Bold women who choose to challenge the status quo and convention to drive culture and equality forward.

I can’t believe we’ve completed our 6th annual celebration for International Women’s Day. Be Bold is an event that shines a light on the achievements of women and the important work that still needs be done to create equality for women and girls across the globe. Progress towards gender parity was slow prior to the pandemic with the WEF Global Gender Report finding it would take 257 years to close the gap on economic parity. The UN reported women have been the hardest hit by COVID putting women’s participation in the workplace back where it was in 1989. According to Pew Research for every father who lost their job, 3 moms have lost their jobs and Black and Latino women are losing their jobs at twice the rate of white women. However, there have been some positive advances, 141 women will hold seats in the US congress and the first woman Vice President of the USA, of Black and south Asian heritage, was sworn in by Sonja Sotomayor, the first Latina woman on the Supreme Court Justice.

Be Bold Now is a forum for women to share their stories of inspiration, courage and support and this year, while we moved to a virtual experience, was no exception. The speakers and performers are women who choose to challenge the status quo and conventional thinking to be of service to others and drive culture and equality forward. If you missed the show you can catch it here

Below is a roundup of the event.

Pam Dibbs, Dibbsonlife

‘Take imperfect action, don’t wait until you’re ready.’

This year we added a Pre-Show warm up hosted by comedian and coach Pam Dibbs. Pam is on a mission to help others take humor more seriously and bring more courage and chuckles into your life. She encouraged us to trace back the breadcrumbs in our lives to find what we’re good at – Pam had been told off at school for being the ‘class clown’ so never did she think it would lead to her taking up standup comedy at the age of 50.  Pam’s takeaways: take imperfection action, don’t wait until you’re ready. Confidence comes is in the dong and the cost of not trying is far greater than the risk of failing and wondering ‘what if’. Watch the Pre-Show with Pam Dibbs here

Dona Sarkar, Prima Dona Fashion Studios

‘Listen to yourself and do the thing, one experiment at a time.’

Dona’s primary goal is to build a fashion company that creates economic power for all women of the world. Did you know that the fashion industry employs 80% women and 80% of those women get paid less than $1/hour. The tailors who work for Prima Dona Fashion Studio and live in Lagos, Jakarta, Sydney, LA, Seattle, or Detroit are paid a living wage; many are mothers who support their families with their earnings.

Dona shared her story and talked about why it isn’t about getting out of your comfort zone but how to add on to it. She shared her 5 steps/questions? Ask why it is important to you? Why am I afraid? List everything you need to do then put them in order. Then add onto your comfort zone and identify one experiment at a time. Listen to yourself and #dothething.

Chana Ginelle Ewing Founder of Geenie and Author

‘Get on your own side, use your position, power, and privilege to help others’.

Chana shared her story and on how she was inspired by Quincy Jones to become a cultural entrepreneur who founded a community centered culture first marketplace for beauty products to rewrite the beauty narrative to make beauty more inclusive and intersectional to represent everyone. Culture first means using culture as a lens for action to move culture forward – to rewrite the narrative to make beauty more intersectional. The traditional beauty industry has been centered around white, thin, able bodied, Cisgender women and what that does to those who don’t fit that archetype, it makes them feel that they are not beautiful as they are not like the people they see in the magazines or on Instagram.

Chana is also the author of the important book An ABC of Equality, a book to help adults start a conversation to introduce identity and social justice to children. She advised, when taking bold steps in our lives, to get on our own side remembering to take care of ourselves and reminded us of our responsibility to use our position, power, and privilege to support others to remove barriers and injustice.

Diana Hoyos, Founder, and owner of Muchacha

‘Empowering women to help them be seen and seen as equals in a male dominated culture.’

Shared her brave story of working in male dominated organizations in Columbia and the constant need to prove herself as a leader, the sexism was constant and then she faced extreme sexual harassment and was fired from her role. It put her in a dark place, but she came back stronger, she built a team of 35 women to sell cleaning products digitally and realized that she was able to change the situation and work together to make them stronger. Now she is a founder of Muchacha, a coffee brand a 100% made and supplied by women, who are the farmers and the roasters, no longer hidden behind the men in their lives but seen leading front and center.  Support these women go buy Muchacha coffee from the TheWMarketplace.

Kate Isler, CEO and co-founder of TheWMaketplace, Cofounder of Be Bold Now and Author.

‘Don’t self-select out, anything is possible.’

Sharon Harris, board member of Be Bold Now interviewed Kate Isler, Cofounder of Be Bold Now, CEO and co-founder of TheWMaketplace and Author of Breaking Borders: a remarkable story of Adventure, Family and Career Success that Defied All Expectations. Kate shared her real authentic story, successes, and lessons – mostly taking the path less trodden, left college early to marry her husband and eventually finishing her college degree in 2018 and moving her young family to Dubai in the early 90s being one of the few women in a senior business position.  She reinvented herself after leaving Microsoft, led, and closed down a start up, then started another business in the pandemic, TheWMarketplace a platform that enables women owned businesses and professional services. Kate advises us not to self-select out and says she is proof that anything is possible. Buy her book to read the full story.

Ivy Woolf Turk, founder of Project Liberation www.projectliberation.org

‘Helping women to reclaim themselves and rewrite their stories’.

The incarnated population of women is 7 times higher than in 1980 rising to almost a quarter of a million in 2019, more than 60% of women in state prisons have children under 18 and most of their crimes are nonviolent. Ivy shares her story of being incarcerated for 4 years, her unique perspective on incarceration and the challenges incarcerated women face leaving prison reintegrating into their families and communities. Ivy founded Project Liberation to provide pathways and open doors for these women to sustainable freedom. She spoke with incredible vulnerability about how she realized while in prison with 200 other women that they shared a common denominator – a lack of self-worth. She shared her story how she transformed her life from one of privilege to one of service. Now she is a professional resiliency coach and founder of Project Liberation who help women to reclaim themselves and rewrite their stories.

Be Bold Now can’t happen without Dialogue our incredible event producers who make everything seamless and run like clockwork, Astronauts and Poets, our creative designers who produced the stunning graphics, Smidi Music for producing the stories and beautiful musical performances from Camila Mora, Raining Jane  and Scarlet Parke

Thank you to everyone who attended. If you missed the Be Bold Now 2021 show you can watch it here

Mark your calendars for 3 March 2022.

Nickie Smith, President and Co-Founder, Be Bold Now, bboldnow.com