Women’s History Month 2023 Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories

Women’s History Month is a celebration of women’s contributions to history, culture and society and has been observed annually in the month of March in the United States since 1987.

The theme of Women’s History Month 2023 is “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories,” as announced by the National Women’s History Alliance. The Coastal Chronicles encourages recognition of women, past and present, who have been active in all forms of media and storytelling including print, radio, TV, stage, screen, blogs, podcasts, and more. The timely theme honors women in every community who have devoted their lives and talents to producing art, pursuing truth, and reflecting the human condition decade after decade.

From the earliest storytellers through pioneering journalists, our experiences have been captured by a wide variety of artists and teachers. These include authors, songwriters, scholars, playwrights, performers, and grandmothers throughout time. Women have long been instrumental in passing on our heritage in word and in print to communicate the lessons of those who came before us. Women’s stories, and the larger human story, expand our understanding and strengthen our connections with each other.

Each week during March 2023, The Coastal Chronicles will strive to highlight a South Carolina storyteller celebrating the often overlooked contributions they make to our history.

Natalie Daise,

Creative Catalyst, Speaker, and Master storyteller

For more than thirty years, Natalie Daise has been a performing and visual artist whose belief in the positive power of stories fuels all of her work. Natalie has developed and facilitated interactive learning experiences for educators, students, and audiences in schools, universities, conferences, and other venues.

A self-taught visionary artist, Natalie’s art arises from the tradition of storytelling. Her belief in the positive power of stories is demonstrated in her speaking as well as in the performing and visual arts.

Born in Central NY, she came “home” to the Lowcountry of SC in 1983. She has been married to Ron Daise, her cheerleader, supporter, and committed partner in creativity and life since 1985. They have two children, Sara and Simeon, by birth, and one, Sabrina, by heart. She earned a BA degree from Vermont College in 1992 and a MA in Creativity Studies in 2014.

Best known as "Ms. Natalie" on Nick Jr.'s award-winning television program, Gullah Gullah Island, Natalie is committed to making presentations that entertain, educate, empower and inspire.

Awards and nominations include:

• 1997 and 1998 IMAGE Award nominations,

• 1998 Daytime Emmy nomination

• Silver and Gold Parent’s Choice awards

• South Carolina’s highest honor, The Order of the Palmetto

• South Carolina’s Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award, given for lifetime achievement and excellence in folk art.

• Merit Award for Art, ARTFields, 2017

Natalie creates narratives through painted portraits. In Greens in My Garden: Family, Community & Culture, she presents a collection of paintings, The Collard Series, which she began in the winter of 2013. Executed mostly with acrylic and cut and painted paper, the works in the series explore African American and Gullah heritage and cultural traditions of family, community, and history. Her inspiration arose from her interest in the role of community on the creative process, with depictions of collard greens used as a means to connect to her family. She tells the North Charleston City Gallery, “The greens themselves are a connection to my father, who always grew them in our yard, no matter where we lived,” she explains. “They represent nurturing, endurance, and strength.” From the passion and fervor of the young men and women participating with the Freedom Riders during the 60’s, to the emerging confidence on the face of her 20-year-old son, each portrait is connected to her own experience in a visceral way.