And I remember feeling panicky, and in my dream I said well, I don't want to go back, I want to stay here with you. And then the voice said no, you have to go back, you're not finished yet. So I still felt panicky and I said but I don't know my purpose. And the voice said to me well, you were your purpose. And I thought, well, yeah, that doesn't really help me though. I get it, but I don't really find that helpful. And then I remember just being so anxious and I yelled out in my dream but I don't know what to do. And as I awoke, one word entered my mind, and that word was right.

Speaker 1: 1:47

And then my next moment was in 2019, when my beautiful 24-year-old niece died on the streets of Vancouver from a fentanyl overdose. And after her funeral, I was at home, obviously, and I went to bed and I couldn't sleep and I was just staring up at the ceiling because I was so angry, because I thought why did this have to happen? I just felt like this should not have happened. And then it clicked for me and I thought you know, this just isn't her tragedy, this is our family's tragedy, this is generational. I remembered the word right and I remembered my dream. So the next morning I woke up and I called 13 of my stepsisters and best friends and said would you like to write your true life story in a book with me? And every single one of them said yes. So our first Women Like Me book was published in December of 2019. Since that time, it's actually I'm actually. I counted how many stories I'm actually over 350 stories told in over 30 books, so very, very exciting. There's a common theme with all of the women who write in the books, and that is if I can just help one person, then it will all be worth it. I want to tell you about Anna. Anna, ah. She is one of the writers in the book, and Anna's story really helps to explain how we can deal with trauma and how we can hopefully help to heal ourselves.

Speaker 1: 3:43

So Anna came from China when she was 22 years old. She was super excited, as you can imagine, because she's 22 years old and she's in Canada all by herself, and she's going to go to UBC. After being here for a while, she decided that she was going to walk to church one day. After being here for a while, she decided that she was going to walk to church one day, and as she's walking down the street here in Vancouver, she felt something hit her head and she thought that it was a tree. Something fell from a tree, but it wasn't. And before she could realize what was happening, she was dragged into a van, she was raped, she was beaten and the man told her that he was going to kill her. So, as he's hitting her with a steel rod, she's trying to protect her head, of course, and she's just thinking I'm going to die, I don't know what to do, I'm going to die. And then it clicked in her head and she's like I trained, I trained in karate, like I've got to do something here, and so she mustered up all the strength she could and she fought and she fought hard. She has no idea to this day how she got out of that van, but she got out and she was on the sidewalk covered in blood, half naked and st. It just so happened that a family who went to Anna's church, who they didn't know each other at the time, decided to take a detour and they came across her on the sidewalk, and they're the ones that saved her and helped her. They caught the man and he is still in jail today. Anna spent two months in the hospital in Vancouver healing.

Speaker 1: 5:25

Anna never told anybody what happened to her. For 30 years she kept it silent. She told her parents that she had been robbed because she said that she didn't want to bring shame upon her family and she didn't want them to make her. She knew they'd make her go back home, that she didn't want to bring shame upon her family and she didn't want them to make her. She knew they'd make her go back home, so she wasn't telling the truth about what happened. So for 30 years she carried this around and then she stumbled on Women Like Me and then we had a Zoom call and she told me I don't want to carry this burden anymore. It's been 30 years. I just I don't want to carry this burden anymore. It's been 30 years. I just I don't want to carry it anymore.

Speaker 1: 6:03

So Anna decided to write in one of my books, and so, on the book launch day which you can imagine is a super exciting time for everyone Anna messaged me and she said I think I've made a big mistake. I don't know what to do. Everyone's going to know. And I messaged her back and I said but, anna, that's what you wanted. So I told her obviously I can't take your story out of the book, but I cannot market you. I cannot talk about your story. I can set it aside if that's what you would like me to do. And then I waited for her response and after a few minutes she messaged me back and she said no, do it, this is what I want. I want you to talk about my story. Do it, this is what I want. I want you to talk about my story. So during book launches, we book, we launch. Over social media. I follow all of the writers to see what exciting things are happening, and I paid extra attention to Anna. That day. Anna had over 100 comments from colleagues and friends and loved ones with the most beautiful, beautiful messages I was. It was just so moving. And so today, annette is no longer hiding, she's no longer living in shame and she's free, and that's what women like me can do.

Speaker 1: 7:30

I want to tell you another quick story, this one's more a little bit about me. I recently wrote my. I recently wrote my, a true life story in a book all by itself, and one of my stepsisters purchased the book. And then she called me and she said why didn't I know about mom's trauma? And so my mom went through a very serious trauma when I was 10 years old. It changed everything for our entire family. And I said to her well, you were so young, I was surprised that she didn't know. And I said well, you were so young when it happened. And she said you know, I thought she hated me. And she has gone. She's now in her 50s. She has spent her entire life thinking that she was hated. And I said no, she didn't hate you, she hated herself. Didn't hate you, she hated herself.

Speaker 1: 8:38

We don't know what's going on with our family members. Had we passed generational trauma along it's by silence? Why did my stepsister not know about my mom's trauma and this thing that she had went through? Because we don't talk about these kinds of things. We are silent, we pretend that they didn't happen and nobody talks about them. And if we think that that's doing our family good, we're wrong, and my stepsister is evidence of that. So there is healing in writing. There's a strong power in writing our stories. Power in writing our stories. I think it's really important. I don't have a degree in psychology or psychiatry or anything like that, and there's lots of ways for people to heal, but I was told to write and so that's what I've done. So I hope that you will join me in stopping generational trauma, one story at a time.