By Melissa Goforth
The Evening News and the Tribune, Jeffersonville, Ind.
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) Local female professionals, entrepreneurs and community leaders joined forces at the “W.E.W Power Breakfast Series” to have an authentic conversation about life.
JEFFERSONVILLE
“Your greatness has to be known, because your greatness is going to help someone else.”
Those words of inspiration from Jessica Taylor captured the essence of Friday’s W.E.W. (Women Empowering Women) Power Breakfast.
The local vegan chef who is also an entrepreneur, motivational speaker and educator said women must choose to embrace and celebrate their own unique traits, abilities and accomplishments so they can help other women do the same.
“We are taught to not boast, but that’s not boasting though. Boasting is ‘I got this, and I got that,'” Taylor said snapping her fingers. “See, these are talents and gifts. No, you’re not bragging.”
The W.E.W. Power Breakfast series provides opportunities for “extraordinary women from all walks of life to inspire and equip women to live their lives on their terms,” according to event information.
These activities are designed to bring women professionals, entrepreneurs and community leaders together to have “an authentic conversation about life, in the pursuit of success, family, happiness, wealth and equality.”
More than two dozen attendees braved the chilly morning weather to bask in the warmth and comfort served up in abundance inside The Carriage House at the Howard Steamboat Museum.
The breakfast was presented by brand marketing and photography firm F5 Enterprises and hosted by Teah Williams-Hampton, a local licensed clinical social worker in private practice.
In addition to Taylor, the event’s panelists also included Jesika Young, president/ CEO of Cimtech, and Michelle Huber, director of marketing and communication for Fuzzy Zoeller Golf Courses and Zoeller’s personal assistant.
Williams-Hampton also peppered the conversation with her thoughts while moderating the event, providing the voice of a professional therapist who has witnessed first-hand how damaging low self-esteem can be on a person’s heart, mind and soul.
The four women sat around a small table on a raised stage and dished on life from a variety of angles — from overcoming bad relationships to earning respect on the job to setting the right examples for future generations.
The conversation was interactive with the audience and filled with engaging dialogue that was bubbling over with honesty, humor, sass and hard truth.
“Any belief that you have that causes you pain or misery is usually a lie, and it is something that somebody taught us — implicitly or explicitly,” Williams-Hampton said.
Women can struggle throughout life due to that negativity, she said, as well as the conflicting messaging they’ve received throughout life regarding gender roles and societal expectations.
Despite all the inner conflict, Williams-Hampton said women need to remember to be kind to themselves — and not feel guilty about it.
“There’s a difference between self care and selfishness,” she said.
Young agreed.
“I think sometimes, as women, that we can often say we aren’t enough,” she said. “You are enough…you can celebrate your ‘enough-ness.'”
Huber said women often second-guess themselves, especially in their careers, but it is crucial to walk into every professional situation prepared, informed and equipped with confidence gained through positive self talk.
“I work to be educated on what I am doing,” she said. “I don’t get intimidated.”
Whether it’s at home, with friends or at work, each member of the panel stressed that women need to practice self-reflection and meditation to better understand and love themselves on all fronts.
Once they get in touch with who they are and what shaped them, then they can adjust their thoughts, behaviors and tendencies accordingly for optimal success.
“Just be aware, we can’t even take our community or our children to the next level until we take ourselves to the next level and understand how powerful we are,” Taylor said. “And, we all have to work on that.”
