This is MentHerShip

An unlearning, too.

04.07.18

We themed our inaugural session of Ment.Her.Ship "Welcome to the Jungle" because that's how finding a balance between the personal and professional feels like at this stage in our lives. And maybe it always will.

When Hannah and I started our business 3 years ago we knew we cared about making positive change in the world and hoped to find ways to make women feel empowered. We didn't know how to begin except by empowering ourselves first. We did this through the rough, slow grind that is building a business while seeking some sense of normalcy in our personal lives.

There have been a million little failures and a few big triumphs along our path to where we've landed today and though some hurt our pride like hell, we tried to learn from every single one.

One of the biggest lessons we've learned so far from our entrepreneurship journey in Vancouver is to seek community. Foster connections. Cherish your work friendships. Because it helps. At the end of the day we learn much more from others than we do from ourselves. There's strength in numbers.

When we had finally felt like we had gotten our sea legs (and had enough Pinot Noir under our belts) we got to dreaming about how we could share the small things we've learned with young women who feel as lost we did trying to find the "right" job. And still do sometimes. 

Enter Ment.Her.Ship.

Ment.Her.Ship is more of a concept than an "event." It's the idea that if we can get a group of women together in a safe, fun space to chat about what matters to them right now, inside the office and out, that a kind of dynamic support system could naturally grow from those small beginnings. From their brave honesty.

And it did! With our good friend and fearless entrepreneur Ainsley Rose by our side, we were blown away by the group of women who came together from all different industries and stages of life to have a glass of wine and chat about their biggest challenges right now.

Some of which we knew like the back of our own hand; not knowing whether you're happy in your current position, feeling unsure of when to ask for more, uncertain of when to leave. Being afraid to go out on your own. Not even being aware of what exactly you want from your career, let alone life. Feeling stuck.

We could speak freely with this group because we had been there, in some sense are still there. Living in the current political climate we live in, within our own walls and the world at large, it's easy to become discouraged with what the future holds and feel a great amount of uncertainty.

But after our first session, we are quite resolute about a few things. The future is female. And it's looking mighty bright in Vancouver.

Thank you to all the brave gals who joined us and we can't wait to share the plans our next Ment.Her.Ship with you soon!

Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning. - Gloria Steinem

- S + H

Proceeds from Ment.Her.Ship go to the One Girl Can charity which works to send young women in Africa to secondary school.