Maimie-Jean Lamley, founder of Empowerment on Fire, delivered a passionate monologue urging women to find their inner voice and telling them ‘you are what the world needs’, on Day 1 (8 May) of the week-long Women Economic Forum (WEF) 2017.
Lamley listed the qualities of a ‘hero’, and urged women to carry their voices ‘far and wide’, and added that the “three steps a hero takes to define herself are- knowing yourself, speaking your truth, and sharing your gift”. These, according to Lamley, are “small steps, and small acts of courage” which entail empowering the heroic voice.
She then carried out an interactive session where she asked the audience to answer three questions — who are you, and what are you committed to? what do you stand for? how can I count on you?
The women were then asked to form pairs and ask each other the three questions, whilst declaring ‘you are a hero, you are my soul sister’, giving the women the inner strength to empower their heroic voice and forming companions to resonate their strength. “Heroic voices are the ability to connect,” added Lamley, after telling the women that they are the ‘architects of their life’ and that they can ‘construct their own foundation’.
The WEF conference brings together women from all spheres to talk about women empowerment and gender disparity, among others.
Babeeta Sakxena, social entrepreneur and director of Let’s Give Back foundation, carried on the next part of the session, where she urged women to become ‘clutter-free’. After recounting her own experience as an actor, singer, dancer and events manager, she went on to empower the female audience by asking them to “be happy with whoever they are”. She even added that, in order to inspire someone, one must be “inspirational in their own eyes”, urging the women to share their stories, as “when we share, we become more powerful”.
The session concluded with Lamley distributing motivational cards to the audience, titled ‘The Empowered Woman’, with self-empowering quotes like “I am healthy; my mind is brilliant; my soul is tranquil!” and “I take action and allow space for attraction”. After that, women from the audience shared their own personal anecdotes of overcoming challenges and becoming triumphant, giving the listeners motivation to face obstacles and rise up to the occasion, fearlessly and confidently.
BW Reporters
The author is correspondent at BW Businessworld, he has a keen interest in sustainability and environmental economics