This story first appeared in English in CityView Magazine’s “The Women’s Issue” March 2026 edition. Leer en español.
March arrives quietly, almost without announcing itself. And with it, a truth our community knows well begins to surface: many of the things that work, that endure, and that remain alive do so thanks to women who are not seeking to be seen.
Latina women of Fayetteville and Cumberland County who work, care, listen, organize, and accompany without fanfare, yet with a presence that leaves a lasting mark. They are the ones who keep the daily pulse of life moving, even when no one names them.
Valerie Adissi is one of them. A stylist and entrepreneur, she opens the doors each day of Head to Toe Styling Salon, a space that is far more than a place of beauty. Between scissors, laughter, and shared silences, conversations unfold that soothe, bring clarity, and sustain. Women arrive tired, hopeful, confused, and leave feeling a little lighter. “Sometimes people come in for the outside,” Adissi said simply, “but something always happens on the inside.” Through her daily work, Adissi creates refuge. She creates belonging.
Junia Cedano offers her care from the classroom. In the hallways and classrooms of Alger B. Wilkins High School, where she teaches Spanish, she knows that education goes far beyond following a curriculum. It is about meeting students where they are. Listening to what is not said. Holding space where students can be who they are without fear. For many young people, Cedano is the first adult who truly sees them as whole, honoring their stories, their language, their contradictions, and their potential. “When someone feels seen, they can learn,” she often says. And in that way, her classroom becomes a place where the future slowly begins to take shape.
Carla West accompanies life from its very beginning. Through her work with Central Carolina Doulas, she walks alongside women and families during one of the most profound and vulnerable moments there is. Her presence is calm, respectful, a body attentively supporting another body. She does not direct or impose. She does not rush time or interfere with the process. Her presence honors, accompanies, and sustains without intrusion. “My work is to be present,” she said with conviction. To be there when fear appears. To be there when pain transforms. To be there when a new life enters the world. In that quiet presence, West leaves a mark that carries forward from generation to generation.
In Adissi, Cedano, and West, strength takes different forms, yet it rises from the same source. A business that becomes a home. A classroom that becomes a safe space. An accompaniment that honors the beginning of life. Three ways of sustaining community through everyday acts. This Women’s History Month is not only about remembering names from the past. It is about paying close attention to the present being built right here, in our streets, in our schools, in the spaces where life unfolds without applause.
Women who may not call themselves leaders, yet who lead with consistency, care, and a quiet strength that supports far more people than we might imagine. When one of these women is truly heard, when her story is given room to breathe, something gentle settles within all of us. Their strength does not stand alone. It lives among us, silently woven into the living fabric of the community.