It was early January when I was first introduced to Behold.Her, a D.C.-based event and photography series just for women and women-identifying people (as of now). Nearly 15 strangers showed up at Varnish Lane, a nail salon in Friendship Heights, to chat about the night's topic, "The Complexities + Expectations on Female Friendships."
Except the conversation came with a few caveats: participants couldn't talk about work and we couldn't look at our phones during the entire event. And during the conversation, founder Leah Beilhart would pull aside one person at a time to interview each of us about our hopes, goals or challenges when it came to our female friendships. After the interview, Beilhart would take portrait photographs of each one of us.
The January event was what Beilhart and Behold.Her call a portrait event, and part way through, Beilhart half-jokingly described it as a sort of induction ceremony. After this, most women end up attending the litany of other Behold events — from happy hours to comedy shows to podcast listening club meetups to brunches — and building upon their own connections and friendships from these intimate conversations at portrait events.
It's not what Beilhart envisioned for the group when she stumbled upon this concept in 2016 at the first, unofficial portrait event. People who attended were all formally invited to that first one, with the organizers making sure they were mostly all strangers, and the rhythm for the portraits wasn't set in stone. For one thing, interviews weren't a part of that first go-around in September 2016.
"Things have shifted completely looking at how the events were run and how the first one was ran," Beilhart said in an April interview. "We laugh all the time when we think about that first day. It was really clunky and messy, but at the same time it was great."
So great, in fact, that Beilhart started hosting more women-only portrait events around town. Conversation topics have ranged from "Owning Your Courage, Claiming Your Narrative" to "Sexuality & Consent" to a recent one called, "Personal Influences from Social Media." Most of the ideas for conversations come from the Behold community, which Beilhart fosters via an Instagram account and a Facebook group for past attendees.
"When you’re running a community brand, it can’t always be based on what you think is important," Beilhart said. "So I turn to the community when it comes to what people do want to discuss and based off of that, I try to find a common theme."
And as that same community grew, Beilhart listened. For instance, as the pool of past portrait event participants grew, more women were looking for ways to connect with one another through Behold after the events. So Behold.Her started hosting happy hours. Then, the event variety grew from there, including the first-ever Behold.Her comedy show at Jos A Magnus Distillery on Feb. 15 and the recent launch of a podcast listening club (Think of a book club, but for one podcast episode).
"I try not to jump into anything that's too trendy," she said. "A lot of people want to talk about self-care. Well, what about self-care? We have enough people who talk about that already, what about everything else?"
The community grew so much, that Beilhart, a photographer and designer by trade, was finding herself torn and stressed by how little time she had to dedicate to Behold.Her while also working a full-time job. Beilhart describes herself as the friend who takes your advice without second thought. So, when a close friend heard her talk about how stressed she was, they suggested Beilhart just quit and work on Behold.Her full-time.
And that's what she did, admittedly with little savings or financial backing at the start.
"I wanted these experiences to be free for people, and then I realized, 'Oh yeah, I need to eat,'" Beilhart said. "Sometimes, I would have weeks where I felt like I was in college again, and I was just eating noodles and crackers because I refused to ask for money for this. It was just these small reminders every step of the way that you're a business."
Behold makes its money mostly from ticket revenues. Portrait events come at the highest price point, ranging from $45 to $80, depending on sponsorships and event specifics. Events like a comedy show or brunch range from $20-$40, and happy hours are usually only $5-$10.
"When you're trying to create a business that's based off of community work, sometimes it feels a little conflicting," Beilhart said. "You want this to be for everybody, you want this to be life-changing for everybody, but what I have to remind myself of is that I can't force change onto people. This brand has to be open to feel ready to make these approaches to changing their perspective."
Many have asked Beilhart why she is still growing her organization in D.C. Friends and acquaintances tell her to go to New York City, where lifestyle brands seem to flourish. But Beilhart sees it a different way. Behold was founded on the principle of finding and building a safe place for people to exist and connect outside of their professional worlds, and where else needs that more than in D.C., where it's common place to introduce yourself with your occupation attached to your name?
"I don't think that D.C. is getting the attention that it needs," she said. "It doesn't have the outlets that it needs in order to let the people who are here heal."
Right now, Beilhart runs this organization as a one-woman, full-time show, with friends and volunteers helping as they can. But moving forward, Beilhart wants to see her team grow to include more paid team members. And one day, she hopes to expand Behold to be a multi-pronged group, with a Behold.Her, a Behold.Him and a Behold.Them. Maybe they can even jumpstart a series for the queer community and children, Beilhart said.
"D.C. is the place in a box, and everyone says that there's only one type of person who lives here," Beilhart said. "Being able to create this series and to actually have people legitimately hear these women's voices really changes the narrative."
