Our flagship event, Festival Of Doers brought together ambitious, driven women from around the world. It was a meeting of women who are tired of sticking with the status quo. Women who are ready to take charge of their own lives, step outside of their comfort zone and start living a bigger life.

Rather than discussing what is wrong with the world and how women don’t get paid or promoted equally, it offered attendees a chance to learn from each other, lots of ‘aha’ (and ‘oh shit’) moments, open an vulnerable talks and an opportunity to meet other women who share a similar mindset. The DrivenWoman principles were integrated into the day: attendees wrote down their goals, shared their dreams & ideas and identified action points which, they would be putting into practice the very next day. When women come together to support each other magic happens.

The DrivenWoman model represents the new kind of thinking, a new ecosystem, aiming to create value on all levels: physical, emotional, spiritual and financial, bringing women together to build their own future.

Rather than waiting for the world to change we are creating a new world based on our values.

DrivenWoman founder Miisa Mink told the audience that it is their responsibility to find what brings them joy, follow their excitement and find their ‘treasure’, their unique gifts and share them with the world. Women should stop accepting daily struggle as a norm. “If you are in an environment that doesn’t appreciate your brilliance, take it somewhere else.”

“Purpose is not a job tittle.” Carin Rockind encouraged everyone to define their purpose as a verb rather than a noun. Is your purpose to teach? To inspire? To challenge? To disrupt? You are not just a mother, or a career girl, or an athlete, or a girlfriend. You can and should be all you want to be! Carin’s practical tip was that you should make a list of all your regrets and then make all of them happen one by one.

Joanna Montgomery took the audience through her long and often difficult road to launching her product Pillow Talk just couple of weeks ago. She revealed the messy back story of building a start-up and how it took her seven years to get here. She explained how it frustrates her that most start-up talk is sprinkled with exaggeration and that the truth is often far from the glittery image people try to let you believe. “Speak the truth even if your voice shakes.”

Bonnie Chiu explained how seeing a quote “If you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far go together” had inspired her to start Lensational, a charity that empowers women through photography. Bonnie explained how becoming more aware about women’s issues and enlightened human has helped her to connect to herself better and reach her potential.

Hazel Gale brought the whole audience to tears with her deeply vulnerable talk about her inability to accept and celebrate her victories as a kickboxing champion and her journey to ‘being enough’. “Don’t write off victories as a fluke or a chance.” She helped the audience identify their limiting beliefs as mindmonsters. ‘Fight — lessons from battles won & lost‘ , her book on the psychology of self-sabotage and how to take control, is available for pre-order. “What ever you fight you strengthen, what ever you resists, persists.” – Eckhart Tolle

Vaynermedia’s Chief Heart Officer Claude Silver shared her turning points and her bumpy ride to success and encouraged everyone to keep searching for their true voice. Soft skills is a bad word for skills that are the most important in today’s work place. “Connection, empathy, trust + accountability, longevity, resilience = a team driven by purpose and built for speed.”

These are just couple of highlights from the day, dubbed ‘the most empowering day of the year’.

“This is the best seminar I’ve ever attended. Everyone here is super authentic and strong, in a way of showing vulnerability and honesty. Nobody is wearing masks and I have made so many connections that will lead to friendship and shared projects. The speakers were amazing and I had a real light bulb moment in the afternoon workshop. I couldn’t be happier that I came.” summarised Victoria, one of the festival goers who took a day off work to come to the sold out event.

The final highlight of the day was announcing that DrivenWoman is crowdfunding on Crowdcube offering everyone an opportunity to get equity in a fast growing women’s empowering business and supporting women to take small steps to big goals. The campaign opened 74% of the £100,000 funding target already reached!

Save the date, Festival Of Doers is on 25.1.2019 in London.

~ Miisa