With a degree in French and English Literature, Emma’s first career chapters have been written in Commercial Real Estate. In 2017, Emma started a platform called Ladies-who-Launch (LWL) aimed at celebrating women and sharing stories about the amazing things women are doing every day. What started as a simple website has grown to a place she could not have imagined. LWL is coming up to its 1 year anniversary and Emma shares with us what the motivation is behind the platform. We had the chance to chat with Emma and ask her about her new initiative, Ladies-Who-Launch.
Tell us a bit about Ladies-who-Launch?
The idea behind Ladies-who-Launch is to create a platform and a community where women can share our own paths through life and showcase different routes to fulfilment in order to instil in other women confidence about their own potential. LWL aims to foster connectivity and stimulate conversation for those searching for meaning, understanding and debate by providing thought-rich content and giving a voice to those
who want to be heard. Feminism is a part of our core and we want to promote a more equal, diverse and kind world. I have a genuine desire to champion and support female success in any way I can.
How did the idea for Ladies-who-Launch come about? What inspired you to start it?
LWL came from a place of deep-seated frustration at the pace of change in the fight for equality. The combination of working in a very unequal gender industry and the election of Donald Trump in the USA, made me feel that I needed to find a way to make some kind of contribution or impact into creating a more equal world. In the word’s of another Emma, “all I know is that I care about this problem. And I want to make it better… if not me, who? If not now, when?”
I was having lunch with Sassafras (my girlgang / source of all knowledge / sisterhood) and we started discussing my sister’s job. I realised I couldn’t describe in any detail what Sarah’s day-to-day involved. I knew in minute detail the date she had been on the night before, but I couldn’t explain exactly what her profession entailed. And I was not alone, I was amazed how few of my nearest and dearest could accurately describe what my job was and what it involved. This led me to believe that not only did we need to increase the visibility of women overall, but that we needed to talk more about the amazing things they were doing everyday. By getting women to answer 15 questions about what motivates them, what drives them, what skills they need and what impact they are having, I hoped to create a platform that would instil confidence in other women to tell their own story. I also wanted to highlight the importance of having real life mentors and how much we can learn from those around us.
How would you describe the importance of social media to drive an initiative like Ladies-who-Launch?
It has been an essential part of our campaign. Instagram has been our main channel – partly because it is the social platform I personally use the most and also partly because it allows us to give a face to the stories we share. Facebook has been a great place for us to share external content and help promote other organisations and events with worthwhile causes, while Twitter allows us to speak directly to some of our more celebrated role models and sheroes. As LWL has evolved so ha
s the way we use our social media channels but what we are committed to is being inclusive, approachable and ensuring that we get our stories out to as many people as possible and widen the conversation as much as we can. I try to use our channels to promote not only our messages but the work of organisations working tirelessly to change the world we live in.
How do you choose your Launching Ladies?
I’m not sure choose is the right word. Everyone has a fascinating story to tell about how they got to where they are today and where they see themselves in the future. To feature on The Launch Pad, we ask ladies to fill out a 15 question questionnaire and returning it with a photo but we invite anyone and everyone to download questionnaire from our site. Every single one we receive will be published. Too often I hear, “I’m not interesting enough to be on the site but I just wanted to reach out” or “what I do isn’t special enough but what you’re doing is great”. Let me say this once and for all – what you do is interesting and inspiring because of the way you do it. You are unique and your story is different to everybody else’s. What might seem mundane to you is awe inspiring for the next person. We need you and your story, please don’t undervalue your own importance – let us celebrate it.
What does a day in the life of the Ladies-who-Launch Founder look like?
Long but rewarding. LWL is not my “job” so it has to fit around my other commitments. I am fortunate that it feels more like a purpose or a passion so it’s incredibly enjoyable for me to work on the site and hugely rewarding. We launch a new lady up onto the site each week so there is a fair amount of proofing and website development each week, then there’s management of our social channels, finding new content, reading our #lwlbookclub reads and speaking to new ladies about the platform and how they can get involved. Our first event is on the 17th March 2018 so at the moment there’s been a fair bit of event planning thrown in there too!
What do you enjoy most about doing your own thing?
I enjoy the freedom and the independence to drive LWL in a meaningful direction. The biggest struggle is going from my “day job” to the world of LWL. There is nothing I love more than receiving a new questionnaire submission and finding a quiet corner to sit down and read a story someone has kindly and courageously decided to share with me. I am continuously humbled, educated and inspired by the stories people are living and I am hugely privileged to be able to share them with the LWL community.
Here at Eyedea we have been honoured to host some of the world’s leading women in business across different sectors. Who would you say are the women who inspire you?
Every single woman on our Launch Pad is an inspiration to me – there isn’t one questionnaire that I haven’t learnt something from. My best friends are my inspiration, the women and men in my family, the LWL community and the courageous women who speak out every day about the injustices in this world.
Ladies-who-Launch has gone from strength to strength since its start up, how do you see it taking shape over the next few years?
The beauty thus far has been that LWL has grown organically since its launch in April 2017. I could never have dreamed or imagined we would be on the eve of our first event a mere 11 months later. In the short term, I am hugely excited about the launch of a new area of our site called Speaker’s Corner. For the last year LWL has been a predominantly female space and I am hugely excited to widen the conversation. This area of the site will showcase the books we are reading, the podcasts we are listening to, the events we are lucky enough to attend, as well as a series of articles shared by our followers on topics related to LWL. On the horizon I hope to be able to dedicate even more time and energy to evolving the platform to include more voices and share more stories in the most effective way, putting on more events that are accessible for all and ultimately making LWL the best it can be. I want it to be a place of inspiration to make change in our own lives, to reach out to wider communities and be a part of a much larger, greater and more powerful conversation that is collectively a force for global change. Dream big right?
If you’d like to get in touch with Emma to be featured, you can use the following channels:
Instagram: @ladieswholaunch_
Facebook: @LadieswLaunch
Twitter: @LadieswLaunch
The post Meet Emma Tattersall – Founder of Ladies-Who-Launch appeared first on Eyedea - Female Millennials Network.