Female empowerment and breaking down barriers

This week I had the privileged of attending a local workshop hosted by Second City and sponsored by LUNA – you know the female version of Clif Bars? I wasn’t planning on writing a post about the afternoon, but am feeling differently this morning. I feel empowered. I learned something, and best of all I got to do it alongside other bold, brash and enlightened Chicago women. It was refreshing to spend an afternoon getting outside of our comfort zones and exposing our vulnerabilities.

I consider these women my peers. We are all working towards a similar goal. We have our own passions, insecurities, strengths and areas of improvement that are unique to us. We are empowered in our own way and are revolutionizing the way others experience the world. However, there still seems to be threads of envy and competition amongst my peers. Wednesday afternoon those were put aside.

First, I think we need to constantly remind ourselves that our worth isn’t measured by the number of Instagram followers we have or likes on our Facebook posts. Many of us have positive and beautiful messages to share, but are not getting the proper exposure. We need to start supporting each other. An easy way to start is with social media. Let’s follow one-another on Instagram and share posts that inspire us instead of hiding behind our screens hoping that “our peers” don’t get as many likes or shares as us (you know you’re guilty). Let’s build upon our community of bold, brash, empowering and creative women instead of turning shades of green with envy. We’re in this together and we can do a better job busting down the barriers of our ego and start being more “others focused” – something we discussed at the workshop this week. What a novel idea.

 Do you want your peers to fail or do you want to see each other succeed? Let’s start collaborating instead of co-existing. If you know a bold, empowering female in Chicago please tag them in this post and let them know how they have empowered you! I’m going to take my own advice and tag a few bold Chicago women that have empowered me over the years. I want to thank them for building me up instead of pushing me down. The world needs more women like you. Corporations need more women like you and Chicago needs more women like you.

Female Empowerment. A novel idea indeed.

Photo credit, Steve Ewert

#PayItForward