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The WOTC Community
Interview & Words Phadria Prendergast and Hannah George
WOTC is entirely about uniting women - the most unlikely women at that. Our platform is one we continuously wish to use to empower and inspire and we can only do so by taking the time to really know our readers. We want women to support each other. We invited 11 of the incredible women that belong to the WOTC Community and also so happen to be thriving business owners to a complimentary photoshoot. These women had all originally applied for our Go Digital Grant and regrettably, not all were successful due to capacity of applicants. However, through staying connected within the community, each member was still able to receive support and be introduced to additional opportunities. We were thrilled to have Jennifer West, one of our readers and community members take on the photography role for the day. Amid the beautiful make-up, amazing food by our Contributing Editor Talibah Simone and the flashing lights, WOTC spoke to the women to find out how they first encountered the magazine and what the experience has been like for them since then.
Sam Brown,
Founder of The PR Mastercoach
Sam has worked in PR for over 20 years in fashion, beauty, entertainment, festivals - the list is quite endless. With all the years of experience and knowledge she possesses, people are continuously asking her for advice and PR favours - though they didn’t always approach her in this way. A coffee would quickly turn into a mini PR consultation. She realised that people need PR but they don’t know how to get it or where to get it from. Lockdown really made her think about how she could help them. That was when she came across WOTC’s Go Digital Grant via Instagram. Instead of Sam having to tell enquirers that she couldn’t offer the assistance as she had been, she realised through WOTC, she could show them how to do it.
“The community is amazing,” she raves, referring to the WOTC Community. “The support from the magazine has been amazing as well.” Sam admits that she would not have done as much as she has now in regards to her brand, had it not been for WOTC. “When I was thinking ‘I want to do a training course’, I was thinking of a £14.99 video.” However, having worked with our media partners Revolt Agency through WOTC, she was able to expand her mind. She is extremely excited about her brand launch.
Lynette Nabbosa,
Founder of MoveRight App
Lynette is part of a number of different entrepreneurial WhatsApp groups which is how she discovered WOTC Magazine. The WOTC Go Digital Grant had been posted by a friend which she ended up applying for and was awarded the grant. She is currently working on launching her website and an e-book with our partners Revolt Agency.
She admits that if it had not been for winning the grant, she would not even be on social media as it is outside of her comfort zone. She explains that prior to the grant, she had a business that didn’t have a face. She now understands the importance of branding and marketing and that she herself is a brand that people buy into. “People want to know your story, people want to know your journey,” she commented. Lynette really believes she has now grown the confidence to put herself out there more. Her conversations with the team have been pivotal in adding to her confidence boost. “I’ve had conversations with the team where they’ve asked me why I’m undervaluing myself.” she laughs.
The WOTC Community is the first community that Lynette has ever been a part of. She loves that it is just for women. Lynette is most excited about her public launch although she admits that it is something that also scares her, but believes that this feeling is growth for her.
Ulrike Mieke Marais,
Freelance Graphic Designer & Illustrator
Ulrike first came across WOTC via Instagram at a time where she had just lost her job. Being part of the WOTC Community opened her up to freelance opportunities and gave her more of a boost. She was still quite new to the United Kingdom when lockdown rules were imposed, having only arrived 2 and a half months prior. Being part of the WOTC Community, allowed her to feel supported through this new change.
She would advise other women who are not part of a community or network to just get started. “Freelancing can be quite a lonely job and it can be very stressful, but also you don't have any support. You don't have anyone to bounce ideas off or to get support from. So, I think slotting into a community, especially as a woman, there are a lot of other aspects around our businesses and how we deal with clients that's different... with men if I can say that.”
Hailey Smith,
Founder of BoxedOutPR
Hailey first saw the WOTC Go Digital Grant opportunity via Instagram. “I liked the idea of the magazine and everything the community stands for and I wanted to be a part of it and I thought that what you were doing with the grants and initiatives was absolutely fantastic at a time where this was needed the most.” What stood out the most to Hailey was the support she received. “Since I’ve joined I’ve had nothing but support and it’s been amazing, the phone calls, the emails.”
It was working with one of our partners, Revolt Agency, that has really helped her business in various different ways, from branding to social media content which she admitted was getting left behind. “We just didn’t get time to do it so we didn’t do it, so it’s just really nice to have that strategy in place and knowing that it’s working.” Completely revamping their Instagram page, they have seen a great turn around. “The engagement is incredible, nothing that we’ve ever seen from our point of view.” Happy with WOTC and the work Revolt have done, they continue to strive with bigger and better ideas. “I think video content and post casting is where we are heading next.”
Lady Johanna,
Founder of Lady Jo London
Lady Jo London was among the applicants who was awarded the WOTC Go Digital Grant. She has remained inspired by the creativity and support from the WOTC team.
“The grant allowed me to work on my logo, my Instagram posts, everything basically to do with marketing and Revolt was part of that.” She further went on to explain how it helped her. “It really did target my audience. I managed to up my clients and my price list. Due to that, I've managed to get through to many influencers within the beauty industry. I’ve worked with a lot of celebrities on Instagram.”
Spoken highly of, the Revolt team were described as very friendly and a team who were continuously asking her questions and got to know her. “More than knowing my brand they got to know me, which was very helpful for me because they got to know what we wanted and put it all together and done an amazing job.”
Inspired by her new and improved brand, next up for Lady Jo London is to go global. “We are not going to be just a local brand but we plan on going global, hence the name Lady Jo London we plan on making it Lady Jo Colombia as that is where I am from, Lady Jo Dubai - wherever life takes us we will be going.”
Lady Jo was blown away when she had won the grant! “I had no idea that I was going to win the grant.” When starting a business, there is a lot of investment, including time and money, therefore Lady Jo was grateful for the opportunity to get the finances to work on the marketing aspect of her business. “Branding is so important now, it shows your net worth, it shows the value of your company. If your brand looks cheap, expect to have cheap prices but if your brand looks expensive and high class, expect to have high class clients.”
Appreciative of the financial support, she stated that even though she was awarded the grant, it was not at all about the amount of money and more to do with what was done with it.
“If I could sum up the WOTC Go Digital Grant and the team, I would say creative because believe it or not we don’t have a lot of creativity within our community.”
Kaylesh & Regina
Founders of Mendu
Mendu is a mental health and well-being start up for women of colour that also allows people to feel like they are part of a community. The duo started Mendu because they really enjoyed well-being products like Headspace and they believe that there are a lot of difficult emotions that are experienced as women of colour - ones usually not addressed. As Regina is a therapist and Kaylesh is a creative writer, they mentioned that they figured that they'd deal with the racial injustice space and how to overcome the different feelings with that.
They found out about the WOTC Go Digital Grant from a friend. When she found out she was one of the winners Regina responded “ I just felt heard.” Being a startup can be a lonely journey for a while. For them, aside from the grant, being a part of the community was essential. “It’s been an enormous help especially during COVID having this support and community has been really great.” They both made an amazing decision to develop an app. “This would have been literally impossible without the grant.” It doesn't end there! They are aspiring to grow and are trialling with some companies to see what they say about it.
If they could describe the WOTC Go Digital Grant in a few words, it would be “powerful, glamorous, strength and community, because I just feel like you guys are people who just make things happen - we just felt like we found community here, a real sense of empowerment here.”
“We are so grateful to have gotten this grant because especially during COVID, it was really difficult and we were not really able to move forward - the grant has allowed us to make our product become a reality.”
Kaye & Teresa,
Founders of Away With Words Copywriting Company
Travel journalist Kaye Holland lost her job when the Coronavirus outbreak happened as she was not permitted to travel. Kaye's bold and positive mindset led her to apply for the WOTC Go Digital Grant. “I saw it online and my friend also got in touch and said ‘have you seen it, have you seen it?.’ I applied and didn’t expect anything of it but I successfully got it.” Shocked by the fact that she had actually won the grant, she was overjoyed. “It just gave me the push and confidence to go with it.” That was just the start of good news. Soon after her friend from the Telegraph also decided to support her. “WOTC had seen something in my idea and Theresa had seen something in my idea, I literally felt over the moon.”
At what she thought was a dead end, was actually the beginning of something new. The new beginning also birthed a new name - Away with Words. “It was just like there is hope, there is a life line and somebody had seen something when I felt like nobody else was.”
By teaming up with Revolt, they were able to create logos, create a new brand identity, get business cards, and a logo to put on all of their social media platforms and they have also nearly finished creating a website. Motivated by the push and drive of the changes in her life sparked by WOTC, Kaye then went on to say that “life is like an escalator you have got to keep moving forward.”
Even though a lot of work has been done for the business, what has touched Kaye the most is the WOTC Community. Before lockdown I have always been a part of the community, whether it was in the workplace. I’m a Watford season ticket holder so I’ve been part of a football community and I do a lot of voluntary work, so they’ve all gone and they are not going to come back probably till next easter. So, it’s always been important to me to be a part of a community . I love that about Women of the City, but also being around like minded people and having that similar drive to apply for a grant.” If Kaye could describe WOTC and Revolt in two words it would be “positive and supportive.”
Yasmin Sidhwa,
Artistic Director of Mandala Theatre Company
The Mandala Theatre Company provides a solution to social injustice. “We take stories that are current especially for those that are black-asian minority ethnic groups, it’s about offering pathways for those in the industry being able to be on stage and behind stage.”
Yasmin discovered the WOTC grant through a friend, “I think it was Jessica Hewie and she said why don’t you apply for this? I was just like what is this? It looked amazing. Yasmin described getting the grant as “fantastic.”
Revolt Agency helped with rebuilding and transforming her website into something that would instantly impact her company. “We had our website done five years ago when we started and I think over the five years we have become really clear now about what we were doing.” Yasmin emphasised that at the start, it was more for stakeholders and funders but now from the creative work of the Revolt team, young people would be attracted and intrigued by the website. “The feedback that we are getting is that it is so much more accessible and good to look at.”
“It captures what Mandala is, its dynamic. You have to know what your company needs. Your website is your image and the grant was enough to really change things.” She enjoys being part of the WOTC Community because she believes they are both aligned because WOTC and the Mandala Theatre are both about making a change. The WOTC community has all the values she would have.
Mollie Davies,
Health and Culture Journalist
Mollie found out about the WOTC Go Digital Grant through a newsletter targeted at freelance writers which had a long list of places that were giving grants. “The one that stood out to me the most was the WOTC grant.”
Driven by anything that puts women at the forefront of what they do, Mollie was clear that it was really important to her that it was led by women and focuses on women as those are the kind of things she would write about. “There are a lot of places that say they are about women and secretly there is a man behind it.”
She had always wanted a website but was never really sure of where to start to make it look fancy. “My website was basically just a flat, basic boring blog and I think that if you are a freelance journalist, it’s really important to have a platform that you can showcase your work on so that it’s all in one place.”
Working with Revolt helped to transform her business drastically. “They were really helpful, really responsive and knew exactly what I’d want and I’m so fussy with even the tiniest little detail and they were fine with changing, that is really helpful knowing that they get what I want.”
She had expressed that she had felt strange when she got the grant “I was on the sofa in my pajamas when the phone rang and it was so bizarre, I didn’t think I would get it.” With so many changes happening as a result of COVID, nothing has been certain. “Everything has gone whirlwind in the last few months and it’s gone from 0 - 100, so it has definitely made me feel confident in terms of putting myself out there and in turn, good energy has come back, I’ve been writing tons more.”
When asking about the impact of the WOTC community, she had mentioned that “it’s special having something that people can continue to connect through.” If Mollie could describe WOTC in three words it would be “fierce, ambitious and tentatious.”
