Michelle Hollinger as a child and her mother, Naomi Carter Hollinger

PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHELLE HOLLINGER

Publisher to share tools she used to cope with her own loss

Staff Report

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Mother’s Day is one of the biggest holidays in the country.

However, for millions of women – many of them mothers – it brings a painful reminder of their huge loss.

Michelle Hollinger, publisher of The Sisterhood, an award-nominated monthly magazine for women, will host a workshop to help women dealing with the death of their mother on May 13 – the day before Mother’s Day.

Hollinger said she created the workshop to share the tools and skills she developed by learning to cope with the death of her mother, who died in 1974 when Hollinger was just 11 years-old.

“For many, many years, Mother’s Day was a very challenging day for me, even with my children and ex-husband celebrating me,” said Hollinger, a mother and grandmother.

“There’s a perception that with time, the pain of a mother’s death lessens,” Hollinger shared.

“Although women may not talk about the pain, it doesn’t mean that it has gone away. Many choose to keep their feelings to themselves; however, the pain still impacts their lives in significant ways.”

She said the workshop includes multi-sensory activities and skills she used to move from the pain she frequently felt to feeling a deep sense of peace.

“Ultimately, having your mother die, especially if the loss happens when you’re a child or an adolescent, leaves a void in a woman’s life where her mother used to be. The void cannot and actually should not be filled, but there are things she can do to transform the way the void functions and to find peace in the pain,” Hollinger said.

Hollinger is a former social worker turned journalist who has worked at two of the most prominent urban publications in South Florida. She was the first female editor at The Miami Times; and served as associate editor and editor at TheSouth Florida Timesbefore stepping into the role of publisher of The Sisterhood, which she founded. The FSU grad is also a filmmaker currently in pre-production for her first short film.

Launched in August 2016, the monthly publication is available in print and digital versions. It celebrates the sisterhood relationship a woman has with herself as well as with other women by spotlighting women who are living their lives fully.

The content frequently addresses commonalities that women face, like fear and selfdoubt, by having successful women share how they navigate the potential obstacles.

Tickets to the workshop are $35 for subscribers of The Sisterhood. To purchase tickets, go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/livingwithout-her-a-multisensory-workshop-formotherless-daughters-tickets-33747162672. For more information about The Sisterhood, visit sisterhoodnewsmag.com.