All About You Series: Women supporting women

The woman of today is different. The woman of today is not afraid to speak her mind, to stand tall, to defend herself, and to be confident. The woman of today is able to own up to her truth. She can embrace her womanhood while still feeling adequate. And even though there are many facets to the evolution of women coming into their own, a pertinent reason seems to be rooted in the notion of camaraderie within the community. Women supporting women. While one may have come across this as a ‘fashionable’ hashtag on social media, it is important to decode the magnitude of power behind this simple phrase. In a landscape that often triumphs in animosity and unfair competition, women coming out in support of other women calls for a celebration.

The third edition of the All About You, presented by The PosH Studio by Shefali Munshi and wknd., took place at L’Apero, Sofitel Downtown Dubai, on June 27, and brought women from different walks of life to celebrate each other. The platform fostered meaningful discourse, for women, by women, on a variety of pertinent topics, including financial feminism, social media for SMEs, beating the fear of aging and the vitality of conscious parenting. The afternoon kickstarted with a relaxing sound healing session by well-being coach Delna Anand of Miracles Wellbeing and Self-Empowerment Centre and was followed by panel discussions.

The first session of the afternoon, on social media for SMEs, comprised Sujata Assomull, author and senior journalist, and Priya Patel-Chomel, head of product growth marketing at Facebook (Middle East, Turkey and Africa). The discussion explored various topics that determine the success of small to medium sized creators on social media. Essaying the relevance of hashtags and captions, Sujata enquired how important are words in the world of Instagram? “Using hashtags is very important if you want your content to be surfaced and found. We have a limit of 30 hashtags, we found that the average is 11 but we tend to say 6 or 7. You can mix them up and see which ones are relevant to your content,” explained Priya. “You can also check which ones are popular. The more popular they are, the more you can surface your content. It’s important to not repeat the hashtags for every post.”

A woman’s independence is as much a result of conscious choices as it is about taking ownership of their finances and the second session on financial feminism instilled just that. The discussion was carried out by Jessica Robinson, founder and managing director, Moxie Future, and Meher Mirchandani, author, entrepreneur and coach. “I put pen to paper because I wanted to build a movement and encourage women to not only take control of the investments they make but also where they invest their money,” said Jessica, who has written Financial Feminism. “The whole concept of financial feminism is essentially that women need to invest more. We’re simply not doing enough of it.”

Meher, author of Come Alive: Don’t Just Exist, spoke about the importance of self-love in the journey to financial freedom. “There’s a lack mentality and an abundance mentality. When you’re not fulfilled, you always feel a lack and that has nothing to do with your bank balance, it is a feeling that you have inside. Abundance mentality comes when you’re doing what you love and you’re in love with yourself.”

The modern-day narrative of health and fitness is no stranger to the importance of yoga, as a vital form of wellbeing. But what has not got so much prominence is the multitude of benefits that a face yoga ritual has. The third session of the afternoon, facilitated by Isadora Peric, face yoga expert and founder, The Fit Face, explored the benefits of using face tools for relaxation and why women fear ageing. “Through the concept of pro-ageing, I understood that ageing doesn’t have to be something that we fight, it can be something that we embrace. We can flow with life and we can still look fabulous if our choices are made exclusively by us, for us,” she said.

The final session of the afternoon was facilitated by Natasha Bajaj, a budding author and entrepreneur, who was in conversation with conscious parenting coach and wknd. columnist, Kavita Srinivasan. Motherhood in the modern age is a sea of possibilities that rests on perseverance of women across generations that have brought it to where it stands today. “Children, no matter how young, are human beings. Treat them as equals because they are your equals. In fact, they’re way superior to us in many ways because they’re so pure in their feelings. Treat them with respect,” highlighted Kavita, while navigating some of the ways parents can forge better relationships with their children. Natasha, who’s also a mother of a five-year-old, spoke about bullying that children are often exposed to from an early age and how parents can support them adequately in these uncomfortable situations. “Children keep going through the same cycle again and again without knowing how to deal with it. They’re sensitive human beings and don’t know how to rebel at such an early age,” added Natasha, encouraging parents to have open conversations with their children about how certain situations may make them feel.

The afternoon concluded with the guests receiving exclusive gift bags from Body Truth Soaps and savouring a delectable spread at L’Apero, amid creatives designed by Mekades Design, bringing the space alive with a celebration of candid conversations.

somya@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai