CLEVELAND — In honor of Women’s History Month, one Ohio-born performer is recognizing the courageous contributions of women and reminding audiences of a power we all hold inside.

There is no place like home, and for Ami Brabson, that place is Cleveland.

“It’s great to be back,” she said. “It’s really good.”

Brabson is also at home under the bright lights of a stage, performing for people.

“If I’m lucky and if I’ve prepared, and if they’re ready to go on the ride, then there we go together,” she said. “It’s amazing when it works.”

She guided a recent audience inside the Near West Theatre through a celebration of “Phenomenal Women,” a cabaret written and performed by Brabson, who shares the stage with some friends, a pianist and tap dancer.

“I’m happy with what we’re bringing forth,” Ami Brabson said. “It does my heart good.”

She said the set is simple, to let the message take the spotlight.

“There is power in our opinions,” Ami Brabson said. “What we think. How we move. How we join together.”

The show highlights historic female figures like Zora Neale Hurston and another Cleveland-born actress, Ruby Dee, as well as some of Brabson’s personal role modelsm, a list she says continuously evolves.

“When I talk about people in extraordinary and in kind of quiet ways, that was my mom,” she said.

Family ties are tight for Brabson.

“I’m the older brother saying, ‘Yep, you can do it, you can do it,’” said Mike Brabson, one of Brabson’s four brothers, from a chair on the side of the stage.

“It’s really great, you know, to go through hard times and have somebody actually there who you just have known your whole life and trust,” Ami Brabson said. “That’s, yeah. It’s priceless.”

Mike Brabson’s encouragement helps his sister succeed.

“She is the representation of, you know, all the stuff that my parents put into all of us,” he said. “You just get to see it through her.”

But his presence also helps keep her grounded.

“She’s just my sister, you know, I didn’t like her very much when I was young,” he said with a laugh.

Brabson’s hard work and talent took her to network TV with roles on shows like “Law & Order: SVU.”

“I’ve wanted to perform for a long time,” she said. “I had no idea how hard it would be. None. You know, I’m glad I’m still doing it, but I wonder if I had known, if I would still be doing it.”

Writing and performing in her own one-woman show is a credit unlike any other.

“Taking my career into my own hands and not waiting for somebody to point at me and go, ‘We want you,’” she said. “I don’t have to wait for that. I know my worth.”

With this production, she hopes to empower others to value their own voices.

“I feel like now is a time when everybody needs to be reminded of that,” she said. “It’s so important.”