Hi! I’m Dawn Evans
I believe in living as a sovereign woman – someone who defines for herself who she is, what she wants, and how she chooses to live.
I haven’t always lived this way. For much of my life, I was more concerned with doing what was expected of me. I was the person who saw what needed to be done and did it, whether it was mine to take care of or not.
Learning to live differently has been messy and confronting in all sorts of ways. But it’s also been freeing in ways I never could have imagined, too.
I want that freedom for other women, too. It’s why I write, why I share what I learn, and why I advocate for change. I hope something here encourages you to question what’s expected of you and imagine what might be possible instead.
Sovereignty is a practice
There are many ways to practise sovereignty, and this website brings together a few of the ways I explore it in my own life:
- I write to help me understand what motivates me and what I truly want.
- I create for the joy and freedom of it.
- I continually expand my understanding of money and financial systems, exploring the realities behind the numbers.
- I advocate for change, using my financial background and experience of economic abuse to help identify and challenge the systemic barriers that keep women from financial freedom.
So, welcome!
I’m glad you’re here, truly. I’m someone who asks a lot of questions, challenges assumptions, and never stops learning. This is where I share the ideas, discoveries, and insights I’ve gathered along the way. I hope you’ll find something here that challenges your thinking, sparks your curiosity, or inspires you to claim more of your life for yourself too.
Money Matters
Money is about so much more than numbers. Our beliefs, experiences, and circumstances shape the choices available to us, the opportunities we pursue, and how we see ourselves. I’m interested in all of it – from the practical mechanics of personal finance to the bigger questions about financial independence and empowerment. I’ve brought together a library of resources and the Everyday Money podcast to explore both.
Advocacy for Economic Justice
My dream is that no one ever has to stay in a job, relationship, or place that’s harming them because of the financial barriers to leaving. After more than a decade working in the financial industry, I know how financial knowledge and practical support can open up choices that might otherwise feel out of reach.
Individual financial knowledge and effort can only go so far, though. Our financial independence is also shaped by the systems, institutions and policies we have to navigate. My own experience of economic abuse through the family justice system brought that into particularly sharp focus.
My advocacy focuses on the intersection of family dynamics and economic abuse – particularly the ways that the systems people engage with can either support or undermine their ability to achieve financial stability, safety, and access to justice.
Writing
Writing is at the heart of how I intentionally move through the world. What do I think, feel, and need in this moment? Honest answers to those questions always lead me somewhere unexpected and honestly, magical. I firmly believe that you can go anywhere you want in life. You can’t go anywhere without starting where you are though (not where you wish you were.)
My background is finance and business and honestly, I still don’t fully know where a comma belongs in a sentence. These things also have nothing at all to do with the act of writing as I mean it – which has only one intention – to be honest.
That honesty turned into poetry. Poetry turned into my first book, Love, Sex and Codependence. The writing didn’t end there, though — there are new books quietly taking shape, and the writing page holds the rest of it: poetry to feel your way through, and essays that are essentially a constant questioning on paper, for anyone who’s committed to being more intentional with how they’re living.
Photography
Taking pictures around my home of Newfoundland helped me become an appreciator of the rugged, natural beauty right in my backyard, and someone who sees magic in places most people miss. It’s become an integral part of who I am and how I interpret and interact with the world.
Even the process of learning photography shaped my ability to tackle new challenges and to be ok with imperfection. It’s been a wonderful journey that brought me closer to myself and my true ability. I wouldn’t be who I am or where I am without it.
I’ll always take pictures of the beauty around me, and my favorite shots are available for purchase to anyone who’d like some of that beauty on their walls to appreciate.
