As we are continually set in awe of a whole bunch of inspiring, clever, smart and bold women, we love that International Women’s Day has become such a big celebration of the sisterhood. In the weeks surrounding this International Women’s Day, the Minties attended a number of inspiring and thought-provoking events.
Here’s a short rundown of things we learned:
“Collaborate or die”. While it sounds a little drastic, Tammy Marshall, Founder of The B Hive told us it’s also a necessary warning. She uncovered the behaviours that men and women typically display and how these behaviours, when used in the right combination, will lead to enhanced collaboration for the future. The behaviours and skills? Inspiration; participative decision making; expectations and reward; people development, and role modelling. You can find the full list in the report here.
There’s a brilliant TED Talk by Leila Hoteit called ‘Empowerment of Professional Arab Women,’ which illuminates this issue with stark honesty.
Think like a start-up. While the definition of innovation hasn’t changed over the last decade, we have. We learned that we must anchor our agile thinking, become more nimble, listen more, and continually test and learn. We know creative minds make big waves and to flex this muscle, Tammy encouraged us to take on an innovation project to hone our curiosity at the Women in Tourism Leadership Lunch at Beta Bar.
Become conscious of your mindset: We were asked to finish this sentence: “I could be an amazing architect if…” Have a go.
If you answered things like ‘if I was good at maths’ or ‘if I was trained in architecture’ this is a fixed mindset.
If you answered with responses such as ‘if I believed I could’ or ‘if I have it my best shot and worked hard’ this is an open mind set.
Cheese meditation. Kristen Allan had her ‘uh ha’ moment with her hands in cheese curds and has been teaching the benefits of mindfully making cheese ever since. We mindfully consumed that cheese at The Sydney Opera House at the All About Women, This Fetta Be Good Workshop and spent some time thinking about where our food comes from and how we can better ourselves and the world by simply using our intelligence to make better food purchase decisions.
Food preservation is just about preserving food. You don’t have to wear lipstick and a kerchief and go to the farmers markets at 5am to be a boss of pickling and preserving. Alex Elliot-Howery from Cornersmith taught us to rethink our food waste habits and create a delightful accompaniment to all that fetta at the same time at All About Women, Let’s Get Picklin’ Workshop. She encouraged us to savor the seasons and our money by preserving food the way humans have been doing since way before hipsters even learnt about kimchi.
Vulnerability leads to growth. Kelly Cutrone’s rule “if you have to cry, go outside” may have been trumped by the panel of strong kick-ass women at The Urban List International Women’s Day event last Thursday. Pip Edwards founder of P.E Nation, Tanya Gacic from My Empirical Life, Dara Hayes aka DJ Tigerlily and Becky Cooper and Bridget Yorston founders of Bec & Bridge taught us that as women, we all need to be vulnerable and scared at some point in our career to be able to break through that glass ceiling. Emotion drives passion and loving what you do every day helps drives success.
Women need to support other women: Our very own hero-brand, lululemon’s ‘Worth Listening To’ panel event brought together: Lifestyle commentator Shelly Horton; Collective Magazine’s Lisa Messenger; Nutritionalist Jessica Sepel; Endurance Runner Samantha Gash; AFLW Player Isabel Huntington, and lululemon’s People and Culture Lead Amanda Earl on St Jerome’s Rooftop to talk about celebrating our wins and our failures. The intimate event brought conversation about business, social media, struggles, pregnancy and pivotal moments in the speakers’ lives. An event well Worth Listening To.
By Miranda Bryce
