Hello! My name is Elizabeth Estabrooks, and I am a veteran, author, speaker, and freelance changemaker! Whew, that's a lot, right?

In 2022, after spending nearly 30 years in work related to domestic violence and sexual assault, I retired. Given that I had not worked on my own healing, and that my job in DC was eating my soul, you could say I was fairly broken by the time I walked off the job. So, I packed everything up, leased out my condo, and went on a one-year healing road trip - just me and my dog - in a travel van.

In 2023, I began writing my book, Broken in the Stronger Places: From Resilience to Resourcefulness. It is a memoir that spans my life from joining the military through my exit from VA in 2022 and is informed by my nearly 30-year career. The book examines post-traumatic stress and retraumatization among survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. It is written from my personal and experiential perspective, alongside what I learned from listening to thousands of women tell their stories.

Aside from being my memoir, the book is designed to provide validation, support, and useful information to survivors while also building awareness and understanding among family members, friends, employers, medical providers, community members, and policymakers.

While on my book tour in May, I was fortunate to spend time with a wonderful group of women and advocates in El Paso. There I realized how important my book is to women who are Spanish speakers. I also realized that the limitation of my book is that it is in English only.

Why is this important? Because Spanish is the second most-used language in the world, with approximately 477 million native Spanish-speaking people worldwide. Globally, more than 30% of Latina women will experience family violence in her lifetime, and nearly 20% will experience rape at least once.

My conversation with the women in El Paso has stayed with me, driving me to consider how I can come up with the needed funding for the translation, editing, and formatting process. Recently, a friend suggested I use crowdfunding.

So, here I am, crowdfunding, asking you - complete strangers - to help me make this a reality, if you will.

The cost for the full package of translating, proofreading, editing, formatting, and some marketing is $4,000. That's the amount I need to raise to achieve this goal and get the book in the hands of more people who may benefit. Once I raise 70% of that amount ($2,800), I can kick off the translation process and continue to raise money to cover the remainder.

So, want to help a girl out? There is no minimum or maximum. Visit my website to subscribe to newsletters and receive updated information on the book.

If you would like to know more before supporting, you can read about me and the book (including an excerpt) at my website www.awomansvoicepress.com