Eyestorm
AMPLIFYING WOMEN’S VOICES TO CREATE LASTING CHANGE
WOMEN GAINING CONFIDENCE TO SPEAK UP
When women get together in a group and raise their game, something magic happens. We can push through boundaries, create new space and the vibrations start transmitting on a higher frequency that blows us away!
On Saturday 23rd November, there was pure magic in the air, as the ballroom at King Alfred in Hove filled with people ready to be wooed. Nine speakers stepped on stage to give individual speeches on such diverse topics as decluttering and trauma response.
These women have been through the 8-week EyeStorm Women Speaker Programme, and were now “graduating” with their talks, on stage, in front of a live audience and a film camera. The talks were deeply personal and some of them were stories told for the very first time.
The Deputy Mayor of Brighton and Hove, Cllr Amanda Grimshaw BEM greeted us all with a lovely welcome speech.
Sophie Sheinwald was brave enough to go first with her talk “How do we shine” and the complications of asking someone to “Just Be You” in front of the camera.
Many of us feel blocks and fears of speaking in public, so much that it’s said to rank higher than death on the list of what we most fear. How wrong is this! When did this happen? And how can we repair all these damaged speaking nerves? Well it has to be done.
For hundreds of years now, women have been classed as secondary citizens, and they’ve been prevented from speaking up or even participating in discussions. No rights to vote, no rights to engage in politics or education, and being subservient to their husbands who have been the sole owners of the microphone.
Tamara Soutar spoke about how to “Empower up your health”
Shannon Murphy, “The Clutter Epidemic” and how all of us and our planet can feel better with fewer things.
And the youngest speaker of the day, 15-year-old BACA student Shahad Ali, spoke about “The sexualisation of women and girls in fashion”, she delivered a passionate and engaging talk on a heavy topic.
Yose Perez’s talk was called “Turning fear into courage: My path to new life”, a deeply personal journey from being diagnosed with lupus and creating her new life
Unfair you say? Have a look around the world and you’ll see that women are still muted by either law or fear in many countries.
This has created a deep generational wound even within women who now have the right and all possibilities to speak up. And it needs to be healed. From the inside out.
So these blocks and fears can be very deep and very old. In fact, we heard Nicola McDonald say that it started already when she was a child, and a teacher’s dismissal of her essay left her feeling that she wasn’t good enough for decades.
Emily Jacob held a strong talk called “The Gentle Revolution: Replacing Fear with Joy” based on living with the current turmoil in the world and moving forward with calm.
And Nicola McDonald “The Introvert’s Paper Playground”, another deeply personal journey from her childhood and onwards on how we can progress with the help of writing.
The women on that stage took their own reins and stepped forward to crush through their barriers of fear to embrace their own stories, the power within and the new opportunities not only for themselves, but to support others with their expertise and experience.
This was the third speaker cohort that has been through the EyeStorm Women training, but we’re still blown away by the quality of the deliveries. There has been fear. There has even been a tear or two. Some almost pulled out on the days leading up to the event. But no one has ever regretted getting onto that stage. Every single one of them feels proud and boosted – and wants to do more!
Adrienne Say asked the audience “Would You Walk Barefoot On The Grass In November?” and managed to convince everyone that they indeed would, and even should, with her engaging talk.
We have seen a stream of applications after previous groups have done the training, to do TEDx talks, to speak at conferences and even to start their own podcasts.
The women have gone on to set up their own Community Interest Companies, become board members and started their own programmes. They started charging more for their work. They’ve stepped forward to speak up.
This is what the whole purpose is with the training – to strengthen women’s confidence to build up a more equal world. And for each woman who steps forward to speak up, she creates a ripple effect across the whole world so that even more women can do so.
“Incredibly exciting, empowering and liberating!”
“I would never have done this without the training”
“Your training and support – together with the support of the group – has been instrumental in me having the courage to really step up. As you know I was so nervous, no terrified at the idea of being totally me. Authentic, honest and vulnerable and share my story, in the hope it inspires others.
The gentle process of writing and then doing the talk, and then being encouraged to share it has been so powerful.”
Susanna Petche, Speaker Alumni and Winner of the 2024 EyeStorm Women Speaker Award
To sign up to the EyeStorm Speaker training or become a member of our Community, have a look at the details here:
www.eyestorm.org.uk/membership-options
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