“This is What an Intelligent, Engaged Woman of the Church Looks Like”

In June 2012, I interviewed Kara Eschbach and Janet Sahm about their start-up venture called “Verily,” a new magazine that promised to introduce fresh conversations for real women.

A little over a year later, “Verily” has garnered an impressive amount of mainstream attention, including an endorsement from Queen Latifah on her talk show. Why? Because “Verily” shows models the way they are instead of photoshopping out what the modeling industry considers to be flaws and imperfections. The magazine is also guided by the tagline “less of who you should be, more of who you are,” which encourages young women to be comfortable in their own skin. (Consider a gift subscription to “Verily” for any young women in your life!)

Considering what Jennifer Lawrence recently said about the show “Fashion Police” (as quoted by The Anchoress), I have to suspect she would consider herself a “Verily” woman.

“Shows like the Fashion Police and things like that are just showing these generations of young people to judge people based on things [that don’t matter]. They put values in all the things that are wrong and [show] that it’s okay to just point at people and call them ugly and call them fat and they call it fun,” said the Oscar-winning actress.

An audience member asked the star what she thinks when people judge others based on looks, and she boldly replied, “Screw those people. You look how you look. What are you going to do, be hungry every single day to make other people happy? That’s just dumb.”

The other important part of this ever-growing success story is that Kara and Janet are young Catholic women who are influencing the wider culture. Kara was recently profiled by “America” magazine in a video called “Catholic Women on Work and Faith.”

Regarding the magazine, Kara points out one difference in how “Verily” uses models: “Our girls are smiling. There’s no pouting or looking sullen at the camera.”

She also notes the importance of young Catholic women becoming leaders in various industries: “It’s going to be really important to have strong women standing up and saying, ‘This is what an intelligent, engaged woman of the Church looks like.”

The video, which also profiles Samara Barend and Andrea Santoriello, is worth a look if you want to feel the future of the Church and the culture are in good hands.