What happens when three strong, ambitious, successful women in the construction industry unite? The powerhouse team behind skill building empowerment platform Workshop& that’s what! Read more to find out how it all relates to a modern career, the productivity tool that you need in your life right now and how free cupcakes fit into this girl gang’s growth plan!
What inspired the creation of Workshop&?
Workshop& is a skill building platform empowering you for a modern career and life. Maybe it was the communal love of cheese, wine, sharing cat videos and maybe even a good meme, our paths collided and we formed our own little aggressively supportive girl gang. We always had this innate feeling that the universe brought us together for some reason; the chance to explore an unequivocal shared passion of ours: empowerment. Our forces joined on event delivery for an industry based NFP association, where we seamlessly and effortlessly worked together to deliver calibre events for the association. During this time, the synergy between us became very clear, as did our complimentary skill sets and strengths played off against each other. Together we make up 100%. We are well aware though that you don’t achieve your full potential or all that you set out to if you don’t have the right tools. We are all equally passionate about educating and personal development. That’s what we are here to do! Provide accessible and practical skill development opportunities to inspire action, and what we each always wish for each other; empowerment, growth, continual successes, general kicking butt.
Tell us more about the powerhouse ladies behind this empowerment platform
We’re driven, decisive, eager to take action, and yearning to be part of something greater than our individual selves. We are each individually strong, ambitious, and successful women in the construction industry, driven to the power of ten to empower, inspire, and give back.
First we have Amanda. She’s awesome. Tenacious and driven, she is passionate about creating connections between individuals to grow and knowledge share. Known to be a perfectionist with an eye for detail, Amanda is our operations superstar and thrives on the successful delivery of our workshops and events, flawless in execution and phased by no challenge.
Then we have Elinor! She is passionate about creating opportunities that allow people to access knowledge and skills for growth, and strongly values the importance of being on a continuous development journey. Elinor is primarily focused on content generation, vision planning and financial management for Worskhop&.
Last but not least, Mersi. She is a machine, more efficient than you can imagine and creative like no one else. Mersi has been described as “one of a kind” (formal investigation results pending) with an abundant supply of magic dust and humour. She’s busy doing our strategy, branding and marketing and all things visuals, but we keep it simple by making her official title “Magic Mersi”. Mersi is passionate about creating growth opportunities for all people, whatever stage in their career they are at.
We are totally on board with empowering and inspiring others, which is what Workshop& is all about! What are your current key offerings to encourage others on their career and personal development journeys?
Free cupcakes! Ok not yet but it’s part of our strategic growth. We have recently launched our Slay Today to-do list notepad that allows for:
1. Strategic focus of the top three priorities for the day. For when ticking off the important items, one reinforces success as a habit
2. Notes in the dotted section for supplementary actions to meet your daily goals. Dots can also be used for drawing and connecting which is very fun
3. Tracking of ancillary activities like meetings and emails in the dedicated sections so as to have a clear visualization of the day ahead
4. The overall satisfaction of ticking boxes and crossing things off, ready to slay another day!
Other than notepads which you cannot live without, we offer workshops, seminars and networking events. It is a priority for us that our events have an articulated outcome with tangible skills that attendees can implement straight away. We recently ran a workshop on productivity and time management, because management of our most limited asset is pivotal in anything you choose to do. Our first networking event was dedicated to women in construction. It was a magical evening of inspired conversations. Networking in our opinion is a huge part of personal and professional growth, and there is so much value in building connections and relationships with like-minded people.
Reduce to-do list overwhelm and end the days of messy, unorganised lists which aren’t conducive to building successful habits of planning and focusing. It’s one of the ways in which we give people a very functional tool to get to the end of the day and go “Yes! I did so much!”
3 top productivity tips?
1. Write a to-do list every day. Generally, write things down! Brain dumping either ideas, priorities, long or short term goals brings on a sense of mindfulness and focus which is essential to slaying today, tomorrow, and all consecutive days!
2. Know your why. When you can tie in your activities and goals into your big picture goals, you get a sense of refined focus and drive to go for it.
3. Using the right tools; being surrounded by 30 sticky notes isn’t effective and can be overwhelming. Spend the time to find the right tool, be it offline or online, to help you list your daily goals and prioritise these tasks. This is why we developed the #slaytoday notepad. We needed a tool that worked for us super-busy people that reduced overwhelm by strategic planning, which creates clarity and focus, and allows us to tackle one day at a time with motivation and mindfulness.
What does being women in business mean to you and the best career advice you have received?
Amanda: There is no bigger reward than hearing that you have inspired someone. Understanding that you are your biggest challenge – and celebrating the feeling of empowerment that comes with overcoming self-doubt. Joining forces with my co-founders who share the same aspiration means we are able to inspire others to build the skills required to achieve their own version of success. Embrace failure, for without it there is no success. Build your support network, and surround yourself with people who constantly inspire you to keep going.
Elinor: For me, it’s part of exploring and fulfilling my potential. It’s exciting to generate and implement ideas, become your own economic agent, and work with equally incredible people who have the same vision as you. It’s also an avenue which, with Amanda and Mersi, I can add value to others. You never know who is watching, and how I will simply inspire someone in ways I don’t yet know myself. The best career advice I have received, is to aim high, and then go higher. To know your numbers, and back and believe in yourself at all times, and always know what you want to achieve.
Mersi: A big part of this is believing in yourself and learning to trust your instinct and be willing to learn many minor and major lessons along the way. One such lesson for me is rethinking the conventional idea of success and I have found that very liberating. It also means that along with my co-founders, I can follow my passions, one of which is to empower others and provide professional growth opportunities. Don’t let your lack of confidence get in the way of moving forward and taking on new challenges; just keep going.
“Our first networking event was dedicated to women in construction. It was a magical evening of inspired conversations”.
What we can expect from Workshop& in the future?
We are looking at diversifying our products and service offerings, both from a physical and digital perspective. Building our community is of primary importance, because we are here for them. It’s what they want to learn about. What are the skills they want to work on? What do they need to feel empowered for a modern career and life? We plan on being the go-to on how-to for skills, but centred on a supportive and inspiring community.
Upcoming events
Our next networking event is “Celebrating Success”. We want to celebrate all the successes of our community at this intimate event. We tend to measure success by two conventional metrics; money and power. This doesn’t accommodate for individual definitions, or recognising each one of us as a success, because we all are. This event will bring together like-minded professional individuals to openly engage in sharing their success stories for inspired conversations and renewed motivation for 2019.
Click here to find out more and secure your space for this networking celebration that’s not to be missed!
We identify with so much about this concept and girlboss team! Be sure to include this empowerment platform in your resource toolkit, we know for sure that we have and will continue to!
Connect on Instagram, the facebook community and head to the website to get your very own notepad!
[Editor’s note]: it seems two lists have been included in this feature alone, so clearly it is a skill we have now mastered! now….where’s our #slaytoday notepad?!
TDP xo
