I had a week off at the start of March and I hardly get time to do anything, what with my current job being as intense as it is. So, I thought I would take advantage of all this free time and book some events in the diary to get myself out and about and experiencing different things as opposed to my regular routine.
There are three standout events I want to recap:
- A panel organised by JCI with guest speakers focusing on Intersectionality, Empowerment and Equality.
- A day of dance classes and workshops hosted by Savvy Heels.
- An evening event hosted by the Fierce Females Club, titled Walk in Power.
All three events were uniquely educational, empowering and joyful so let’s recap them all.
JCI International Women’s Day Panel – Intersectionality, Empowerment and Equality – March 3rd
What is JCI? If you don’t know, JCI (which stands for Junior Chamber International) is a global non-profit organisation which provides leadership and growth opportunities for young people all over the world.
There are various groups and collectives spanning the Americas, the UK and Europe, Africa and the Middle East and the US and the one I know best is of course, the JCI Manchester Group.
JCI Manchester provides training, development and networking opportunities for the young professionals of Manchester, from breakfast meet ups, to award ceremonies, physical activities and panels.
The panel I attended that week was chaired by Abigail Noonan who is the current Deputy President of JCI Manchester. The guest speakers were:
Anyonita Green – Digital Marketing Manager at Conexiant.
Sarah Watkins – Business Director at Michael Page.
Nick Shepard – Business Develop & Partnerships Manager at GM Business Growth Hub.
Mariam Hussein – Software Engineer at On the Beach and Code First Girls Ambassador.
An impressive line-up if I did see one.
The discussions ranged from identifying how unconscious bias shows up in your personal and professional life, to advocacy and how you can show up in your empowered self for yourself and others and finally how important it is to find your people.
I really enjoyed listening to stories from the panel and it really helped me personalise and understand how these themes and ideas show up in my own life.
Afterwards I chatted with the speakers, and it was really refreshing to meet and talk with likeminded individuals who are interested in similar things I am.
A great educational moment to start the week.
Savvy Heels Taster Day – March 8th IWD
The Savvy Heels Taster Day was such a great choice for the day of International Women’s Day. What better way to celebrate women, how our bodies move, our creativity, our resilience and our joy, than by having dance classes and workshops.
I started the day with a Beginners Heels Class with Rebecca Finley, dancing to Rich Girl by Gwen Stefani. It was a really good way to start the day. Heels were on. The music was fun, we were moving our bodies and I felt confident within myself. I don’t know what it is about dance and performance but I feel very at home there. Perhaps because I grew up surrounded by music and performance, it feels more familiar.
Then we moved onto a workshop ran by the gorgeous Victoria, a Female Health and Hormone Coach. The workshop focused on tapping into our Dark Feminine energy, an energy which gets very misunderstood in this day and age.
We worked through various exercises such as standing in a circle together, hand on the shoulder of the women to our right and focused on passing our energy and warmth throughout the circle. We also exhaled negativity from our bodies through a very appropriately titled ‘swamp witch breath’, we tapped into our inner child and pulled a card from Victoria’s own Rebirth deck. I pulled the Alchemist card and had such a relevant reading from Victoria. It was very affirming.
Personally I think I show up in my masculine energy a lot, so perhaps I need to tap into feminine energy more and unlearn harmful stereotypes I have grown up with.
For the class after lunch, we ditched the heels and donned the trainers for a commercial/hip hop class lead by Savanah O’Brien of SavanahCreates. It was a really fun session to dance in a different style; very sweaty and a little challenging but it felt good to push myself.
The dance background kicked in, and I found that I was able to follow along with the teaching and keep up with the ‘pro girlies’ in the class. I really loved how Savanah added modifications throughout the choreography so we weren’t pressured to do the routine perfectly and could adapt it to our dance level. Really appreciated that.
I finished the day taking part in a Manifestation workshop ran by Oliwia an IFS Somatic Psychotherapist. I had met Oliwia previously through Savvy Heels and it was so lovely to see her leading her own workshop again.
In the workshop we wrote down our goals and then explored any judgement we had towards ourselves about reaching those goals. It was quite insightful. We also did a bit of inner child work by writing a letter to our inner child, learning to treat her with kindness. So often we are so critical of ourselves that we forget to be kind to ourselves and in the absence of kindness, confidence and self-assuredness shrinks, well into adulthood.
Being kinder to myself is something I am trying to learn. I can be very judgemental and critical of myself, to my own detriment. It makes me shrink and cower and it’s not a nice feeling. I am learning to be kinder to myself as the days go on.
And that was the Savvy Heels IWD all day event! It was so much fun to dance surrounded by other amazing and supportive women and take part in such insightful workshops. It will for sure be another special memory I associate with Savvy Heels.
Fierce Female’s Club – Walk in Power – March 9th
Here we are. The final event and boy did we go out with a bang.
The Fierce Females Club was founded by and is run by serial entrepreneur Georgia Jasmin. She founded it in search for a cure for her loneliness as a female entrepreneur and within a year she has sparked a movement. Women from all backgrounds have joined together in community to uplift and support each other and Georgia will always ALWAYS put the community first, making sure the events, perks and classes she offers are serving the needs of the women who have joined her movement.
The event, titled ‘Walk in Power’, hosted at the restaurant Menagerie in Salford, was designed to empower all the women who attended to walk in their own power. We were all encouraged to be our own authentic self, away from the judgement of society and show up as our pure empowered self. Let me tell you, it is so freeing and liberating being myself, not having to worry about someone judging me for my quirks and I really thank Georgia for specifically encouraging us to welcome that authenticity.
There was an opening speech from Victoria of The Glow Up Project, where she told us how she had learnt to love and accept herself after experiencing an eating disorder as a child. Now her goals are to help women feel fully seen in all that it means to be a woman and to help women understand that in order to have a glow up, the real work starts on the inside.
The main part of the event was a fashion catwalk, showcasing three amazing brands – Denim Depot, Janus and The Lingerie Club. The models, sourced by Collab Models, walked in their power down the catwalk wearing clothing from all three brands and it was really cool to see the creativity and work which had gone into each of the pieces. The brands were all selling their clothing at the event, so if you liked any pieces, you could go and buy it then and there.
After the models had walked the catwalk in the brand’s clothing, all the women who attended (and some men) were invited to walk the catwalk. Women were getting up there solo, in pairs and in threes, strutting their stuff to a backing track of Beyoncé, Cardi B and Rihanna. I got up and walked and it was so joyful and fun to be that confident, ploughing through all the doubt and judgement.
The cherry on the cake was the battle cry we all took part in led by Georgia herself. In a call and response fashion, this is how it went:
Georgia: When I say ‘fierce’, you say ‘female’. Fierce!
Everybody: Female!
Georgia: Fierce!
Everybody: Female!
Georgia: When I say ‘walk’, you say ‘in power’. Walk!
Everybody: In power!
Georgia: Walk!
Everybody: In power!
…and on, and on and on!
It truly was the most empowering end to both the event and to that entire week. I went into the next week with a renewed sense of confidence.
There was so much I learnt that week, about ideas and concepts in life relating to Intersectionality and Empowerment but also about myself in the dance classes, the workshops and in the Walk in Power event. I want to extend a thank you to ALL the people in my community from that week and beyond. Thank you for your support, your encouragement and your pushes to become a better person. These communities are the ones we need as we navigate life through the big and the small moments because it can be really difficult at times, but as always, together, we can go far.
The Mind Library 
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