Stories, Impact and Community: Reflections from SHÉLA’s Launch

What makes a group of people a community?

It’s easy to point to quantifiable metrics – how many people showed up to an event, their demographics, or how long they stayed. But numbers alone do not paint the full picture. They do not tell us whether people felt safe sharing bits of themselves, identified with someone’s story, or left feeling a little more connected than when they arrived. Those are harder metrics to measure, but they are often the soil on which true community is planted.

Last Saturday, August 15th, 2026, we brought queer women together across 7 countries through music, humour, personal stories and group conversations for SHÉLA’s launch. As the evening unfolded, it became clearer to us that authentic storytelling is a channel for self-recognition and by extension, a community-building mechanism.

The evening opened with Cameroonian artist Cindy Mbamalu sharing one of her earliest memories of music. For Cindy, music was always communal. It played in the background of everyday childhood with her mother and grandmother naturally making room for it. She joined us from London and performed a traditional song rooted in her culture, reminding us that music can carry memory, identity and belonging across generations.

Stories continued to shape the gathering. Praj spoke about turning real-life experiences into humour. Later, a conversation about falling in love online led a guest to share how she had met her partner on Bumble. Although currently long-distance, she described feeling deeply fulfilled in the relationship and reflected on how distance had heightened their communication skills, presence and intentionality.

As a community, the details of our lives may differ, but stories give us a shared point of convergence. They help us move beyond the abstract and really see the human behind the screen or in front of us. Someone you have only just met can sometimes have you marveling at the interconnected nature of our existence. 

Community beyond scheduled gatherings

SHÉLA was not founded simply to add another queer community to the map. It grew out of lived experience and a clear need for spaces where queer women can be truly heard, supported and centred.

Our work begins with listening as a tool for healing, presence and connection. We are creating room for lesbians to speak openly about safety, family, migration, religion, health and belonging, knowing they will be heard and supported.

That principle guided the design of our launch. We wanted people to experience community in action and the breakout rooms proved to be the perfect opportunity.

We understand that a large room can sometimes make people take on the role of observers. A smaller room, on the other hand, asks something different of us. Suddenly, we are more open to voicing our thoughts and feelings. 

For many attendees of the launch, and members of our team, those small-group conversations became the highlight of the evening. This reinforces our resolve to protect the space between observer and participant at SHÉLA with more intimate circles for us, by us.

What does impact look like at the beginning?

Impact starts as a seed, small at first, but quickly compounding when watered. We laughed, had conversations that lingered and received positive feedback.

“I really love that this platform has been created for queer women, and I hope that it stays forever! I’m totally looking forward to the SHÉLA Circle.”

Maybe for now, this is all that matters, and that is enough. 

Impact at this stage looks like someone finding a conversation they did not know they needed. Someone feeling safe enough to share a story about love, culture or self-acceptance. Or people leaving with a genuine desire to return.

We are here for the many faces and phases of the impact we can (and will) make together. 

Ultimately, the launch showed us that connection can begin through a screen and be maintained through something we genuinely feel. 

Now, we continue building from here.

Written by Susan N