October 22, 2023 • 21 mins
Join us for a conversation with Nickala Torkington, the inspiring force behind Flourish Together CIC, and a celebrated champion of women empowerment. Nickala, who recently won two awards, wields her passion for social change to uplift women, even under the shadow of a pandemic. She warmly shares her excitement at receiving the Leveling Up Award and her dedication to spreading positivity in her community. With the ten-year celebration of Flourish Together CIC on the horizon, Nickala’s commitment to sparking societal transformation is stronger than ever.
As we delve deeper into Nickala’s work with Flourish Together CIC, we learn about their innovative programs, Time to Grow and their civic leadership program. These initiatives aim to develop women’s resilience to deal with societal problems, and partnerships and collaborations play a significant role in their success. Hear directly from Nickala how she and her team are empowering women, helping them to harness their potential and thrive in every aspect of life. Don't miss this enlightening conversation about fueling change, nurturing resilience, and empowering women.
Listen to Learn:
🎙️Nickala's personal journey and the challenges she has overcome
🎙️Barriers faced by women across society
🎙️The importance of empowering women
🎙️New initiatives from Nickala and how you can get involved!
Listen here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1981646
#NPWPodcast #ListenNow #Podcast #WeArePower
Find out more about We Are PoWEr here. 💫
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
The Northern Power Women Podcast for your career
and your life, no matter whatbusiness you're in.
Hello and welcome to theNorthern Power Women Podcast.
My name is Simone and this isour winner season of the podcast
, and it is a great opportunityfor me to chat to some of the
remarkable individuals andorganisations who took home one
(00:40):
of our beautiful trophies inthis year's Northern Power Women
2023 Awards, and it's alwaysgreat because I get the chance
to sort of trap back and findout what people have been up to,
the story behind thosevictories and what's going to
happen next.
And the next person I'm goingto be talking to is the
wonderful Nikala Tarkington, whonot only won this year's
(01:02):
Leveling Up Award, but also wascommended back in 2020 in the
innovation category for Flourish, which is the company that you
are not only founder butmanaging director of, flourish
Together CIC.
So, nikala, welcome back again.
A double winner, if you like.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, I do have two of these beautiful shiny awards.
I'm very lucky.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
You do have a large one and a small one.
Are they different colours thatI can't remember they are?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
yes, I've got my innovation.
Ones are shiny silver, and thenthe one that I just won, the
Leveling Up winner, is agorgeous kind of purpley colour.
So, yes, they're differentevery year, aren't they?
Speaker 1 (01:40):
They're really beautiful they are, and the
shiny ones, the reflective onesthey were designed to be.
It was our year five whichended up being the COVID COVID
one.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Where a lovely lady bought it to me and it was that
year where, because I wasn'tgoing out, I'd only dressed up
halfway up and when she cameI've got my jeans and these
gruffie socks on.
But yeah, anyway, it was verylovely, very thoughtful.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
That was a mission and a half.
It was a mission and a half.
I was adamant that that year,that even though we were doing
it virtually, I wanted people tohave the trophies in their hand
on the evening.
So I had to find out whereevery one of our shortlist was
living.
We then had to find someone whocould socially distance deliver
a trophy.
It was ridiculous, really itwas ridiculous, but it was
brilliant.
The shiny ones were designed tobe.
(02:25):
It was that year five and itwas designed to be like a
reflection, which should notalways work well for the photos,
because it did reflect on it,but anyway, it's a whole other
thing.
You won the leveling up leaderthis year and after you got over
the shock which I know you'rein shock and half dressed, what
did it mean to you?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Well, certainly, yeah , watching the video back, I
think you coloured me as arabbit in the headlights.
You can see the shock on myface and, yeah, really
unexpected.
The wider competition was sohigh and I was just really
humbled to see that somebodylike me, working at the
grassroots cold face of levelingup, won the award.
I think I sometimes forget thescale, the depth and the ripple
(03:07):
effect of our work and it wasgreat Also because two of my
former heroes I read in theprogramme catalogue of Oneness
before Donna Hall, now ProfessorDonna Hall and Erica Rushton,
who I admire so much for theirwork, so it was really a pinch
myself moment.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
And why shouldn't you be up there?
You're doing absolutely amazingwork, which we'll touch on a
bit in a second.
But did you carry the awardround in your handbag, as you
said you will, because I know onsocial media?
A few weeks back, I saw you atone of your amazing flourish
events there with the trophy onyour hand, taking it on tour.
Oh, yes.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
As you'll know, it's a little bit big to carry in
your handbag and thisbeautifully fragile work of art
that is it Gemma Gemma Dreamingcreates it is you know.
So it's been travelling aroundin its box, I'm afraid.
But yes, we've been doing therounds and I initially
celebrated with some fellowchange makers at an event in
North Manchester.
Like the Week after it's beento Tame Side where we're
(04:03):
developing our second socialenterprise hub, and that was
bought out and we also had it atour launch event.
That might be what you've seen.
We had some photos at ourlaunch event where you may have
seen that but we've justlaunched our first community hub
and co-working space.
It's just above each otherstation and we had it there.
So winning this award certainlya team effort for me anyway.
(04:26):
So I felt it's important tospread the law, share the
success and celebrate it acrosscommunities so that we're
supporting them, to level upalongside us.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
It's really important to get that out there and see
these things are attainable, Isuppose, and to share what we've
all been creating together, andthat's amazing for me to hear,
because that's, in essence,where the awards were created to
encourage people to high fivetheir own personal achievements
and their collectiveachievements.
So it's great to hear that, andthis year, or I know that
(04:56):
you're coming up to a decade ofFlourish together, cicr, and
you've got a big celebrationcoming up which I can't wait to
come along to Tell me aboutFlourish together.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yeah, well, it's a good point.
We'll be bringing our award,our shiny award, back out at our
10 year anniversarycelebrations.
They're happening on the 24thof November.
You will be getting aninvitation, so look out for that
.
And in the case of theMordemaria, yeah, we've
certainly evolved and we'veentered a new chapter, I would
say.
We're now delivering regularsocial enterprise support
(05:26):
programs.
We've been winning new and newrepeat contracts from a range of
sources and delivering severalconsultancy projects each year.
So it feels, you know, we'vebecome quite solid, and even
more solid with our communityhubs that are opening.
And you know although I wouldsay you know we've definitely
not lost our core focus onsupporting women as opposed to
social change.
That's ultimately what we'reabout, and 80% of our work is
(05:49):
focused on supporting diversewomen to lead change that they
needed in communities.
So we're looking forward toseeing where the next 10 years
take us, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Can you tell us some of those stories?
I always think that the reallife stories really resonate
with our listeners out there.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
And so you know, in terms of the people you know,
the list is endless.
You know I was having a thinkabout this and there's a
fantastic woman, kerry from MaxTracks.
She set up a kind of cyclingand scooter and skate park in
Delamere Park in NorthManchester.
She was one of the women who wecelebrated the awards with
first, you know.
But she is wonderful and we'vebeen helping her do all sorts of
(06:31):
things from you know, buildingher own confidence and
self-belief to get this skatepark off the ground for the
children, young people andfamilies to enjoy in the local
area.
She's also access and supportfrom us around bid writing.
She secured some funding.
We've helped to write a kind ofbusiness plan to help us secure
an asset.
There was a derelict, redundantbuilding in the park that
(06:52):
hadn't been open for years.
She's now received the assettransfer for that and you know
we helped to create.
There's a lot of paperwork goesinvolved in all of that.
We've helped to do the boringbits so that she can do the
really transformational bits.
And there's a lady called Najwaup and coming.
We're actually going tocelebrate the spirit of
Manchester Awards with her thatshe's been shortlisted for the
(07:13):
kind of Manchester based awards,the voluntary community sector
and she set up a socialenterprise cafe in Burnidge
alongside Southway Housing andtaken over the cafe there,
employing women frommarginalised communities and
bringing sort of diversecultural foods to people in the
area.
It's a really interesting andreally vibrant place.
We've been helping her withagain just getting the right
(07:35):
bank account set, looking at howto overcome different
challenges, get those cash flowforecasts and finances in order,
so she knows she's on the righttrack and that the Southway
Housing and others who invest inthat project comfortably and
invest in her.
And I'd say there's our own,fran Barker Mills.
(07:56):
She was shortlisted for mentorof the year at the awards this
time around.
We've been supporting her todevelop.
Coming home she's using a liftexperience to help women leaving
prison with personal andemotional development needs, but
also to help them breakbarriers into paid work.
And actually she's now workingwith us at the Flourish team
helping develop our sort of hubsand programs.
(08:18):
So lots of people I'd also sayyou know, as alongside the
people when we think about thetransformation of what's been
going on, you know, over thelast few years, off the back of
a couple of the small contractsreally no more than I thought 20
, 30 grand each.
We've provided really intensivebid writing support to over 50
organisations led by diversewomen and through that, you know
(08:38):
, when you think about theeconomic side of levelling up,
we help those 50 organisationsat grassroots levels apply for
1.5 million in all kinds ofdifferent types of funding and
we actually enable them tosecure almost a million pounds
of what we went for.
You know, that's not just agreat success rate for us but we
feel that by doing this we'rereally helping the level up and
(08:59):
helping those smallerorganisations you know, or the
underdog, access the cash toleave their own destiny and make
a local impact.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
You know, along the way, Do you know that and that
really resonates.
You know, we're a microbusiness and often you've just
talked about all those thingsthat can, if you like, get in
the way or be the distraction,but they're absolutely, really
key, like the, you know, the bidwriting, like the forecasting,
you know, or the balance sheets,all that kind of thing.
It's really it can be adistraction, can't it?
(09:28):
And you think, oh, it helps you.
You know it stops you from kindof getting that growth in your
own business.
Why, where did you start this?
Was this from personalexperience?
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Yeah, absolutely.
I'll come back to that.
But I'll just say, in additionto all the challenges that
everybody has, I'd say a lot ofthe women that we work with have
got additional barriers.
You know, we found through thework we've been doing in recent
years, through our Time to Growprogramme and our Flourishing
Futures, finding financialresilience programmes, that
women have a lot of otherbarriers might be mental health
barriers.
(09:57):
There might be physical health.
There might be quite a lot ofwomen in our network have got
dyslexia or might be on, youknow, the autistic spectrum.
There's a real mixture ofadditional, supposed additional
needs and the processes and theformats for how people are meant
to progress with their lives,their ideas, their businesses
quite prohibitive.
(10:17):
We help come in and breakthrough some of that and that's
something that people justforget.
And in terms of why did I setthis up?
Why did I set this up?
I mean, gosh, I always forget.
I mean I don't forget at all,but basically I'd worked in the
voluntary committee in socialenterprise world for nearly 20
years at that point 15 to 20years and I'd worked with a lot
(10:39):
of women and I'd seen how,actually in the social
enterprise world, women can leadand women excel and over or
about 50% of social enterprisesare founded and led by women,
which is quite a contrast to theprivate sector.
So I just thought you know whatwould happen if we could enable
more women to make a living, somake a difference while earning
(11:00):
a living, lead and influencechange.
And you know there's the flipside of that as well, where
there's you know me there at thetime, as I still am, you know a
single parent myself.
You know having sort of hiddenbarriers along the way.
I just thought you know, ifI've not had the support network
that I've had the confidence tojust get out there, you've not
(11:21):
got the same advantage.
So we just wanted to make surewe could create that wrap around
, I guess support, almost like afamily really, for people to
fall back to, to give them thestrength and the confidence and
technical skills to really pushahead and lead change they still
needed.
So that's really how it was allborn.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Well, and you know we're in challenging times right
now, you know, across the globe, obviously for ourselves right
here in the UK and equally inthe north of England, has this
sort of you know, sort ofaccelerated or sort of added
more to your workload and madeit harder?
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Interesting, isn't it ?
Yeah, I, you know, and I wasthinking about this question.
I thought you know it's not.
You know it's not made our workharder.
You know, I've seen tough timesfor decades in one way or
another.
You know, in my own life,across communities, and I think
you know I'm ever the optimistand I see, you know, this is
really important time and areally important opportunity to
(12:17):
help people keep the faith, youknow, maintain hope, unlock
their inner resilience,entrepreneurship, you know, and
supporting women in particular,to innovate solutions and
society to these societalchallenges that we face all
around us.
Whether you know it's aboutinjustice, or whether it's about
cost of living or theenvironment or anything else.
And you know, as I said, Ithink helping women to ensure
(12:38):
they're earning a living whilstmaking a difference is, you know
, it's absolutely key when thesekinds of challenges bite, but I
think it's something we'reexperts in.
You know, if I could be so bold, and you know there's now more
of a need than ever.
So, if you know, the challengehas been dealing with the scale
and the growth and having moreneed for the kind of work that
we do, but you know, we'recertainly creating a platform to
(13:01):
get you know the powers that bethe budget holders to listen.
I feel that there's a little bitof progress around that because
like it's getting slightlyeasier to get those people in
positions of power and budgetholders to pay attention post
COVID and in the current climate, and there we have to feel like
there's been a shift a littlebit.
So you know there's a long wayto go, but I think, you know, I
(13:23):
think it feels like a lot ofpeople are facing the right
direction at the moment.
Or maybe we've all been forcedto think collectively because of
COVID, because of thesedifficult sort of financial
times we're in.
So let's see.
And I was thinking, you know,our first utility bills are
going to start coming in forthis hub that we've opened in
Heat and Chapel.
So I'm dreading that and ask me, ask me when the bills come in.
(13:45):
I'll soon tell you.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
I know we gathered just shortly after the awards.
We gathered all our winners andcommended on the podcast to
hear the to sort of summarise inthree words what they were
feeling and the excitementaround the awards.
And I know one of the things wetalked about was collaboration
and I know collaboration is aword that you're, you know, in
an action you're very passionateabout, as we are.
But how can we do more aboutcollaboration around the
(14:09):
leveling of Pagenda specifically?
Speaker 2 (14:11):
We talked about getting together and getting
lots of our the leveling up leadand past and present in a room,
and there are other people, nodoubt in the North Power Women
Network and beyond, who havesuch great knowledge, experience
and innovative solutions forthings.
I think coming together todiscuss and think and, you know,
co-create is one way, but Iknow you've been pacing the
(14:35):
length and breadth of thecountry for years and have all
sorts of fingers in politicalpies with a big P and a small P,
and I think we were reallypowerful force to both bring
Intel to the powers that be,whether they're, you know,
strategic leaders, politicalleaders or anyone else.
And I think we canshort-circuit and make solutions
(14:55):
happen quicker if we get in aroom with key people who need
people like us.
Frankly, I sit in strategicconversations all the time and
we're able to bring much morecurrent intel to their thinking
because we're much closer to theground.
And likewise, the NorthernPower Women Network could do
that too, I think, in terms ofshifting hearts and minds and
(15:17):
budgets and anything else thatneeds to happen to unlock
potential, create change andbuild a stronger economy and
social economy.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Well, there's no barrier now with our digital and
virtual meetings, then Well,there we go.
There's an action for us totake away me particularly that's
enable that to happen, that'sbring some of your heroes to the
table as well, your heroines tothe table.
I think that power isn't thepower of using that power for
good, bringing that collectiveintelligence your Donahores,
your Erica Rushens, yourAdrienne Kelby's of the world
(15:47):
and yourself.
Look what you've done, lookwhat we're hearing about what
you've already created andenabled so far.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
I think that I was going to say that doing this
whether it's in a formal way orinformal way, I was just going
to let you know that Nicky fromthe Peace Hall, who was a
runner-up in this category,we've stayed in contact and I
believe you've got a podcastcoming up with her soon, but we
do to meet up and scheme somethoughts and build connections
before the end of the year.
So I think this thing canhappen formally and informally,
(16:14):
and the more they happen thebetter.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
really 20%, absolutely.
There's no such thing as a badcollaboration and for anyone
listing out there, how can theycollaborate with you for that
greater social good?
And it doesn't matter how bigor small that partnership may be
.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah, so they've just got to reach out.
Really, I'm on Twitter, I'm onGoogle or if you look at our
Flourishing togetherFlourishTogetherorguk website,
they can come to our 10-yearcelebrations.
We'll have all sorts ofinformation out on socials.
There's lots of ways to connectand certainly, whether they're
needing support through aprogramme.
We've got lots of programmesthat we're running.
(16:52):
As I've mentioned, we've openedour new hub in Beaten Chapel
and we've got a second one we'redeveloping in Tameside.
So there's things acrossdifferent boroughs in Greater
Manchester and across the northWest Frankley that we're getting
involved with lots and lots.
I'd put a shout out as well fora couple of exciting things
going on.
We've got our Time to Growprogramme launching ready to get
(17:13):
going in the new year and aheadof that we're really excited
launching this week.
We're creating a programme allabout civic leadership and we've
developed that in partnershipwith Sharon Amesu, which she
leads for Legacy.
Don't just say too much moreabout that, but there's some
exciting announcements comingout later this week.
So really exciting programme toget involved with there.
And then just recently, or inthe last two, it takes it takes
(17:35):
two years, but we've justrecently launched and founded
the new Manchester SocialEconomy Alliance in partnership
with Mac, and I know you hadLauren from Mac on one of your
podcasts.
We've been working with her andwider people and we just felt
it's important to help fill gapsin support infrastructure as
well as to support individualsdirectly.
(17:55):
So, yeah, whether you'resomeone with an idea, someone
who's linked within thestrategic world, or somebody who
wants to just have a coffee ina chat, you know we're, you know
, easily accessible.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
And we'll put all the details in the show notes the
how that people can get in touchwith you as well.
Nicela and the Flourish team.
What's great is when I hearabout you know we always talk
about the awards not being forone night.
We talk about you know sort ofthose, those connections that
you talked about scheming asecond ago with it, with Nikki,
but you know the names you'retalking about here is is
brilliant when I hear that thatyou'll have in these
(18:28):
conversations you're alreadyforging those, those
partnerships and collaborations.
So it's great.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
I'm not.
I hadn't realised, I didn'tknow Lauren until I saw her.
She was managing a project thatI was involved with a number of
teams that we work alongside,but yeah, it wasn't till I saw
it and I listened to her podcastlately.
I've learned so much about it.
It's fantastic.
So I definitely recommendpeople to go back and listen to
all the podcasts and becauseevery single one's got different
tips and insights and you learnso much more about those people
(18:54):
and what they're up to, aroundthe edges of what you thought
they were up to.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
And you are.
Let me say, you know, I know Itravel a lot and you're so busy
with everything that you've beencreating and evolving and
innovating, but how do you stayfocused?
What's your how do you stayfocused?
And what's that tip for anyoneelse out there who thinks
they've got so much going on,then it's tricky to do so.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
I think anyone that knows me well knows it's coffee,
haribo and lots of cake.
But no, I think I think I wasborn.
I think I was born driven andfocused and you know although I
would say it's you know socialneeds, the passion, frustration
and sometimes the desperation ofthe women that we support, that
definitely brings a sharp focus.
You know, it's those fine linesin terms of money, time,
(19:35):
capacity, with the common beinga single parent that keep me
very focused.
So there's a few things keepingme in check and keeping me
focused.
You know immediate prioritiesand the end goal, I guess, and I
love that we always talk about.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
I always feel like there's different slogans for
tote bags and t-shirts, andyours is born, driven and
focused.
I think is without a shadow ofdoubt that totally.
I love Haribo coffee and cake,or?
Nikela, it's been absolutelybrilliant chatting to you.
I'm always amazed to hear whatpeople do you know, sort of you
(20:08):
know.
It's great to hear how peopleand why they've won the award,
but actually what else wasunderneath the bonnet?
And then what's to come?
It's never ending, is it?
It's never ending.
So I thank you for everythingthat you do as part of your
personal focused drive forflourish.
Thank you so much for joiningus today on the podcast and look
forward to leveling up with you.
Definitely We'll speak soon.
(20:28):
Take care.
Oh, thanks, nikela, and thankyou to all of you for listening.
Like I said, we'll have moreinformation about flourish, I
see, and the work that Nikela'sdoing in the team, all in the
show notes, and please do headover to our digital hub.
We are powernet to catch opensome of those previous podcasts
and some of our insights as well, these episodes where I'm
getting to speak to amazingpeople every single week.
(20:50):
So do subscribe to make surethat you don't miss a single
episode and keep caught up onall our socials at North Power
Women, on X slash Twitter andNorthern Power, and on all of
our other socials, if you wouldlike to join us on this mission
of personal and professionaldevelopment.
Please do stay in touch, leavea view, drop us an email.
Podcast atnorthernpowerwomencom.
(21:12):
My name is Simone.
This is the Northern PowerWomen podcast in what goes on
media production.
The Northern Power Women Podcast for your career
and your life, no matter whatbusiness you're in.
Hello and welcome to theNorthern Power Women Podcast.
My name is Simone and this isour winner season of the podcast
, and it is a great opportunityfor me to chat to some of the
remarkable individuals andorganisations who took home one
(00:40):
of our beautiful trophies inthis year's Northern Power Women
2023 Awards, and it's alwaysgreat because I get the chance
to sort of trap back and findout what people have been up to,
the story behind thosevictories and what's going to
happen next.
And the next person I'm goingto be talking to is the
wonderful Nikala Tarkington, whonot only won this year's
(01:02):
Leveling Up Award, but also wascommended back in 2020 in the
innovation category for Flourish, which is the company that you
are not only founder butmanaging director of, flourish
Together CIC.
So, nikala, welcome back again.
A double winner, if you like.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, I do have two of these beautiful shiny awards.
I'm very lucky.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
You do have a large one and a small one.
Are they different colours thatI can't remember they are?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
yes, I've got my innovation.
Ones are shiny silver, and thenthe one that I just won, the
Leveling Up winner, is agorgeous kind of purpley colour.
So, yes, they're differentevery year, aren't they?
Speaker 1 (01:40):
They're really beautiful they are, and the
shiny ones, the reflective onesthey were designed to be.
It was our year five whichended up being the COVID COVID
one.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Where a lovely lady bought it to me and it was that
year where, because I wasn'tgoing out, I'd only dressed up
halfway up and when she cameI've got my jeans and these
gruffie socks on.
But yeah, anyway, it was verylovely, very thoughtful.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
That was a mission and a half.
It was a mission and a half.
I was adamant that that year,that even though we were doing
it virtually, I wanted people tohave the trophies in their hand
on the evening.
So I had to find out whereevery one of our shortlist was
living.
We then had to find someone whocould socially distance deliver
a trophy.
It was ridiculous, really itwas ridiculous, but it was
brilliant.
The shiny ones were designed tobe.
(02:25):
It was that year five and itwas designed to be like a
reflection, which should notalways work well for the photos,
because it did reflect on it,but anyway, it's a whole other
thing.
You won the leveling up leaderthis year and after you got over
the shock which I know you'rein shock and half dressed, what
did it mean to you?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Well, certainly, yeah , watching the video back, I
think you coloured me as arabbit in the headlights.
You can see the shock on myface and, yeah, really
unexpected.
The wider competition was sohigh and I was just really
humbled to see that somebodylike me, working at the
grassroots cold face of levelingup, won the award.
I think I sometimes forget thescale, the depth and the ripple
(03:07):
effect of our work and it wasgreat Also because two of my
former heroes I read in theprogramme catalogue of Oneness
before Donna Hall, now ProfessorDonna Hall and Erica Rushton,
who I admire so much for theirwork, so it was really a pinch
myself moment.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
And why shouldn't you be up there?
You're doing absolutely amazingwork, which we'll touch on a
bit in a second.
But did you carry the awardround in your handbag, as you
said you will, because I know onsocial media?
A few weeks back, I saw you atone of your amazing flourish
events there with the trophy onyour hand, taking it on tour.
Oh, yes.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
As you'll know, it's a little bit big to carry in
your handbag and thisbeautifully fragile work of art
that is it Gemma Gemma Dreamingcreates it is you know.
So it's been travelling aroundin its box, I'm afraid.
But yes, we've been doing therounds and I initially
celebrated with some fellowchange makers at an event in
North Manchester.
Like the Week after it's beento Tame Side where we're
(04:03):
developing our second socialenterprise hub, and that was
bought out and we also had it atour launch event.
That might be what you've seen.
We had some photos at ourlaunch event where you may have
seen that but we've justlaunched our first community hub
and co-working space.
It's just above each otherstation and we had it there.
So winning this award certainlya team effort for me anyway.
(04:26):
So I felt it's important tospread the law, share the
success and celebrate it acrosscommunities so that we're
supporting them, to level upalongside us.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
It's really important to get that out there and see
these things are attainable, Isuppose, and to share what we've
all been creating together, andthat's amazing for me to hear,
because that's, in essence,where the awards were created to
encourage people to high fivetheir own personal achievements
and their collectiveachievements.
So it's great to hear that, andthis year, or I know that
(04:56):
you're coming up to a decade ofFlourish together, cicr, and
you've got a big celebrationcoming up which I can't wait to
come along to Tell me aboutFlourish together.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yeah, well, it's a good point.
We'll be bringing our award,our shiny award, back out at our
10 year anniversarycelebrations.
They're happening on the 24thof November.
You will be getting aninvitation, so look out for that
.
And in the case of theMordemaria, yeah, we've
certainly evolved and we'veentered a new chapter, I would
say.
We're now delivering regularsocial enterprise support
(05:26):
programs.
We've been winning new and newrepeat contracts from a range of
sources and delivering severalconsultancy projects each year.
So it feels, you know, we'vebecome quite solid, and even
more solid with our communityhubs that are opening.
And you know although I wouldsay you know we've definitely
not lost our core focus onsupporting women as opposed to
social change.
That's ultimately what we'reabout, and 80% of our work is
(05:49):
focused on supporting diversewomen to lead change that they
needed in communities.
So we're looking forward toseeing where the next 10 years
take us, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Can you tell us some of those stories?
I always think that the reallife stories really resonate
with our listeners out there.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
And so you know, in terms of the people you know,
the list is endless.
You know I was having a thinkabout this and there's a
fantastic woman, kerry from MaxTracks.
She set up a kind of cyclingand scooter and skate park in
Delamere Park in NorthManchester.
She was one of the women who wecelebrated the awards with
first, you know.
But she is wonderful and we'vebeen helping her do all sorts of
(06:31):
things from you know, buildingher own confidence and
self-belief to get this skatepark off the ground for the
children, young people andfamilies to enjoy in the local
area.
She's also access and supportfrom us around bid writing.
She secured some funding.
We've helped to write a kind ofbusiness plan to help us secure
an asset.
There was a derelict, redundantbuilding in the park that
(06:52):
hadn't been open for years.
She's now received the assettransfer for that and you know
we helped to create.
There's a lot of paperwork goesinvolved in all of that.
We've helped to do the boringbits so that she can do the
really transformational bits.
And there's a lady called Najwaup and coming.
We're actually going tocelebrate the spirit of
Manchester Awards with her thatshe's been shortlisted for the
(07:13):
kind of Manchester based awards,the voluntary community sector
and she set up a socialenterprise cafe in Burnidge
alongside Southway Housing andtaken over the cafe there,
employing women frommarginalised communities and
bringing sort of diversecultural foods to people in the
area.
It's a really interesting andreally vibrant place.
We've been helping her withagain just getting the right
(07:35):
bank account set, looking at howto overcome different
challenges, get those cash flowforecasts and finances in order,
so she knows she's on the righttrack and that the Southway
Housing and others who invest inthat project comfortably and
invest in her.
And I'd say there's our own,fran Barker Mills.
(07:56):
She was shortlisted for mentorof the year at the awards this
time around.
We've been supporting her todevelop.
Coming home she's using a liftexperience to help women leaving
prison with personal andemotional development needs, but
also to help them breakbarriers into paid work.
And actually she's now workingwith us at the Flourish team
helping develop our sort of hubsand programs.
(08:18):
So lots of people I'd also sayyou know, as alongside the
people when we think about thetransformation of what's been
going on, you know, over thelast few years, off the back of
a couple of the small contractsreally no more than I thought 20
, 30 grand each.
We've provided really intensivebid writing support to over 50
organisations led by diversewomen and through that, you know
(08:38):
, when you think about theeconomic side of levelling up,
we help those 50 organisationsat grassroots levels apply for
1.5 million in all kinds ofdifferent types of funding and
we actually enable them tosecure almost a million pounds
of what we went for.
You know, that's not just agreat success rate for us but we
feel that by doing this we'rereally helping the level up and
(08:59):
helping those smallerorganisations you know, or the
underdog, access the cash toleave their own destiny and make
a local impact.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
You know, along the way, Do you know that and that
really resonates.
You know, we're a microbusiness and often you've just
talked about all those thingsthat can, if you like, get in
the way or be the distraction,but they're absolutely, really
key, like the, you know, the bidwriting, like the forecasting,
you know, or the balance sheets,all that kind of thing.
It's really it can be adistraction, can't it?
(09:28):
And you think, oh, it helps you.
You know it stops you from kindof getting that growth in your
own business.
Why, where did you start this?
Was this from personalexperience?
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Yeah, absolutely.
I'll come back to that.
But I'll just say, in additionto all the challenges that
everybody has, I'd say a lot ofthe women that we work with have
got additional barriers.
You know, we found through thework we've been doing in recent
years, through our Time to Growprogramme and our Flourishing
Futures, finding financialresilience programmes, that
women have a lot of otherbarriers might be mental health
barriers.
(09:57):
There might be physical health.
There might be quite a lot ofwomen in our network have got
dyslexia or might be on, youknow, the autistic spectrum.
There's a real mixture ofadditional, supposed additional
needs and the processes and theformats for how people are meant
to progress with their lives,their ideas, their businesses
quite prohibitive.
(10:17):
We help come in and breakthrough some of that and that's
something that people justforget.
And in terms of why did I setthis up?
Why did I set this up?
I mean, gosh, I always forget.
I mean I don't forget at all,but basically I'd worked in the
voluntary committee in socialenterprise world for nearly 20
years at that point 15 to 20years and I'd worked with a lot
(10:39):
of women and I'd seen how,actually in the social
enterprise world, women can leadand women excel and over or
about 50% of social enterprisesare founded and led by women,
which is quite a contrast to theprivate sector.
So I just thought you know whatwould happen if we could enable
more women to make a living, somake a difference while earning
(11:00):
a living, lead and influencechange.
And you know there's the flipside of that as well, where
there's you know me there at thetime, as I still am, you know a
single parent myself.
You know having sort of hiddenbarriers along the way.
I just thought you know, ifI've not had the support network
that I've had the confidence tojust get out there, you've not
(11:21):
got the same advantage.
So we just wanted to make surewe could create that wrap around
, I guess support, almost like afamily really, for people to
fall back to, to give them thestrength and the confidence and
technical skills to really pushahead and lead change they still
needed.
So that's really how it was allborn.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Well, and you know we're in challenging times right
now, you know, across the globe, obviously for ourselves right
here in the UK and equally inthe north of England, has this
sort of you know, sort ofaccelerated or sort of added
more to your workload and madeit harder?
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Interesting, isn't it ?
Yeah, I, you know, and I wasthinking about this question.
I thought you know it's not.
You know it's not made our workharder.
You know, I've seen tough timesfor decades in one way or
another.
You know, in my own life,across communities, and I think
you know I'm ever the optimistand I see, you know, this is
really important time and areally important opportunity to
(12:17):
help people keep the faith, youknow, maintain hope, unlock
their inner resilience,entrepreneurship, you know, and
supporting women in particular,to innovate solutions and
society to these societalchallenges that we face all
around us.
Whether you know it's aboutinjustice, or whether it's about
cost of living or theenvironment or anything else.
And you know, as I said, Ithink helping women to ensure
(12:38):
they're earning a living whilstmaking a difference is, you know
, it's absolutely key when thesekinds of challenges bite, but I
think it's something we'reexperts in.
You know, if I could be so bold, and you know there's now more
of a need than ever.
So, if you know, the challengehas been dealing with the scale
and the growth and having moreneed for the kind of work that
we do, but you know, we'recertainly creating a platform to
(13:01):
get you know the powers that bethe budget holders to listen.
I feel that there's a little bitof progress around that because
like it's getting slightlyeasier to get those people in
positions of power and budgetholders to pay attention post
COVID and in the current climate, and there we have to feel like
there's been a shift a littlebit.
So you know there's a long wayto go, but I think, you know, I
(13:23):
think it feels like a lot ofpeople are facing the right
direction at the moment.
Or maybe we've all been forcedto think collectively because of
COVID, because of thesedifficult sort of financial
times we're in.
So let's see.
And I was thinking, you know,our first utility bills are
going to start coming in forthis hub that we've opened in
Heat and Chapel.
So I'm dreading that and ask me, ask me when the bills come in.
(13:45):
I'll soon tell you.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
I know we gathered just shortly after the awards.
We gathered all our winners andcommended on the podcast to
hear the to sort of summarise inthree words what they were
feeling and the excitementaround the awards.
And I know one of the things wetalked about was collaboration
and I know collaboration is aword that you're, you know, in
an action you're very passionateabout, as we are.
But how can we do more aboutcollaboration around the
(14:09):
leveling of Pagenda specifically?
Speaker 2 (14:11):
We talked about getting together and getting
lots of our the leveling up leadand past and present in a room,
and there are other people, nodoubt in the North Power Women
Network and beyond, who havesuch great knowledge, experience
and innovative solutions forthings.
I think coming together todiscuss and think and, you know,
co-create is one way, but Iknow you've been pacing the
(14:35):
length and breadth of thecountry for years and have all
sorts of fingers in politicalpies with a big P and a small P,
and I think we were reallypowerful force to both bring
Intel to the powers that be,whether they're, you know,
strategic leaders, politicalleaders or anyone else.
And I think we canshort-circuit and make solutions
(14:55):
happen quicker if we get in aroom with key people who need
people like us.
Frankly, I sit in strategicconversations all the time and
we're able to bring much morecurrent intel to their thinking
because we're much closer to theground.
And likewise, the NorthernPower Women Network could do
that too, I think, in terms ofshifting hearts and minds and
(15:17):
budgets and anything else thatneeds to happen to unlock
potential, create change andbuild a stronger economy and
social economy.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Well, there's no barrier now with our digital and
virtual meetings, then Well,there we go.
There's an action for us totake away me particularly that's
enable that to happen, that'sbring some of your heroes to the
table as well, your heroines tothe table.
I think that power isn't thepower of using that power for
good, bringing that collectiveintelligence your Donahores,
your Erica Rushens, yourAdrienne Kelby's of the world
(15:47):
and yourself.
Look what you've done, lookwhat we're hearing about what
you've already created andenabled so far.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
I think that I was going to say that doing this
whether it's in a formal way orinformal way, I was just going
to let you know that Nicky fromthe Peace Hall, who was a
runner-up in this category,we've stayed in contact and I
believe you've got a podcastcoming up with her soon, but we
do to meet up and scheme somethoughts and build connections
before the end of the year.
So I think this thing canhappen formally and informally,
(16:14):
and the more they happen thebetter.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
really 20%, absolutely.
There's no such thing as a badcollaboration and for anyone
listing out there, how can theycollaborate with you for that
greater social good?
And it doesn't matter how bigor small that partnership may be
.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah, so they've just got to reach out.
Really, I'm on Twitter, I'm onGoogle or if you look at our
Flourishing togetherFlourishTogetherorguk website,
they can come to our 10-yearcelebrations.
We'll have all sorts ofinformation out on socials.
There's lots of ways to connectand certainly, whether they're
needing support through aprogramme.
We've got lots of programmesthat we're running.
(16:52):
As I've mentioned, we've openedour new hub in Beaten Chapel
and we've got a second one we'redeveloping in Tameside.
So there's things acrossdifferent boroughs in Greater
Manchester and across the northWest Frankley that we're getting
involved with lots and lots.
I'd put a shout out as well fora couple of exciting things
going on.
We've got our Time to Growprogramme launching ready to get
(17:13):
going in the new year and aheadof that we're really excited
launching this week.
We're creating a programme allabout civic leadership and we've
developed that in partnershipwith Sharon Amesu, which she
leads for Legacy.
Don't just say too much moreabout that, but there's some
exciting announcements comingout later this week.
So really exciting programme toget involved with there.
And then just recently, or inthe last two, it takes it takes
(17:35):
two years, but we've justrecently launched and founded
the new Manchester SocialEconomy Alliance in partnership
with Mac, and I know you hadLauren from Mac on one of your
podcasts.
We've been working with her andwider people and we just felt
it's important to help fill gapsin support infrastructure as
well as to support individualsdirectly.
(17:55):
So, yeah, whether you'resomeone with an idea, someone
who's linked within thestrategic world, or somebody who
wants to just have a coffee ina chat, you know we're, you know
, easily accessible.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
And we'll put all the details in the show notes the
how that people can get in touchwith you as well.
Nicela and the Flourish team.
What's great is when I hearabout you know we always talk
about the awards not being forone night.
We talk about you know sort ofthose, those connections that
you talked about scheming asecond ago with it, with Nikki,
but you know the names you'retalking about here is is
brilliant when I hear that thatyou'll have in these
(18:28):
conversations you're alreadyforging those, those
partnerships and collaborations.
So it's great.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
I'm not.
I hadn't realised, I didn'tknow Lauren until I saw her.
She was managing a project thatI was involved with a number of
teams that we work alongside,but yeah, it wasn't till I saw
it and I listened to her podcastlately.
I've learned so much about it.
It's fantastic.
So I definitely recommendpeople to go back and listen to
all the podcasts and becauseevery single one's got different
tips and insights and you learnso much more about those people
(18:54):
and what they're up to, aroundthe edges of what you thought
they were up to.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
And you are.
Let me say, you know, I know Itravel a lot and you're so busy
with everything that you've beencreating and evolving and
innovating, but how do you stayfocused?
What's your how do you stayfocused?
And what's that tip for anyoneelse out there who thinks
they've got so much going on,then it's tricky to do so.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
I think anyone that knows me well knows it's coffee,
haribo and lots of cake.
But no, I think I think I wasborn.
I think I was born driven andfocused and you know although I
would say it's you know socialneeds, the passion, frustration
and sometimes the desperation ofthe women that we support, that
definitely brings a sharp focus.
You know, it's those fine linesin terms of money, time,
(19:35):
capacity, with the common beinga single parent that keep me
very focused.
So there's a few things keepingme in check and keeping me
focused.
You know immediate prioritiesand the end goal, I guess, and I
love that we always talk about.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
I always feel like there's different slogans for
tote bags and t-shirts, andyours is born, driven and
focused.
I think is without a shadow ofdoubt that totally.
I love Haribo coffee and cake,or?
Nikela, it's been absolutelybrilliant chatting to you.
I'm always amazed to hear whatpeople do you know, sort of you
(20:08):
know.
It's great to hear how peopleand why they've won the award,
but actually what else wasunderneath the bonnet?
And then what's to come?
It's never ending, is it?
It's never ending.
So I thank you for everythingthat you do as part of your
personal focused drive forflourish.
Thank you so much for joiningus today on the podcast and look
forward to leveling up with you.
Definitely We'll speak soon.
(20:28):
Take care.
Oh, thanks, nikela, and thankyou to all of you for listening.
Like I said, we'll have moreinformation about flourish, I
see, and the work that Nikela'sdoing in the team, all in the
show notes, and please do headover to our digital hub.
We are powernet to catch opensome of those previous podcasts
and some of our insights as well, these episodes where I'm
getting to speak to amazingpeople every single week.
(20:50):
So do subscribe to make surethat you don't miss a single
episode and keep caught up onall our socials at North Power
Women, on X slash Twitter andNorthern Power, and on all of
our other socials, if you wouldlike to join us on this mission
of personal and professionaldevelopment.
Please do stay in touch, leavea view, drop us an email.
Podcast atnorthernpowerwomencom.
(21:12):
My name is Simone.
This is the Northern PowerWomen podcast in what goes on
media production.
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