Shownotes:

In this third episode of the Social Lights Podcast, podcast host and Social Mediology founder Kate vanderVoort has a conversation with Mandy Richards, Founder and CEO of Global Sisters, who has created an amazing organisation that makes business a genuine alternative for any woman.

What we covered…

ABOUT GLOBAL SISTERS

Mandy Richards has always been naturally entrepreneurial, and felt that she was ready for another project. She is passionate about human rights,

loves anything to do with businesses, and knew that she wanted to work with women. The result? Global Sisters—a long-term program that aims to “support women who are unable to access meaningful, mainstream employment.”

BIG IDEA 1

“An avenue to connect women to the markets they didn’t have access to”—and more. (4:32)

Initially, Global Sisters aimed to be a platform where women could sell their products, providing support in developing products that people would actually want to buy. Working with several women with refugee backgrounds, however, opened up a can of worms. Though they started out as a business coach, Mandy and her team quickly realized that they needed education, as well. As Mandy shared, “We worked our way backwards and backwards and backwards, then started working our way forwards again.” Today, the program now comprises of a half-day workshop, a business program with a sister school made up of nine modules, access to facilitated group coaching sessions, one-on-one coaching sessions, valuable resources, and a lot more.

BIG IDEA 2

“Making business possible for all women.” (5:16)

There’s often no consideration of what barriers to employment women might be facing. These barriers could be far and wide - living in an area with really high unemployment, being a single mum to small children and having no access to childcare, suffering from mental illness, living with a disability, or being retrenched at the age of 50. Global Sisters strives to create a genuine alternative means for Australian women to create an income for themselves.

BIG IDEA 3

Seeing so many people who are prepared to believe in them and support them—that has a massive impact. (13:07)

In Sister Pitch, a recent event held in Melbourne, 11 women presented their businesses to a live audience and pitched for access to networks, business opportunities, and pro-bono services. There was incredible support from different companies with 10s of thousands of dollars of support pledged. Apart from networks, women are also given also access to expertise, tangible services to accelerate their business to the next level, and to a sister tribe which opens a whole lot of support in itself. As of date, Global Sisters has, in some way, supported 1200 to 1300 women.

Episode Links

You can find Mandy Richards and more about Global Sisters at:

• Online shop: https://globalsisters.org/shop/
• Website: https://globalsisters.org/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GlobalSisters/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/GlobalSisters/
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/GlobalSistersAU/

Thanks for listening and stay inspired,

Kate vanderVoort