Changing hearts and minds and making a difference in the world rarely comes from hearing dry data and expertise. Rather, people are moved by simple, lived truth told by the everyday American.
That’s why, at Independent Women, we believe impact begins with stories. It’s our mission statement, in fact: “Tell her story, change the world.”
Take, for example, the story of Payton McNabb, a former three-sport high school athlete from Murphy, North Carolina. During a volleyball match in September 2022, McNabb was hit in the head with a ball spiked by a male athlete self-identifying as transgender on the opposing women’s team. This blow knocked her unconscious for over 30 seconds and led to lasting damage.
“I ended up going to the doctor a couple days later and finding out that I had a traumatic brain injury, a brain bleed, and partial paralysis,” McNabb told Independent Women Features, the grassroots original journalism arm of Independent Women, in a documentary released last December. “And it would take months, years, to recover, and they don’t know if I’ll ever be 100% back.”
But McNabb, now 20, didn’t choose to just sit on the sidelines after her injury.
Instead, McNabb became an ambassador for Independent Women in 2023, and nearly three years after her injury, McNabb’s story is known to millions. The courage to speak out and share her story has contributed to and shaped the national conversation about fairness and equality in women’s sports and spaces.
President Donald Trump recognized McNabb when he signed an executive order on Feb. 5 aimed at keeping men out of women’s sports. Less than a month later, McNabb was a guest of the president and first lady Melania Trump at his joint address to Congress on March 4.
The power of storytelling doesn’t just apply to domestic issues. Indeed, issues affecting people across the globe hit close to home when experiences of pain, tragedy, and loss are shared.
The Aziz family, who fled Afghanistan in August 2021 after the Taliban reclaimed control of the country, is just one example. Azizullah Aziz, a former Afghan interpreter for the U.S. military; his wife, Khatera; and their 19-year-old daughter, Mashhouda, shared with us the horrific situation for women and girls who are living in a country once again ruled by an oppressive government.
“It is like the end of [the] world for girls living in Afghanistan,” Mashhouda told IW Features with tears in her eyes.
Under Taliban rule, women and girls cannot go outside without a male escort, drive a car, serve in the government, or attend school. Last August, three years after the Biden-Harris administration’s botched withdrawal from the country, the Taliban banned women from speaking and showing their bare faces publicly.
“Women are oppressed. All their rights are taken away from them,” Azizullah said. “They are used like the slaves back in the old days.”
On August 20, 2021, just days after the Taliban reclaimed control of the country, retired U.S. Marines and Special Operations Officers helped to evacuate the Aziz family from Afghanistan and relocate them to the United Arab Emirates. After months of waiting, the family safely arrived in the U.S. on April 14, 2022.
McNabb’s and the Aziz family’s documentaries are just two examples of the stories Independent Women has shared since launching IW Features in August 2024.
IW Features has also shared the stories of detransitioners through its “Identity Crisis” series and documented the invasion of men who identify as women into female-only prisons through its “Cruel & Unusual Punishment: The Male Takeover of Women’s Prisons” series.
Our goal in sharing stories like these is to remind everyday Americans that their voices matter. More than that: Their voices can and do make a difference. We aim to make sure of that.
Samantha Aschieris is the communications manager for productions for Independent Women and a senior contributor for Independent Women Features.
