Wow! What an evening 
last week – I was thrilled to attend, support and be a Guest Speaker for the #WonderfulWomen event in Birmingham, in support of the Girls Friendly Society (GFS) for which I also have the joy of being a volunteer Ambassador. The three objectives were to Connect – Inspire – Inform…
Connect:
“What do I need help with?” We were asked to think about and then write down this simple question, but many of us, including myself, found it difficult to share. We then found someone else to help with some support and advice. The room was filled with energy, warmth and support for one another, something which we don’t often give ourselves enough time to do.
Inspire:
The evening was also interspersed with inspirational speakers and I was inspired by the empowering and uplifting speeches by San Johal, Parv Sangera and Olivia Johnson. Thank you to each of you, I loved meeting you and appreciated your passion, insights and truly authentic presentations.
I understood the journey that they had been on in preparing for the presentations, because I did one too! It was one of the most challenging things I have done for a while because our speeches were in the form of a Pecha Kucha!
The rules for a Pecha Kucha style presentation are that you have only 20 slides of images (no words) which automatically change every 20 seconds, meaning every slide has to be condensed into 20 second bite size chunks. 20 seconds goes very quickly when you’re sharing things that are personally important.
I was honoured to be able to share my personal story of how using more Love and Less Fear changed my life – including my business, and led to me writing my book ‘Power of Love Leadership®
It was always going to feel emotional (and it was much more than I had imagined) so I felt immensely vulnerable. Having shared that one of ‘Power of Love Leadership’s’ 7 strategies is Humility, and that Vulnerability is our leadership superpower, I knew I had to be brave in sharing my vulnerability and personal story.
Inform:
It is important to highlight the hugely important work that GFS does so please support them by following them and find out how you can get involved.
GFS reports that:
- By the time girls are five, they start to see themselves and what they can achieve differently from boys. Girls as young as seven worry about how people view them because of their gender, and worry about being called “bossy”, “ugly”, and “sassy”
- 67% of girls aged 11-21 think that women do not have the same chances as men (Gender Equality at Every Stage: a roadmap for change)
- By the age of six, girls avoid subjects they view as requiring them to be “really, really smart” because they believe men are smarter than women (The Fawcett Society, Unlimited Potential)
- 31% of girls aged 11-21 say that their fear of how they are perceived by others, stops them from speaking up in class (Girlguiding UK, Girls Attitudes Survey)
I’m passionate about changing these statistics and enabling girls to be more confident and proud of who they are and know that they can achieve anything. I’m proud to be an Ambassador of GFS.
and THANK YOU!
A massive THANK YOU to every one that supported and attended – you are all indeed Wonderful Women – ambitious, driven, supportive, caring and engaging women, achieving the most awesome things in your lives and in work. I loved sharing my story with you all
Thank you also to Ellie Rich Poole for her energy, enthusiasm and passion to envision this event and take it from an idea to implementation – and lead the way for me and my fellow group of supportive GFS Ambassadors. Thank you to all involved for the hard behind the scenes, making the evening go so well including Kate Faxen, Nicola Lee, Weny Ramshaw, Amanda Stanford and Amanda Capon.
Huge thank you to Mills & Reeve for the beautiful venue and also thank you to the photography and videography team with Victoria Beddoes. Thank you to Elizabeth Hardwick-Smith for accepting my invitation to be part of the evening and supporting me too. Thank you to all the passionate and driven GFS team including Sarah Fox , Efua Yanson and Heather Smith.
Thank you to Amanda Stanford, Kate Faxon and Lisa Wormald for your great photos 
I didn’t manage to take any of my own, so I am hoping you are happy for me to reshare.
It was amazing to catch up with and meet for the first time, many inspiring women, including:
Lisa Wormald
Amanda Capon
Michelle Robinson
Sophia Tarr
Kelly Page
Sally Icke
Kathryn Dolan
Sarah Fox
Sarah J Hughes
Maxine Yates
Kim Goode
Sophie Blackmore
Nicky Dixey