Monday, March 2, 2009

International Women's Day

This coming Thursday is International Women's Day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. The first International Women's Day was held in 1911. There will be events held all over the world to mark these achievements and to celebrate being a woman. As a female starting out in business I have been delighted with all of the support I have come across in Ireland and online. I have to say it has been great. Regardless of gender I have found that the support network in this country is fantastic. All you have to do is ask.

The first port of call I started with when I started looking into my business idea was iamawahm.com. This site is run by Darina Loakman and she gives an invaluable resource to woman who are either working from home or thinking about it. I then moved onto the irishbusinesswomen.com forum which is not only used by women but also by some men!! Frank Fullard set up this forum and it has answered not only a lot of my problems but kept me sane! Womeninenterprise.net by Margaret Andrews was another and Margaret gave me great advice at crucial times and I am sure she has helped many others. There is the networkireland.ie which have groups around the country to help you meet women in different businesses and network.
Then came Twitter and Blogs. Ask a question on Twitter and you can be sure if anybody can help you they will. It is not just a social networking tool, it is a helpline, a human google, a detective agency and a group of friends that you know by avatars and 140 characters. I have struggled with Blogs. I know I am supposed to promote my business but then you ramble and get sidetracked. There are great blogs for women such as womens-blogger-directory . So I will keep working on these and aspire to the likes of our famous beaut.ie and Suzy Byrne at mamanpoulet.

In the meantime cheers to all of the wonderful women out there and thank you to the men who support us along the way!!!
Posted by giftsandvouchers.ie at 4:38 AM
Labels: , , , , ,

2 comments:

  1. Just saw your post on women's blogger directory - I'm the proud mother of a kidney transplant recipient, my 5 yr old boy wonder. I've been keeping a blog since the day he got his dad's left kidney in nov 07. It's been a rollercoaster - I've had a hell of time with the HSE and often wonder if it's this tough for adults trying to access services. Would love to hear from others. Cheers Annb
    ReplyDelete
  2. You should be proud. It sounds like you have been through an awful lot and thanks to the Third World Health system in our country are still being put through the mill. One of the things that I cannot understand as a transplant patient is the fact that this country does not recognise a kidney transplant as a long term illness. It is not like you can cure it and give it back. My experiences have not been great when I have had to rely on the HSE. I am lucky in that I have a fantastic Nephrologist and team in St Vincents in Dublin who look after me incredibly well. If I need them at all they are there. And I was blessed to have a son who was born at 28 weeks due to my transplant and Holles St took care of me. But it is when you step outside these situations that you are let down. I was taken into intensive care in Drogheda last year and needed to be transfered to Vincents Neurology but it took 2 weeks to get a bed. What other country would you be waiting like that.
    My advice would be to go to your politician. I did at one stage when I was having problems with the HSE and he got it sorted straight away. I hope your son stays healthy and his kidney, creatnine and urea stay good!!!
    Sian xxx (14 years transplanted this May)
    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)