Women in Business – A Celebration
Amazing day of networking, celebration and inspiration today hosted by Kent County Council’s Women’s Enterprise programme at Maidstone.
It was the final event of the Kent County Council’s women’s enterprise programme which the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) have been supporting.
Today was a celebration of the achievements of the women on the programme and as Champion for Women in Business for the FSB Kent I was overjoyed to see and hear from so many successful women in business.
Penny Power OBE kicked off the event with her moving story of how she has overcome many obstacles including an unsuccessful business, to be the incredible, inspiring and brilliantly hard working entrepreneur and supporter of women, that she is today.
Amy McManus of AM Marketing spoke next and was so passionate about encouraging more women to enter the digital world. She is a fabulous young role model demonstrating to us all that it really doesn’t matter how young you are, if you put your mind to it, you can achieve whatever you want to.
Next up was a very brave man! Daniel Knowlton of KPS Digital Marketing. He did an amazing job of controlling and presenting to a room full of ambitious, noisy, business women! He shared valuable tips about how video can transform your online presence.
As always the networking at lunchtime was busy noisy and there was a real buzz in the room. Great to see so many women fired up and raring to do business together. Plenty of collaboration and sharing was taking place.
After a great lunch including free samples of Propercorn!! Yum! Was the talented Hilary Steel, who shared her 3 key principles for success. Imagination, energy and resilience and after sticking to those 3 principles you cannot fail to success which leads of course to the celebration and celebrations with Hilary are no celebration without fizz which is why I always want to be part of her celebrations!
Lastly we heard from Lisa and Wendy from Vintage Vibe. They have taken their family run business from strength to strength and have just moved to bigger, better premises at Kent’s Hop Farm. They shared their journeys that have brought them both to now running a successful business and playing to their skills. Everyone in the room was encouraged by how quickly their business has grown. Real women overcoming real issues, role models extraordinaire.
It was really interesting from my perspective that every speaker at some point, touched on the importance of your personal brand. It was echoed throughout the day in terms of building relationships being an expert, standing out and being true.
Dressing your brand is a key element of building your strong personal brand. Being authentic and demonstrating your expertise is something you can do to ensure that you represent your personal brand in the best way. Making the best first impression both on and off line is crucial in establishing trust and communications.
All in all a brilliant worthwhile and memorable event. Congratulations to everyone involved and who attended.