Friendships, Laughter, and Questionable Hair Colour

What do you get when you dress a load of women in black and tell them to wear red lipstick?

Friendships, laughter and some questionable hair colour by yours truly.

Rewind to September 2018

I had spent the previous evening at an at-home hair salon that clearly had all the gear but no idea. I was there for 6 hours. The aim? A silver tone style that would pop for the photoshoot the next day. I left the salon at 10.30 pm the night before the shoot with hair that resembled Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter. I’ve never watched the films, but I knew about his hair, and mine was a dead ringer.

By 12.30 am, I had used a full bottle of purple shampoo to tone it down and was ready to shave it all off, but I knew deep down, I could not carry off the Sinead O’Connor look. I retired to bed, dreading the next day.

The Day of the photoshoot

After around 5 hours of sleep, I packed the buffet food, the laptop, the makeup, pens, workbooks, and everything else needed for a morning presentation for my workshop, Elevator Pitch to Passion Pitch. A session that helps those in business at networks, talk about their achievements and grow in confidence when public speaking. I love to present it, and it will also be available as an online resource. I was dressed in a jumpsuit (I love a jumpsuit), but it was blue with purple accessories. Not to worry, I had my black number ready to go in the car, ironed along with accessories to hide the weird Malfroy/Purple mix I had going on with the hair.  

The Malfroy/ Purple mix

Workshop presented, stories told, and confidence built for those in attendance. I put out the lunch ready for the women who were joining us for the photo shoot. Nipped to the car to get my outfit, and no, nothing, nada, it was not there. Husband sent me a helpful snap of it hung over the bannister. I had forgotten my black outfit! Disaster

The Photo Shoot had 3 Criteria

• Wear Black

• Wear Red lipstick

• Have a story of transition or change in your personal or career.
  

I could tick only one of those, and I was one of the organisers!

What happens when women come together?

We rescue each other with a smile, with encouragement and with a spare black dress magicked out of the boot of a car. One of the amazing women who was at the afternoon had bags of clothing in the car for the women's refuge, she supported. There was a black dress, hurrah, I was no longer the misfit. Another loaned me a lipstick, and numerous people told me my hair looked fab. Which I must admit made me question how bad it was before!  

The project was the launch for the book Create Work Earn. By Vivienne Neale 

I wrote a few chapters for the book relating to confidence and gratitude. On the evening of the launch, there was a loop of photographs taken, celebrating the amazing women who took part and their achievements.

What happens when women come together?

Back in September 2018, a group of women who had all experienced changes in their lives joined together. Friendships were forged, laughter was had, and photographs were taken for a project. A group of women, all dressed in black, wearing red lipstick, each one had experienced and navigated change in their lives. After the photoshoot, the group Inspiring Women was formed, and the community grew. Currently, there are just under 1000 women in the group.  Mostly UK-based, not by design, but we grew organically as friends invited friends.

So much has happened in the 8 years since launch. We have celebrated births and marriages, and we have supported challenges, loss and grief. We have overcome confidence and career woes and celebrated breakthroughs and promotions. Flippin' eck, we even got through a pandemic - who saw that coming in 2018! 

Let's do it again

The women had all experienced a change in their lives. There has been much change in those 8 years. My hair is much darker, lesson learnt there, I am au natural for the first time in decades. It took me a while to ditch the dye, and I will never say never. It took me no time at all to ditch the black dress. I rarely wear black.I do wear lipstick and occasionally will don a femme fatal red, but I much prefer a neutral shade that doesn’t bleed into those pesky fine lines.

8 years is too long to not connect in person, isn’t it?

Let’s celebrate the unwavering support women give each other.

Let's have some photos taken. Let's celebrate our individuality. It's come as you are.

I'd love to see you there.

Feeling Shy? Not a problem at all if you don’t want to take part in the photoshoot.

Who is the event for?

Women who are part of the Inspiring Women Group, if you aren’t already a member, please join here.

Women who love to meet others and make new connections face-to-face as well as online.

Women who are perhaps a little shy and would like the comfort blanket that

Inspiring Women provides. We got you!

Full Details here, register for your free ticket. It's on Friday, the 22nd of May, in Sheffield, with lots of free parking and transport links.