Erin Weed

25 years ago today, my sorority sister Shannon McNamara was murdered in her college apartment. She was only 21 years old and fought like hell that night.

I was 23 at the time, and was distraught. I missed a week of work for her funeral and got fired from my job in TV production because of it. My life was, in every sense, crumbling, and I knew I had a choice to make:

Let the darkness swallow you, or shine brighter.

At her wake, standing next to her casket, I met her mom Cindy for the first time. Cindy shared her greatest fear, now that her daughter was gone:

"I just don't want Shannon to be forgotten."

I was a recent graduate, with zero life experience and no connections. But there was no way I was gonna let that happen.

With the support of the McNamara family, I started a company called Girls Fight Back, teaching women's safety and self-defense assemblies in high schools and colleges around the world. Between 2001-2013, I self-published a book for college women, wrote a personal safety column for CosmoGirl magazine, did a ton of media interviews, and traveled more than any reasonable person should for over a decade.

My speaker team taught more than a million women (at live events) to become their own best protectors. Some nights, GFB programs were running in multiple states at once. Today the work continues and keeps getting better under the leadership of Nicole Snell, CA.

Last week Dann and I were in Chicago to have lunch with Cindy and her friend Britt, who Shannon used to babysit. (see photo) Spending time with them took me back a quarter century and it was a reminder...

Time passes, but people don't break.
Yes, sometimes they die.
But they fight too.

Twenty-five years later, Cindy — and she hasn't been forgotten. Not even close. And she never will be. 🪽

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