Ep.11: Empowering Women: Inside the Thrive Community

Welcome to the women's community! Join Faith as she introduces the Thrive community, a global network of women created in response to International Women's Day 2023. Designed for women in leadership and female founders, Thrive aims to provide a space for women to connect, build confidence, and find their voice using LinkedIn.

Faith shares her vision of a truly inclusive community that supports women from all walks of life, especially busy working moms and women over 40. She emphasizes the importance of networking, contributing to conversations, and creating a safe space where women can be their authentic selves.

Discover the upcoming online event to celebrate the Thrive community, where women can share their stories and connect globally. Faith also seeks your input on expectations, contributions, and the best times for future meetups. Be a part of this evolving and empowering community!

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Hi, welcome to the women's community.
My name is Faith and here we are going live. We are going to be talking about the Thrive community.
It's a network of global women, right?
This is a network that I have set up in response to International Women's Day 2023.

(00:23):
Every year, we celebrate International Women's Day in March here in the UK across the world.
But what happens beyond that time?
And I felt compelled to set up a community for women in leadership and female
founders to connect with one another online using the power of LinkedIn. in.

(00:46):
Now, for over just a year and a half now, I have been running this network quietly
in the background and I have a vision for this network, right?
It's not just a network, it's a community.
And in the beginning, I was toying with the idea, do I charge people for events?
Do I charge people to be a part of this network?

(01:07):
And you know what I realized? Inside my heart, I realized that there There has
to be something different with this network.
And the difference is that it's a community, right?
I want it to be a community for women of all walks of life to come together,
to connect with one another,
to build up their confidence and to be able to find their voice,

(01:32):
but also to learn from other women within the network.
I really believe that it's a powerful network. work. It's a network which is
built in a principle that you can thrive.
You don't have to just survive through life, through your professional life.
And if I get asked often, who are the target audience?

(01:53):
What's the persona of this woman in the Thrive community?
And again, with my intention to be inclusive, not exclusive,
I say that every woman is welcome.
However, I think that we are missing a community for women over 40.
We are missing a community for busy working mums, right?

(02:16):
Because most networking events, let's be honest, they're either in the evening,
they're either breakfast clubs.
And if you are a working mum with young children, how on earth are you meant to attend these events?
How are you supposed to drop your children off at school and catch a train or
a bus or wherever you are in your city and go to these networking events, right?

(02:38):
It is not easy. I have tried it myself.
It is very challenging. And-
So for that reason, having a networking that are for in-person that causes additional
stress on working mom, it's something that I thought, no, we don't need that.
We need something which is a bit more easy, right?

(02:59):
Easy, but still requires a bit of commitment from your side.
I believe in the power of networking and I've been called a networking queen
because if If you follow me on LinkedIn, which obviously most of you do,
you will find that every week I'm at an event somewhere or online,
but I really believe in networking for a lot of reasons.

(03:20):
One of them is about building your confidence.
The other one is about contributing to conversations.
It's about meeting like-minded individuals. But for me, as somebody who empower
women in leadership and who coach executives,
I I believe that networking is really powerful and I want to create a safe space.

(03:42):
And when I said safe space, I mean, I want to create a safe space where you
feel you belong, where you can be who you are, be an authentic you.
You don't have to wear a mask. You don't have to put on a font.
You can just be who you are. And that's why it's so important that I want to
say thank you to each and every one of you who is currently a member on LinkedIn.

(04:03):
But I want to invite you to connect beyond LinkedIn with me.
I want to set up a database with your email details so that if,
like it has happened to me before, LinkedIn went down and I could not get into
my profile, you'll still be able to reach me.
So I'm going to be inviting you to an event that I'm going to be hosting to

(04:27):
celebrate the Thrive community.
And the event is going to be online. We're going to use the power of Zoom.
And I'm going to record this event so that if you are not able to join us live,
you can watch the recording.
Because I have also identified that that is also one of the challenges that.
You face is the time, right? This is a global event.

(04:47):
For some of you, it might be middle of the night. For some of you,
it might be too early in the morning. And for some of you, it might be too late
in the evening or afternoon.
So I've been thinking of ways in which I can connect you with one another and
have this event for you to attend live if that's possible.
But in the case that it's not possible, I definitely want you to attend this event remotely.

(05:09):
And I'm going to be inviting other women to share their stories.
You know, I think that's really important that we hear from each other, but I'm really excited.
And I really want you to be a
part of this community and feel that it's a home for you, a virtual home.
And I'm asking for three things from you today.
I want you to tell me what are your expectations, right? What are you expecting

(05:32):
from the Thrive community?
Tell me, okay? Send me a direct message or just leave a comment behind this video.
The second question I have for you is, you know, what are your expectations?
The second question is, what is your contribution?
What would you like to contribute into this, you know, into this space?

(05:55):
That would be really helpful. And then lastly, you know, I want us to,
you know, meet on a regular basis, but I think monthly it might be too frequent for most of you.
So maybe a quarterly meetup, right a
quarterly meetup i think it's it's something that is doable for most
of us right so i want you to tell me that as well
so is a weekend better is the evening better and when

(06:16):
when is a good time right this is a challenge we're never going to find a perfect
time but i think i really want to encourage you to invest in yourself there's
going to be more exciting content or or sharing knowledge that i'm going to
bring to you as a part of this exciting community right Right.
So you are part of the Thrive community or Thrive Club.

(06:38):
We need to think of a fancy name. It's evolving, but I want you to be a part of it.
And I'm excited for you. I'm excited for me because I now finally get to,
you know, to live out the passion I have, which is to empower as many women
as I can, but also to learn, to be empowered.
OK, this is not just about me, but it's about you. This is a community for you.

(06:58):
So I want to say thank you. You have taken the opportunity to join.
You have been, you know, some of you have been really actively contributing.
So I want to say thank you to you. And I want to say, you know, this is your space.
This is your community. So thank you so much and look after yourself.
Stay safe. And if I can be of any help or anything, let me know.

(07:19):
All right. Take care with love from Faith. Bye.