Since Twitter became the new go-to source for opinionated news and major networks and outlets have taken on commentators to fill in 24-hour-news cycles, it’s hard to pinpoint the actual rate of divorce in the U.S. in 2015. According to various “experts,” divorce rates are at 50% and most women (especially black women) won’t even get married but Fawn Weaver, our ESSENCE Fest speaker and New York Times Best Selling Author, is on a mission to change the world’s perception of marriage with her Happy Wives Club movement.
In 2003, Fawn married her amazing husband Keith. According to her biography, she was happily single and not necessarily looking to be locked down when she met Keith at a party. But something about him drew her, and thousands of other people in the room, to want to know him more. The two fell in love and got married. Still, Fawn felt alone and not in the way you think—she felt like she was the only woman that was happy in her marriage.
“I am a happy wife. But if I actually believed the television shows, magazine articles or books out at the moment, I’d think the term “happy wife” is an oxymoron,” she wrote on her website, HappyWivesClub.com. “With this thought in mind, I set out on a mission. I believe there are millions of wives all over the world just like me and I’m determined to find them.”
She was right. In 2010, she founded the Happy Wives Club online and a few years later, she compiled her findings of what it takes to have a happy marriage into a book with an eponymous title. Fawn literally traveled to over 12 countries and six continents to speak to several couples.
Today, she has over 866,000 followers on Facebook alone and has not stopped trying to spread positive stories of successful marriages.
One of the most important things she learned as a secret to happy marriage was to not sweat the small stuff. In a recent interview, she said that in her marriage, “We will not sweat the small stuff because we don’t know when each other will be gone. When you look at that everyday and you say, ‘I don’t know if we are going to be together to continue this argument, you may decide not to have it to begin with… It’s all small stuff.”
For empowering us to see beyond statistics and to use the most powerful parts of heart to love and cherish the person we choose, Fawn Weaver is our #WomenEmpowermentWednesday pick.
Don’t miss her or any of our inspiring speakers at #ESSENCEFest2015! Sign up for Fawn’s Empower U session here.
