JULY EVENT PHOTOS

July’s global theme: Mentor

Columbus speaker: Rachel Joy Barehl

Rachel has been winning creativity awards since first grade and throwing legendary gatherings since she was tall enough to reach the counter to make snack boards. In her 20s and 30s, Rachel became a foster parent, a visual anthropologist, and a celebrated wedding photographer—bearing witness to the tender, imperfect ways humans choose one another.

Whether behind the camera or at the heart of a community, she’s spent her career seeing and celebrating people, their choices, and their bold, intentional moves toward love.

Today, Rachel is crowdsourcing love—literally. She’s the founder of a matchmaking movement based in Columbus, Ohio (and beyond), inviting people into brave, neighborly, honest connection with playful, mindful energy. Her work tackles loneliness, disconnection, and scarcity with creativity, innovation, and deep care.

See more photos here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCpunS