by Alison Cohen
I’m excited to introduce the new BOOST blog to Bike Transit. It is geared to be a place where voices that have not normally been elevated have an opportunity to speak, and educate others in Bike Transit with their experience.
And, although as the CEO, my voice is naturally elevated, I wanted to take the opportunity to briefly write about my lived experience, and then I’ll vanish into the background, excited to listen and learn about others.
First grade was when I punched a girl in the stomach and knocked the wind out of her because she said I looked like a boy. The mom of my best friend in elementary school used to say: there are the girls, the boys, and Ali. I was always the most at home playing sports with the boys.
As I grew older, I had long hair through high school, college and my early 20s. And then, in 2000, I chopped my hair off and it’s been like that ever since. It just feels right.
Fast forward many years, and after doing lots of different things in life being mostly solitary and pursuing various passions in life, I met my now-wife, Nurit. I’ve always been an athlete, now a bike share guru and mom, and I’ve never defined myself by who I was dating – so coming out has not been something that was a natural thing for me to do. When Nurit and I got married, I immediately adopted the term “wife”. It has always been the best way to come out, define our relationship, without the confusion of the term “partner”, or other terms that have never fit for me – lesbian, gay, queer. I still hate labels, but each of the things I am – a mom, a CEO, an athlete, an entrepreneur, a lesbian, is a part of who I am; and I love that the intersection of all these labels is the unique place that is me.
I realize now that I’m a mom, and watching my young kids start to interact with the world, that maybe the path that I have been on was not the easiest. But it never crossed my mind as I have lived it, as this is just who I am. However, as a white woman born to a middle-class academic family, my path has been easy compared to many, many others.
Thank you for reading, and I will now pass the baton to you all. Please share, learn, educate, be open and keep being awesome! Sit back and enjoy the blog and if you’d like to contribute or talk about any of the subjects covered you can join us on the boost-all staff Slack channel!