If you missed part 1, you can catch it here.

This post really should be titled “The Kindness of Others.”

First up: Tracey Clark

Tracey is a woman who makes me feel at ease the moment I’m in her presence. When I’m around Tracey I feel like I’m the most creative and beautiful and interesting person. And I know that I’m not the only one who feels this way. Tracey sees potential in every woman to be creative and beautiful. This is evidenced by her work building the collaborative photo site Shutter Sisters and by a new project she has launching soon.

We had a talk about Shutter Sisters at the Mom 2.0 Summit. She was talking about her goals for the site–about how she wanted everyone to feel like they had something to contribute there. I told her how much I loved the site, how much it inspired me and my photography but I admitted that I would never have the confidence to submit a photo to the site. I have this giant fear that the collective Sisters O’Shutter would sigh and feel sorry for me and my feeble attempt to capture the theme.

I think she fake slapped at me when I said that.

You have to understand. Tracey is a REAL photographer. She studied photography. She’s worked in studios. She has her own business. People pay her real money for her photos of things like banana bread.

Photo by Tracey Clark

How could I deign to include myself in the same group she belonged to?

But you know what? Tracey makes me feel like a real photographer. She excitedly showed me her new Epiphanie camera bag (go check out the site they’re having an incredible give-away to celebrate the launch of their new bags). We talked about light. She talked to me like an equal about her upcoming photography workshop (by the way I’ve already signed up and you should too).

Tracey’s confidence in me (in all women) gives me confidence to think of myself as a photographer and the freedom to find my creative style.

How’s that for inspiration?!

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Her first email to me started with the line “Hahahah.  I don’t do design anymore” (because she’s so busy with her new business).

Could have fooled me.

A week before the Mom 2.0 Summit I realized I didn’t have blogging business cards.  I had a new site and new URL and I was about to hang out hundreds of fabulous women and have no way to tell them about it.

Of course I lamented about this on Twitter.  And what happened?

Amy “Dish On Design” Moeller spent her valuable time creating one for me because she likes to “pay it forward.”

I was ready to scribble my URL on a bunch of index cards and hand them out, but no.  Amy wasn’t having that.  I’ve worked with paid designers in my professional life who were less concerned about the outcome than she was.

Amy and I have never met in real life.  We haven’t been reading each others’ blogs for years.  She saw another woman in need and stepped up to share her talent because she could.

In working together, we got to know each other better and each gained a new friend in the world.

Amy’s generosity reaffirmed in me the ability we all have to make someone’s life better by doing what we know how to do.

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I hope these two incredible women inspire you too.

Who or what inspired you this week?