Empowered Women Part 1:International women’s year perhaps?
When I was thinking about things to write on my blog today, it felt right in the wake of international women’s day to speak about some women who have rallied and come into my life recently. (Of course, my sister Eleanor and my closest friend’s Ilka, Anu,Pauline, Val, Annika and Rima are constantly in my thoughts and have been with me through thick and thin and will at some point feature in something I’m writing about sister’s:)
Last year, I joined a Social and Business network and once I started to get involved in the online community and understand how it works, I went to my very first meeting, where I metPenny Power, one of the founders and the heart of Ecademy:) I was navigating through the challenges of being a business startup and feeling incredibly and increasingly isolated and when she asked me how everything was going, I promptly burst into tears!:( Of course, anyone that knows Penny, knows that she has a heart of Gold and she instantly gave me a big hug and encouraged me to continue to ‘live in your flame.’ Something that a lot of us forget when we are so busy trying to wear so many different hats in business and thinking that we are alone!
Penny introduced me to Lizzi Vandorpe who has an incredible website called The blessings book. We struck up an online friendship and have shared many moments of happiness and challenges, exchanged stories and advice and been a support to each other:) She works with her husband and has 3 lovely daughters and a lovely step-daughter and step-son too. ‘All her children,’ I have seen her write on many occasion. There is a synergy of mixed and shared experiences and a mutual understanding of each other’s lives, which is really interesting.
I met Amanda Hamiltonon Ecademy too and she patiently taught me HTML code and links one afternoon over the phone 
Her direct approach to life and events always makes me smile:) She has a fabulous Bed & Breakfast place in Andalucia Spain (which looks more like a 5 star hotel, if you ask me:)) and has made a life for herself and her son there.
Eventually, I attended a few other live events and metJulie Hall, who has an organisation that inspires women entrepreneurs – Women Unlimited, there is an incredible conference on Wednesday 18th March from 1pm-5pm at the Business Design Centre (do come and experience women sharing their ideas and being supported). Julie blends her web-design/development career with this busy and inspiring women’s network, her relationship with her husband and motherhood – she has 2 gorgeous children.
Galina St.George – who’s generosity to me and other women has been lovely:), she gives incredible massages & therapies that include a Magnsium Mineral Thermal wrap, (which I am just going to have to treat myself to soon) – I am assured by Joy Anderson’s glowing testimonial, that it is fantastic! Galina’s family are very much a focus for her and she continues to discover solutions to improve her business. Amazing stuff.
Suhad Jarrar is a warm and vibrant lady that works for a non-profit organisation that funds courses and cultural diversity programmes for people from the Middle East. She manages the events and the organising of a variety of projects. In between her hectic job, she is writing a book based on her early life in Palestine. Suhad’s generosity and encouragement have been amazing.
Last week, I went to the Business Scene network event and it was interesting to look around and see what the more established businesses are doing. Though I must admit to feeling that it wasn’t my thing, it was lovely to catch up with Romany Thresher again and to meet Sarah Arrow and to give an interview to a really nice man – Andrew Wilcox.
I really enjoyed the company of Stella Holman, who came up in the morning, we had a really lovely day catching up with our business ideas and recommending strategies to each other:) Stella is so dedicated to Internet Marketing and is self-taught, generous, open-hearted and really knows how to make your light and passion ‘shine’ on the internet:) She has navigated through the virtual world for over 16 years, discovered a myriad of ways to blend motherhood with working from home and is a fountain of knowledge and know-how.
The lady that has been helping me shine too has been Kirsty Meynell – I know, everyone that knows me has heard this lady’s name mentioned quite a few times, but let’s face it – she kicks my ‘arce’! And I must say, that sometimes, my creative brain just wants to sit up there in the clouds dreaming and doing what I love. The practical Kirsty always checks in to see what I’m up to and how far, I’m getting on with my end of the marketing strategy:) as she gets on with the copywriting side of things, the marketing funnels and organising any technical things on my wordpress blog and website. Boy it can be tough sometimes, but I know, she will ask me ‘what I’m playing at,’ or ‘what do you mean by that?’ if I say, ‘I think, I’ll just leave that bit out for now,’ or ‘do that other thing tomorrow.’ It makes me smile as soon as I see a text from her, as I inevitably pick up the phone and leave a message to let her know, I know what she’s thinking!:) – some things would be inappropriate to repeat on the world wide web:-) We always end up laughing our heads off and just enjoying this interesting synergy and camaraderie that we discovered first on Ecademy and then face to face, when we met:)
I have struck up many friendships which mean a lot to me, through social & business networks and have inspired me to think about the concept of networking in this increasingly interactive digital age. How do these friendships differ from my close friendships?
The similarites that have brought us to one place appear to be challenges in business and entrepreneurship, but it is the everyday things that matter, like family, relationships, friendships, troubleshooting, fox/animal smells, challenges with our children, neighbours and family and every other discussion that women find a commonality in, that encourages this bond. Even Twitter has ended up being an incredible resource for me and I have struck up some interesting friendships on there, that have really given me so much hope about the future of our world. Recognising that in essence, irrespective of our backgrounds (as I wrote about my 2 grandmother’s from completely different nations, in a previous blog), that we share quite a lot of attributes. Our ideas and culture may be different as may our politics, beliefs and values, but when it boils down to it – as a client of mine said this morning, some people when, they are asked why they dislike certain people of a particular race or creed will struggle to find an answer.
In my bid to be inclusive and accessible in the way that I lead my life, on a spiritual level, what serves me constantly and Why? The aim is to approach everyone with an open heart and with trust. This has certainly opened many doors for me in my life to date and continues to expand my network of friends and encourages me to step outside my comfort zone. Dance and Movement is always challenging me to do this, so it’s important that this relates to other areas of my life too:) Moving forward in my passion towards other’s has encouraged them to meet me across any bridge of life:)
On Sunday, I was honoured to attend the ‘Science of Healing’ conference which I was invited to by Christine Miller – another lovely lady:) Her magazine Resource, is a quarterly publication and Christine has interviewed many interesting people that include the Dalai Llama:) Her varied career, great personality and obvious love of the world, words and it’s direction has steered her through amazing experiences in the corporate world to relating with individuals and groups from all walks of life.
As I have met all these interesting women, this year, I have begun to wonder, whether it is indeed the International Women’s year and whether all women need to focus on their incredible gifts to each other and the world:) this year:)
“If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it.”
Margaret Fuller
One comment
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Hi Liz
Thank you for the compliment.
All the best Andrew