OUR WOMEN ARE SPEAKING...ARE YOU LISTENING?

15 years ago, I took advantage of a situation...a bold step that gifted me a Voice to serve the World's Women through storytelling.

WANT IT ALL? PAY THE PRICE...

I yearned to be a leader, an exemplary professional and above all, a family woman, with pets and a garden! I WANTED IT ALL!

The world around me, however, didn't feel the same way. It wasn't prepared to set a buffet of options before me. For a time, there were no contracts...no consultancies..no opportunities...only this heavy subliminal embargo on my wild ambitions, holding me prisoner in a jail called "status quo". My children were toddlers, my husband working tirelessly to keep us afloat. Meanwhile, in that timeframe, I kept hearing the same thing in different ways, over and over "Anita, we don't see how you can juggle this and your family life...maybe it's not the right time."... No lie, the ultimate soul crusher was that some of these statements came from Women.

GIVING UP & CAVING IN

I struggled. Lost my identity. Misplaced my voice. Overwhelmed by a blurred mental vision of what and who I was becoming, I hid behind the warped mentality that perhaps, inconspicuous was ideal. It was quiet and easier..no battles or arguments encountered.

No lie, the ultimate soul crusher was that some of these statements came from Women.

Before long, however, the silence had morphed into something akin to self-deprivation...laced with the pungence of self-sabotage. I was suffocating under the weighty blanket of pretending to accept that perhaps society's views - that I could be either a family woman or a successful professional and never both - were valid.

BREAKING FREE AT LAST

One day, over coffee, a good freind gifted me my eureka moment.

She asked « Erskine, your fire is dying out. We all depended on you to illuminate our paths with your brilliance. Why have you allowed this to happen? » 

As she went on to explain how I had inspired her once before, a deep introspection slowly begun to replace that dark self doubt I had been harboring. Wait! I DID have the key to the prison gate this whole time, in the form of my life's experiences, my passion for storytelling and my skill in creating beautiful content!

Why hadn't I realised this before??!!

A BLUEPRINT OF HOPE

Pen to paper, I listed three of my most valuable assets - Storyteller, Woman, African. 

With these in perspective, I formulated the architecture that would house them all:

• A strong foundation that would comprise of a fine mix of failures, fears and pushback. 
• Walls, dotted with lights wired with the trajectory between my passion and ambition and my reality. 
• Pillars of imagination, skill and authenticity. 
• And as for the ceiling? Nothing. No glass to shatter, no obstruction of my view of the sky either... only its beauty and vastness as a reminder that I could be anyone, anything and go anywhere, if I stayed focused and committed.

Pen to paper, I listed three of my most valuable assets - Storyteller, Woman, African. 

So with the privilege of circumstance, courage and circumspect as my weapons, I braced myself for battle on the field of advocacy...I created Anita Erskine's SHEROES.

OWN YOUR NARRATIVE

Anita Erskine’s SHEROES is my truth and the truths of all the many Women who grace the show with their stories. Their authenticity is their gift to other Women. They teach us that passion through purpose to prosperity, is not a notion... is it a challenging but achievable mission that can be realised by any Women who is willing to work towards it.

LEAVE NO WOMAN BEHIND

My pursuits are inspired by my children, Marley and Nesta, whose arrival in my life set the tone for a future of bold and impactful work.

Today my dedication to Gender Equality holds my career together. I do work to leave no Woman behind. Like a white unicorn flying in the clouds above territories, I blow the conquest trumpet, asking more and more Women to OWN THEIR NARRATIVE without apology, because those life lessons help to arm many other Women with the courage to embark on their own pursuits.

I believe the World’s Women Are Speaking...question is, are you will listening?

The all new season of Anita Erskine's Sheroes launches on March 2 , 2023 only on www.anitaerskinenetwork.com.

Always,