We had the good fortune of connecting with Pam Baker and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Pam, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?

Widows Who Wine was launched in February of 2023. I lost my husband, Jon, to glioblastoma in November of 2021 and found the resources for navigating my new path as a widow to be sorely lacking. Pretty much everything out there revolved around church grief groups, which do serve a purpose, but they weren’t what I needed. I did give those groups a solid try but ultimately decided to work on my grief recovery by myself.

In January of 2023, I saw a post from a young widow on a Facebook page that I follow. She was looking for resources and every single reply to her post were those same church based grief groups. It got me thinking that maybe I wasn’t the only one looking for something different. I started thinking about what it was that would speak to me and I pretty quickly decided that being around women with a shared experience who wanted to find a path back to joy was what would really be interesting to have. When I get an idea, I become slightly obsessed until I manage to vet it all out in my mind, but this one didn’t take long once the seed was planted. I wanted a name that would reflect the social aspect and spark a little fun in what we do and I thought Widows Who Wine had a nice ring to it!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

Back in 2002, my oldest son, Gavin, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, A few weeks later, his little brother, 6 months in utero, was also diagnosed through amniocentesis. When my husband and I were given what was essentially death sentences for both of our children, we almost immediately jumped in the world of fund and awareness raising, which felt like our only chance of both personal survival and the survival of our boys. Neither of us had ever spent a single minute in that world, but we soon realized that we were pretty good at it. We became the #1 fundraising team in Georgia that first year and, to this day, remain one of the top fundraising teams in the country. So far, we, along with our countless supporters, have raised over $7M. I have also been honored to serve in many leadership roles within the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation both locally and nationally.

I share that backstory because I truly believe that my work with the CFF gave me the skills I needed to launch Widows Who Wine. It almost feels like my cystic fibrosis journey served as my training wheels for this next chapter in my story. When our boys were diagnosed, it would have been very easy to become bitter and angry out of fear for what the future held. It would have been easy to feel too overwhelmed by our circumstances and just hope for the best but we didn’t do that. Jon and I rolled up our sleeves and decided that we were meant to make a positive impact in this new world and I’m proud to say that we have done that in spades over the years.

When I lost Jon to cancer, it was really hard for me to find my way. I felt lost and extremely overwhelmed. I had no idea how I would manage my own emotions and those of my four children, not to mention our family and friends. It took me awhile to try and find a path back to joy, but, with A LOT of internal work, I did start to believe that I could be happy again. This was the turning point for me in my personal journey and that, ultimately, helped me realize that there were likely many other widowed women (nearly 15 million in the US) who were struggling to find that same sense of joy in their lives. I feel like, when the time was right for me personally, Widows Who Wine almost birthed itself! The idea came to me in January of 2023. I held our first social in February. There were 13 of us on that first night. Nine months later, we have over 120 women who have joined our group and it continues to grow almost daily. It’s been really incredible to see so many amazing women who come together as strangers and form super tight friendships almost immediately because of our shared experience. I sometimes like to sit back and just watch them sharing stories, bonding and LAUGHING with one another. It’s just so cool to watch it all happen! I often get asked what WWW is all about and the best description is this: Widows Who Wine is not a grief group, but a group of women who have experienced grief and are now finding our way back to joy with a little help from others who are walking a similar path.

I plan one official WNO (Widows Night Out) every month but lots of the women get together many times throughout the month, as well. For our more formal events, we’ve done so many fun things! We’ve gone axe throwing, done paint and sips, flower bouquet and candle making and we recently had a really fun night doing the Roswell Ghost Tour. I like to sprinkle in what I call “Learning and Libations” too, so we’ve had Cameron Zabko, a certified financial planner, lead a Financial Planning 101 workshop and Lara Dolan, of the Craft Dolan real estate team, lead a Home Maintenance and Current Trends workshop. Our focus is definitely finding fun and connections with one another but I also love offering space for gaining the knowledge and skills to empower each of us in as many ways as possible.

It has been so exciting to watch this group grow. Hearing the stories about how it has offered a life line to so many women who didn’t even know they needed it has been one of my all time favorite things. The gratitude, the connections and the absolute joy that we are bringing to one another is so incredible that it got my wheels turning yet again. How can I create what we are doing here in the Atlanta area and duplicate it elsewhere? I’m really excited to share that I think I’ve figured out how to do just that! I am currently working with an app developer so be on the lookout for the soon to be launched Widows Who Wine social networking app! My hope is that, with this app, widows all over the country and maybe even the world, will have a way to find one another and create their own local sisterhood of women who just get what it’s like to not only navigate life, but to find their way back to true joy after such heartbreaking loss.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
My favorite spots in the city are not actually in the city. I live in Roswell and love it here so much that I don’t often venture out beyond the North Fulton area. There is so much to do here that I don’t really have to leave except for sporting events and the theater really. When my best friend comes to town, we definitely hit Canton Street in Historic Roswell. It’s so beautiful and quaint and the incredible food options are endless. Wegman’s Bayou has the best authentic Louisiana cajun menu and Ceviche Taqueria is THE place to go for your Mexican and margarita fix. I also really love Roux on Canton because they have a really cool menu full of southern comfort food. One of my favorite non-Canton Street spots is the Freakin’ Incan because their Peruvian street food is so so good! Roswell is also home to some of the most beautiful walking paths along the Chattahoochee River and the Mill is a really great place to hike off all of that food! Shopping is always on the list of things to do and Canton Street has lots of cute little shops but I always love visiting the Painted Tree because it is full of vendors with really unique items to explore.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would love to give a shoutout to my late husband, Jon Baker. Jon always believed in my ability to make an impact despite (and often because of) the obstacles thrown my way. He encouraged me to step WAY out of my comfort zone to become a leader and public speaker and to use those skills to do good in the world. More than that, he just always believed in ME and fully supported whatever crazy ideas I dreamed up. Despite our physical distance, I truly believe he’s still out there in the Universe cheering me on!

Website: www.shamrockinforacure.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bakereed/?hl=en

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pam-baker-12ab46222/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pam.r.baker.5

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