Girls With Guts makes me feel inspiring. I never thought being so open about my disease could help inspire so many people.
The mission of Girls With Guts is to support women with inflammatory bowel disease and/or ostomies through the building of sisterhood and empowerment.
The vision of Girls With Guts is to establish a support network that assists women in their search for community and acceptance.
This support network helps to ensure that no woman will ever feel isolated by their disease. Our resources, programming, activities, and events help strengthen the network to bring patients, doctors, and thought leaders together, while spreading awareness and advocating for women living with IBD and/or ostomies.
Through sharing stories and experiences, Girls With Guts wants to give all women with IBD and/or ostomies community, connection, and the strength to find their confidence, and keep it.
Girls With Guts was created from a weekend get-together, when our founder, Jackie Zimmerman, gathered with five young female IBD bloggers from around the U.S. All the bloggers wanted to meet others like themselves and were all at different stages of their IBD experience.
During the weekend, Jackie and the other bloggers posted photos, tweets, and other updates about their experiences together, and the response was overwhelming! Women living with IBD across the nation, and the globe wanted to share in an experience like this. And Girls With Guts was born.
Over the years, we’ve broadened our scope to include women with ostomies without IBD, expanded our website to include medically reviewed resources and community tips, and held retreats from Texas to Pennsylvania, with a 10-year celebration event in Philadelphia. These events are where our sisterhood was born, blossomed, and has continued to flourish.
Girls With Guts makes me feel inspiring. I never thought being so open about my disease could help inspire so many people.
