Women In Business - Members Morning Tea

Tuesday 25 February 2014

The Women in Business WA word is getting out there! The recent morning tea event was abuzz with new and existing members and the word is spreading.

The word I’m referring to is that Women In Business WA is an inclusive, honest and energetic community that, under the leadership of WIBWA Director Jennifer Rose Bryant, strives to create connections and success amongst members.

Jennifer invited attendees to share about whatever interested them or to ask a question about something you are looking for within your business.

“With more than 130 Women In Business WA members I also encouraged you to actively participate on the WIBWA Leading Ladies Facebook wall, to ask a question or simply interact on some level,” Jennifer said.

“There are personal, business and financial benefits waiting for women interested in creating opportunities within WIBWA. You can host an event like this or, in liaison with me, create an event with a synergistic WIBWA member to highlight your business and provide a networking opportunity for members.”

At the Morning Tea event on Tuesday 25 February more than 20 members gathered at The Peasants Table in Mt Hawthorn for fab food and conversation. The group boasted four first-event members and it was great to hear from them about their business and passion.

As well as new members it was great to hear from existing members like Faye Bastow from Leederville / North Perth Physiotherapy Centre. Faye has been in the physio industry for more than 40 years and said something that really stuck with me – the human body hasn't changed but our expectations of what our body can and will do have changed. Faye also questioned why we service our cars regularly but not our bodies? A great question. What do you think?

I enjoy seeing Jacqueline Armstrong at WIBWA events – she always has a warm smile to share. Jackie, from New In Town, is a life saver for people moving to Perth from interstate or overseas. As the Principal it’s her job to find anything and everything from a home to move into to schools for the children to attend; packing up the house, moving house and even filling the fridge. From experience I can also tell you she is a ready and willing to provide advice and direction.

The lucky last lady we heard from at the morning tea was Kelly Prime from Kelly Prime. Kelly is an energetic and charismatic woman who teaches people how to speak with a focus on tone of voice and what comes out of our mouth. With a background in high school drama and English teaching, Kelly uses her skills and passion to assist people to play and grow within teams and establish the right belief systems in place to support them.

It was a pleasure to meet Kelly and other first-time WIBWA event attendees Diann Bates from Creative Fruition, Sharon Thomas from The Reconnection and Silvia Pace from the Silvia Pace Group|The Avenue Business & Property Marketing.

I look forward to seeing you at the next Women In Business WA event – for details about the next event click here.

By Kim Kamarudin

Clear Blue Writing

Scuba Kim - Shark Sighting

If you don’t already know it my husband and I are passionate and regular scuba divers. The types of animals we come across under the water range from prawns in the Swan River, wild dolphins at Point Peron and sharks at Rottnest Island.

There is a lot of talk about sharks at the moment with the introduction of shark baiting and culling off the WA coast.

As well as attending recent Shark Protection Rallies at Cottesloe Beach, hubby and I have been scuba diving at Rotto. In fact, I came across my first Grey Nurse shark while scuba diving at ‘Low Caves’ in January.

I was following my diver buddy hubby in to a wide open cave when a 1.5metre Grey Nurse swam past us and continued on in to the cave.

It took my breath away and slowed my senses according to the video footage. Yes, my initial reaction was one of fear and thus the hand holding toe GroPro stopped moving. But in the moment I also knew that if that shark, in its home, had wanted to take a chunk out of me I would not have seen it coming. A healthy fear and respect for sharks is important and an understanding is even more important.

Grey Nurse sharks are generally not aggressive sharks and known affectionately within the diving community as the ‘Labrador of the ocean.’

The shark did not attack, it was curious. Perhaps it had heard the motors of our underwater scooters and wanted a closer look. Nonetheless it came within metres of us and kept swimming. Curious ourselves we following at a reasonable distance as it turned in the cave and swam away.

When it was out of sight my hubby turned to me and with the biggest grin on his face that went all the way to his eyes and he gave me two thumbs up like he was saying “That was cool!”

It was cool, it was amazing, it was precious and it was sacred and the thought of that shark swimming to within one kilometre of WA shores and falling prey to a baited hook is very, very sad.

Sitting amongst the 6,000 plus crowd at Cottesloe Beach listening to speakers share about the latest undersized shark to die from drowning after being caught on a baited hook, I cried.

Listening to facts about the decreasing number of sharks and the $6,000 a day cost of the baiting program, I cried.

Watching three Fisheries boats cruise past the rally on the way to check baited hooks instead of carrying out much-needed research and shark tagging programs, I cried.

I realise people fear sharks and want to feel safe going in to the ocean however baiting and killing them cannot be the answer. Education, awareness and research are just some ways to address the issue of shark attacks.

Below are some simple tips to keep you safe;
· Swim between the flags at beaches patrolled by surf life savers
· Swim with others
· Avoid swimming during twilight hours or at night
· Stay close to shore
· Do not swim with an open wound or if menstruating
· Avoid swimming in cloudy water or where animal, human or fish waste enter the water as these attract sharks

For more information visit www.fish.wa.gov.au | www.sharksmart.com.au | www.nosharkcull.org

Women In Business WA - Vorian Agency Boardroom Luncheon

Tuesday 4 February 2014

Exciting things are happening within Women in Business WA and after attending the first Vorian Agency-lead member Boardroom Lunch I am excited too!

Women In Business Director Jennifer Rose Bryant has expertly and VERY cleverly created a partnership with Vorian Agency to provide members with an impressive range of online and offline marketing services which according to Jennifer will ensure 100% success rates for members.

As one of 10 members invited to attend this initial event and as someone considering taking on WIBWA ‘Engage’ level of membership I was lucky enough to benefit from an informative session with Managing Director Megan Del Borrello and Account Manager Katrina Giura to learn about search marketing integration.

Photo courtesy of WIBWA Director Jennifer Rose Bryant

If words like robot.txt, crawls, duplicate content and a chrononicle error sound like gobbley-goop then you will understand the confused looks and questions that Megan and Katrina expertly and gently answered so as to not overwhelm us too much.

Megan and Katrina shared about keys things to do in relation to online marketing like having a good domain name that represents what you do and updating your quality content regularly in order to maintain your search engine ranking.

Megan recommended using video content and highlighted the importance of optimising videos and images.

It was clear from the session that the team at Vorian Agency know what they are doing and are ready and willing to assist start-up and established businesses with online and offline marketing needs.

PLUS the lunch provided was delish!

Over lunch WIBWA members had the opportunity to introduce ourselves and although I don’t have space to tell you about all of them I will share about a few :o)

Suzette van der Heijden has an amazing story and journey to share – look out for this lady at a future WIBWA event. Suzette is Chief Editor at Merise Magazine which is aimed at and welcomes migrants to Australia. The magazine was  created in 2011 and initially focused on the South African market however it is now opening up to other nationalities. Suzette shared that starting the magazine was the bravest thing she has ever done. Awesome!

It was lovely to see Sheryll Fisher from Outback Initiatives again and despite having already participated in one of the groups programs I still got excited listening to Sheryll share about what these guys do and provide. In short Outback Initiatives is a Perth-based leadership development company that provides outback adventures for individuals, groups, businesses, and companies.

“I feel privileged to be able to watch the transformation that occurs during our programs,” Sheryll shared.

I can certainly attest to that!

I have heard Pauline Bright from Bright Business speak a couple of times and she has some great strategies and tools to help people get better at business.

Pauline’s business coaching services focus a lot on money and what business owners actually want to earn. Then she works with people to implement strategies that ‘lights them up.’

Do you think you would have benefitted from this Boardroom Lunch? If so, contact Jennifer Rose Bryant about Women In Business WA membership options.

Women In Business WA - Murdoch University Morning Tea

A handful of Women in Business members were fortunate to obtain a seat at the Murdoch University Women’s Networking Morning Tea with Special Guest Her Excellency the Honourable Quentin Bryce AC CVO, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia on 3 February 2014. 

Director of Women in Business WA, Jennifer Bryant was contacted by the Chair of the African Women’s Council of Australia and Murdoch University's Gender Equality, Diversity and Social Justice Manager, Dr Casta Tungaraza about the event.

Casta personally invited WIBWA members to attend and was excited to include us in the booked out event.

Her Excellency the Honourable Quentin Bryce is a gracious, graceful and beautiful woman. She spoke eloquently to the audience, acknowledging the contribution of women and vital importance of networking and networks as the foundation of communities and change.

She shared about feeling humble to have experienced so many ‘pinch me’ moments in her role as Governor-General, and the amazing women she has had the privilege to meet. She said she had learned over the over again that women share powerful bonds that transcend boundaries and that each of us stands on the shoulders of the feisty women who came before us.

Her Excellency spoke very highly of Dr Casta Tungaraza and her contribution and described her as a marvellous role model.

After formalities Women In Business WA members enjoyed morning tea and networking with other impressive women like Dr Marny Lishman from Clarity Health who is a health and community psychologist. She works with people to overcome physical, social and emotional challenges including health issues, pain, fatigue, sleep problems and depression.

I also had the pleasure of meeting marketing specialist Ruth O’Dwyer from Pestel Marketing who provides marketing solutions for an affordable price and she is passionate about living and eating sustainably.

A new member to WIBWA is Diane Slater. This was Diane’s first event and we welcomed her to Women In Business WA and look forward to hearing more about this amazing woman.