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Having a rough week? These uplifting comics are your chicken soup.

Having a rough week? These uplifting comics are your chicken soup.

Leah Pearlman finds inspiration for her comics through friends, teachers, and her own heart.

She is the artist behind the popular Dharma Comics, which explore love, life, and our connection with the world.

Her comics are simply drawn, but that’s only on the outside.

They are a refreshing reminder of the struggles we all deal with every day. Each panel holds a mirror up to our imperfections and reminds us that it's OK.

Excerpted from "Drawn Together: Uplifting Comics on the Curious Journey Through Life and Love" by Leah Pearlman. Reprinted by arrangement with TarcherPerigee, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC. © 2016 by Leah Pearlman.

Leah has always been compelled to draw. Her journey to Dharma Comics started in 2010 when her father's cancer went into remission. She drew a simple cartoon with the text: “Thank you, Cancer!” and shared that drawing on Facebook. It had an immediate response online, and Dharma Comics took off from there.

"My experience is that through my art, I am healing."

"But I didn’t get here by pushing any pain away," Pearlman wrote in an email. "I got here by moving toward it. By admitting it, by exploring it, by sharing it, and by allowing myself to be helped."

The comics are full of depth, meaning, and complexity about the human experience. They reach out through the lines and grab the reader by the heartstrings.

“The essence, whether it’s anger, or loneliness, or adoration, is something everyone can relate to. And often, because we do get so tangled in the daily dramas of our circumstance we can all have trouble finding the essence. I think when people see my comics, sometimes they’ll [breathe] a sigh of relief and say ‘YES. That’s exactly how that feels,’” she wrote.

Get inspired by these 10 drawings from her recent book, “Drawn Together: Uplifting Comics on the Curious Journey Through Life and Love.”

Don't these comics make you feel great?

They're having a huge impact online and the book is finding a new, unexpected audience: children.

"I never drew these for kids, except perhaps my own inner child," she wrote, "and I’d love to connect more with [them] around the topics of self-love of welcoming emotions and whatever else they’re finding in the pages that move them."

These comics are an inspiring reminder that there is joy in everything. And that's worth celebrating.  

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Macy’s and Girls Inc. are inspiring girls from all backgrounds to take the lead and change the world.

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Macy's and Girls Inc. believe that all girls deserve to be safe, supported, and valued. However, racial disparities continue to exist for young people when it comes to education levels, employment, and opportunities for growth. Add to that the gender divide, and it's clear to see why it's important for girls of color to have access to mentors who can equip them with the tools needed to navigate gender, economic, and social barriers.

Anissa Rivera is one of those mentors. Rivera is a recent Program Manager at the Long Island affiliate of Girls Inc., a nonprofit focusing on the holistic development of girls ages 5-18. The goal of the organization is to provide a safe space for girls to develop long-lasting mentoring relationships and build the skills, knowledge, and attitudes to thrive now and as adults.

Rivera spent years of her career working within the themes of self and community empowerment with young people — encouraging them to tap into their full potential. Her passion for youth development and female empowerment eventually led her to Girls Inc., where she served as an agent of positive change helping to inspire all girls to be strong, smart, and bold.

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Inspiring young women from all backgrounds is why Macy's has continued to partner with Girls Inc. for the second year in a row. The partnership will support mentoring programming that offers girls career readiness, college preparation, financial literacy, and more. Last year, Macy's raised over $1.3M for Girls Inc. in support of this program along with their Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programming for more than 26,000 girls. Studies show that girls who participated are more likely than their peers to enjoy math and science, score higher on standardized math tests, and be more equipped for college and campus life.

Thanks to mentors like Rivera, girls across the country have the tools they need to excel in school and the confidence to change the world. With your help, we can give even more girls the opportunity to rise up. Throughout September 2021, customers can round up their in-store purchases or donate online to support Girls Inc. at Macys.com/MacysGives.

Who runs the world? Girls!

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Support for marriage between white and Black people in America just hit an all-time high

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Over the past six years, it feels like race relations have been on the decline in the U.S. We've lived through Donald Trump's appeals to America's racist underbelly. The nation has endured countless murders of unarmed Black people by police. We've also been bombarded with viral videos of people calling the police on people of color for simply going about their daily lives.

Earlier this year there was a series of incidents in which Asian-Americans were the targets of racist attacks inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Given all that we've seen in the past half-decade, it makes sense for many to believe that race relations in the U.S. are on the decline.

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Macy’s and Girls Inc. make it easy to empower girls to be strong, smart, and bold. Here’s how you can help.

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Did you know that girls who are encouraged to discover and develop their strengths tend to be more likely to achieve their goals? It's true. The question, however, is how to encourage girls to develop self-confidence and grow up healthy, educated, and independent.

The answer lies in Girls Inc., a national nonprofit serving girls ages 5-18 in more than 350 cities across North America. Since first forming in 1864 to serve girls and young women who were experiencing upheaval in the aftermath of the Civil War, they've been on a mission to inspire girls to kick butt and step into leadership roles — today and in the future.

This is why Macy's has committed to partnering with Girls Inc. and making it easy to support their mission. In a national campaign running throughout September 2021, customers can round up their in-store purchases to the nearest dollar or donate online to support Girls Inc. and empower girls throughout the country.


Kaylin St. Victor, a senior at Brentwood High School in New York, is one of those girls. She became involved in the Long Island affiliate of Girls Inc. when she was in 9th grade, quickly becoming a role model for her peers.

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Within her first year in the organization, she bravely took on speaking opportunities and participated in several summer programs focused on advocacy, leadership, and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). "The women that I met each have a story that inspires me to become a better person than I was yesterday," said St. Victor. She credits her time at Girls Inc. with making her stronger and more comfortable in her own skin — confidence that directly translates to high achievement in education and the workforce.

In 2020, Macy's helped raise $1.3 million in support of their STEM and college and career readiness programming for more than 26,000 girls. In fact, according to a recent study, Girls Inc. girls are significantly more likely than their peers to enjoy math and science, to be interested in STEM careers, and to perform better on standardized math tests.

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