EMPOWERED WOMAN
On the second Sunday of every month empowered women of all ages, backgrounds, and professions gather at the Mountain Gate Country Club, an elegant venue perched in the hills of Los Angeles.
This October “Second Sunday Series” we celebrated “Empowered Women” that included all of us!The afternoon started off with an opportunity to meet, connect, and shop. Yes, shop! This month’s treats included beautiful jewelry, coats, and Arbonne beauty products. There was also a table of flyers for upcoming seminars and workshops. Upbeat music and a slide show of our photos and bios on a large screen plasma accompanied our tasty lunch.
While we ate and chatted with each other, Desiree Doubrox, the founder of An Empowered Woman, reminded us that this event isn’t just about networking but about sharing personal stories of trial and triumph to really empower each other. And, if you are already empowered, “Great,” Desiree says, “Go empower someone else!
Under everyone’s chair were magazines and all of us were instructed to tear out images that “spoke to us” to start collecting material to make a vision board. For those who are not familiar with The Secret, a vision board is a collage of what you desire in your life. It’s meant to be hung in a visible space so that the subconscious—and the universe—can go to work making those dreams into reality. While some of the ladies stood up and shared testimonials of how vision boards had worked positively in their lives, I noticed that the lady sitting next to me had torn out the same picture as I had: a bride and groom running happily down a garden path. Even more special was the fact that the flowers the bride carried were almost identical to the ones that decorated that day’s tables! Then again, when that many wonderful women get into the same space, amazing moments like that one are not so rare.
The next exercise involved each of us introducing ourselves to another woman we had never met before and speaking about ourselves and our lives. The other woman would then write down her impressions of us. We all got to do that twice so that we would have more than one perspective of how others saw us and what we have to offer to the world.
Networking Bingo! Each of us had a bingo card with squares that said things like “Given flowers to a man” or “Authored a Book.” The object of the game was to find someone who had done one of those things to sign that square. We all raced around the room getting to know each other, signing like mad, hoping to get the prize: the book From Bags to Riches and a tote from Linda Hollander. All of it was so much fun!
As usual, the brunch closed with a raffle. The generosity of the group shows; the line of women who gave away products, services, cruises and life changing workshops was so long that it wrapped around the corner.
We left with our spirits high, our guest bags full, great new friends and empowered enough to accomplish any goal, now that's an afternoon well spent.
Written by C. Elizabeth Peters
