She quit her job, turning her back on her comfortable life, to focus on The Aunties fulltime, becoming Aunty in Charge and assisting hundreds of women with material needs and emotional support.
The Aunties offer women things like clothing, food or money by fundraising, often through social media. Jackie's big heart and get-things-done attitude has won her a league of loyal fans and followers, and in 2018 she was the Supreme Winner at the Women of Influence Awards.
Jackie has long dreamed of a publication that gives survivors of domestic abuse a voice. Her Say features the stories of a number of very different New Zealand women, told their way.
The collected stories chart their narrators' lives and personal histories, through the lens of having lived with - and escaped - an abusive partner.
Her Say is spoken from the heart, uncompromising but offering hope, redemption, personal triumph. It's a book for all women, showing how owning our stories gives us the power to write daring new endings. It will challenge, illuminate, and empower readers - not to mention the storytellers themselves.
Royalties from the book go to support the work of The Aunties.
■ The Details
What: Talk about abuse survivors by Jackie Clark
Where: Hastings Library
When: Monday, April 12, 6.30pm
Tickets: All welcome. Free event.
