The Scoop: Author Kate Hodges put it best: “Behind every great woman is another great woman.” Sisters and co-founders of the online community The Passionistas Project, Nancy and Amy Harrington, talked to us about how women can nurture and cultivate bonds with each other to find support, offer guidance, and forge more supportive communities.

When I look back on challenging times in my professional and personal life, one aspect unites them all: I had a wonderful support system of women behind me. The power of these relationships has manifested in many ways, from simple daily encouragement to making all the difference in serious times of need.

In college, my work-study boss, Meghan, knew how overwhelmed I was with more than 20 credit hours of coursework. She graciously let me do homework, nap, or even get lunch in the dining hall while on the clock.  

After a bad breakup, a restaurant coworker I had known for only a couple of months let me stay in the extra bedroom in the house she shared with her sister. They cooked me food, let me talk, and made an otherwise miserable experience bearable.

The three of us became fast friends, and I eventually became a real roommate.

My close friendships with other women have ensured that I continue to thrive, even during difficult times. Sisterhood is a powerful pathway to connection, community, and empowerment. 

Sisters Amy and Nancy Harrington teamed up to make The Passionistas Project.

When women use their unique shared cultural experiences to create and nurture strong, one-of-a-kind bonds with one another, wider communities become stronger and healthier.

Amy and Nancy Harrington are sisters and the co-founders of The Passionistas Project. The duo’s project is an inclusive sisterhood that supports women through virtual and in-person events, online networking, workshops, and other resources. 

Amy and Nancy talked to us about the importance of sisterhood and how nurturing close connections with other women not only improves individual experiences but also impacts the wider culture of women in the workplace, community, and home.

“Over the years, we kept hearing from women that they wished they had the unbreakable bond with someone that we have as sisters,” Nancy said. “That’s sisterhood. The person you can always count on and lean on. And we realized we could share that with other women.”

Finding an Environment for Workplace, Family, and Emotional Support

Amy and Nancy grew up in Boston with three older siblings in a family that embraced creativity in all its forms. Both sisters went on to pursue careers in the entertainment industry. Amy moved to Los Angeles and eventually rose through the ranks to become Vice President of Post Production and Visual Effects at Warner Bros.

“I stayed back in Boston and missed her so much,” Nancy said. “Amy worked on 250 movies like ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘The Matrix’ and all sorts of great movies. I had my own graphic design business and theater company, and eventually moved to Los Angeles to work for an advertising agency.”

Amy and Nancy’s experiences working in male-dominated industries reaffirmed their belief in the power of women supporting one another.

“I was often the only woman in the room at these high-level meetings,” Amy said. “I worked around male energy my entire career until Nancy and I started working together. There’s this myth of women not supporting one another and as we started to build our project, we saw how untrue that can be.” 

Nancy’s move to Los Angeles sparked something in both sisters. They realized it was time for a new adventure.

passionistas project
Amy and Nancy’s platform helps women find professional and personal support.

“We weren’t sure what that was, but we knew we wanted to do it together,” Nancy said. “We quit our jobs and we took a long and winding road and ended up here. We started as an interview podcast, talking to women about their passions.”

Eventually, the podcast became The Passionistas Project. “It led to us creating this beautiful community of women that we’ve been surrounded with now for years,” Nancy continued. “Just two months ago we launched our online community for women.”

The Passionaistas Project online community is a digital space where women can go for support, guidance, and friendship. The space is open to all people who identify as a woman, including nonbinary individuals. 

Amy and Nancy said their platform is proud of its inclusive status and believes the power of sisterhood hinges on it.

“We welcome and support so many women from various backgrounds and marginalized communities,” Amy said. “Everybody is welcome. We are an inclusive space and have had so many women tell us there’s nothing like this out there.”

Empowering a Diverse Vision of Sisterhood

The Passionistas Project offers women many avenues to sisterhood. Women can join the Sisterhood by signing up for a free or premium membership. All Passionistas can create a personalized profile page in the directory, where they can meet and connect with other members.

The Passionistas Project supports members by giving them the tools they need to thrive in business development, personal growth, and social impact. These tools include courses, workshops, podcasts, and in-person events.

The directory helps women connect with each other to find products, services, and nonprofits they can support and spread the word about. The Passionistas Project regularly features women and their businesses from its directory. 

All members have access to a space where they can share perspectives and pose questions. Nancy and Amy said The Passionistas Project is what women want to make of it, whether they’re looking for personal or professional development. 

the passionistas project
The Passionistas Project connects women across the globe.

“It’s a really beautiful thing to see women connecting not only professionally and doing a lot of business development, but also focusing on personal growth and social impact,” Amy said. “People get behind each other’s causes and really jump in to offer support.”

The platform is a great fit for women who work outside of the conventional 9-to-5 job. “The women in our community are really entrepreneurs out there doing it by themselves, they’re artists, they’re activists, and they don’t have a big corporate structure behind them, and it’s difficult for them to find people.” 

The Passionistas Project fills this support gap for women who work from home or run their own businesses. Amy said women can use the platform to seek guidance, offer advice, and find companionship. It can also help mitigate some of the isolation that comes with working alone.

“When you’re not going into a 9-to-5 job, you can really start to feel like there’s nobody out there who gets it and nobody really cares what you’re doing,” Amy said. “In a space like ours, everybody is in the same boat and understands.”

“Smash the Table to Bits and Sit on the Floor”

The Passionistas Project’s multifaceted approach illuminates the importance of communities of women in all areas of life. Amy and Nancy said they’re excited about the growth of the platform and are working to maintain its close-knit nature as its membership blossoms.

“It’s interesting because we want to grow, but we don’t want to grow too much because we want to be a place where women can really connect with other women,” Nancy explained. “When members join now, we’ll introduce them to people and connect them with other women in similar fields. And we want to continue to do that.”

making room at the table
The Passionistas Project is helping professional women thrive.

The Passionistas Project’s community includes people from diverse backgrounds across the globe. “We have women and nonbinary people from all over the world,” Amy said. “We have members in Japan, Australia, Colombia, and Canada. We’ve had people from India and North Macedonia speak at our summits.” 

Amy continued, “This isn’t just about connecting with the woman next door. It’s about building a global community where we can learn from what each other is going through.”

Nancy and Amy are using The Passionistas Project to create a more inclusive vision of the workplace and give members the opportunity to add their ambitions to that vision. 

“We hear that seat at the table analogy a lot,” Nancy said. “There’s a lot of different ways to rectify that situation. You know, pull up another chair. One of our Passionistas once said, ‘Smash the table to bits and sit on the floor.’ It’s so true. There’s not just room for one of us. There’s room for all of us.”