One Step Above

It has been three years now since I started Women’s Web, and what a wonderful journey it has been! Despite being a marketing professional, I have to say, I went with my gut feel rather than any research that showed me that there was an opportunity. I believed that there was space for a community different from the ones that existed, a space where we could have more authentic conversations about the things that matter to us, and grow together.

It’s not been an easy journey but every now and then, we get a letter from a reader that boosts our spirits and tells us that we are on to a good thing, that we’re doing something good together. Step Above, our latest initiative for Women’s Web community meets and learning events is part of this ‘doing good together’ – we’re now extending Women’s Web into the ‘real world’ of face to face meetings and conversations, which always adds a different dimension to relationships.

We are starting small, with an online marketing workshop in 2 cities – Bangalore and Chennai, especially designed for women running small businesses or working as self-employed professionals; we know that a lot of our readers are self-employed, or run businesses, or plan to, so we thought it would be great to start off with that.

For the first workshops (Registrations here for Bangalore and Chennai) we are getting Unmana Datta, who writes a regular career column for Women’s Web, and is Co-Founder, Markitty, a web based tool that recommends actions based on your online marketing activities. She helps small businesses make more effective use of online channels such as website, blog, email marketing and social media. The registrations and payment for these are online at the city links in this paragraph, and I do hope our readers in Bangalore and Chennai are going to be there.

We’re excited that this will be the start of similiar meet-ups where we can learn from experts, but also from each other. That is what I am most excited about – the possibility of taking this supportive space for women one step above; with women working together and learning in a great space. The events in this series will be a combination of paid and free events, and we’ll be focusing on learning for work purposes to start with, but we could also look at other areas that the community is interested in. So, do send me your thoughts or any feedback you have about this project, either here in the comments, or you can always send in a mail to [email protected]

And as for the name – we tested 4 different names with readers, and this one came out tops. After all, who doesn’t want to be a Step Above? Here’s to all of us stepping above ourselves and going on to better things!

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