Do you remember what you were doing this time last year? Like many of us, you rang in the new year with so much excitement. Going into 2020 felt significant. The beginning of a new decade was supposed to be a big year full of possibilities. We had so much riding on 2020! Alas, we didn’t get the year that we wanted.
Just 365 days ago, Ladies Take the Lead was a small startup that produced live, local events for women in business. Our last live event was on February 1st, 2020. We had so many more live events planned throughout the year and then…Well, then the pandemic hit and shut everything down. The live event industry still hasn’t recovered and along with it, all of the live events and jobs gone. The potential income from all of those events disappeared. It hurt. It hurt hard. But then, something else happened.
In the words of the Dalai Lama: “Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.”
Ladies Take the Lead managed to pivot. Yes, I’m using “pivot”, that buzzword that we’ve all come to learn and are probably tired of hearing. It’s true though. Our live events have gone virtual. And with that, we managed to reach a larger audience.
I also stepped into the light and reluctantly became the face of the Ladies Take the Lead brand. I popped on to social media and started to connect with amazing women going live on Instagram a couple days a week and interviewing female founders. I also started being more active in the Ladies Take the Lead Facebook Group and holding weekly Virtual Boss Lady Lunches growing the group from 300 to over 1K members and the website to over 3K subscribers.
Then the podcast launched, and I had the pleasure of interviewing and sharing stories about all of these fabulous women I was meeting mostly online. Producing, writing and recording a podcast opened up a whole new creative side of me. I started to create more content.
And the website which started out with just three pages has grown to multiple pages with a blog featuring real women, business tips and stories, a business directory, new shop with product to come in 2021, its own online free community that offers a space for women to connect and leverage their collective energy into business opportunities and so much more!
Circling back to my love of events, I kept on producing them virtually and even started hosting them. The Virtual Pop-up Shop offers women-owned businesses an opportunity to sell their product or service to our audience, the Speed Networking event gives women 60 seconds to pitch like a boss and promote their brand. Then there’s the Boss Lady Mastermind which is a peer-to-peer group that meets virtually once a month and brings together ambitious and savvy entrepreneurs who are determined to take their business to the next level.
So much has come from going virtual. It’s given the Ladies Take the Lead brand the opportunity to expand from local events to something so much more. As an event producer for over 15 years, my mission was to always shine the light on the guest of honor or purpose of the event and to tell their story through an unforgettable one-night experience. I took that idea with me when I created Ladies Take the Lead. The goal was to produce live events for fabulous boss ladies and shine the light on them.
When the pandemic hit, I didn’t know what to do. I lost my brand’s voice. This journey has not been easy trying to navigate through life and figuring it all out. I did the only thing that I knew how to do. I took the lead and kept moving forward.
365 days ago, I was planning a whole different year. This past December, I took the time to reflect upon this past year. I thought about all the things that never happened and all the good things that did happen. I may have not gotten what I wanted, but I think I got something a whole better. I found a creative outlet and a new voice. I’ve fallen in love with creating content, producing, writing, recording, interviewing women and telling their stories. It’s always been about shining that light and telling that story.
With that realization, I’ve decided to go through a little rebrand. I am excited to announce that Ladies Take the Lead is now Ladies Take the Lead Media. Get ready! This media company is here to amplify women’s voices through our online community, event series, YouTube Channel with shows in development and a whole new and exciting podcast.
Our website and all social media sites have been updated to reflect that change. If you’re going to start something new, start it with a clean slate. I hope that you sign up to our free online community, check out our upcoming events, join our Boss Lady Mastermind and follow us on our new social media sites:
Instagram: @ladiestaketheleadmedia
Facebook: @ladiestakethelead
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ladiestakethelead
YouTube: Ladies Take the Lead Media
Twitter: @ladiestakelead
LinkedIn: @ladiestaketheleadmedia
Pinterest: @ladiestaketheleadmedia
Ladies Take the Lead Media is on a mission to produce content that empowers, enlightens, and inspires women to live their best lives. I hope you join me on this journey and enjoy the new content coming soon.
Wishing you a very happy, healthy and prosperous new year!
Cheers,
Alina Fridman
Founder of Ladies Take the Lead Media