The 20-minute panel discussion, which was filmed in front of a live studio audience at The Foundry Cowork in Erina on the NSW Central Coast, will be screened on the Stronger Than My Excuses (STME) web TV channel. The show will form part of a 10-month series of shows by the social enterprise platform.
Started by Central Coast entrepreneur Julie Watson, STME gives women a professional framework to create a web TV panel discussion, to help raise their profile and business.
Joining Claire were co-host Barbara Ketley, director Milestone Belanova and panellists Amy Osborne (Institute of Managers and Leaders Regional Advisor), Paula Martin (Regional Director Busainess, NSW Central Coast) and Central Coast Business Person of the Year Melissa Marshall, owner of Signarama Tuggerah.
The women tackled the issues impacting women achieving board and leadership roless and mused on what a world with more women leaders would look like. The panel also discussed actions that women can take to move towards their own leadership roles and what men can do to support this.
Audience member and CPA Sandra Galea-Bunney Women said the discussion was well-worth hearing:
"Leadership is a topic that I read about a lot. As a CPA working with small businesses I was very interested in attending this particular STME discussion on women in leadership and hearing and learning from the inspirational women that were on the panel.
"Their diverse backgrounds and experiences left me feeling very positive for the future of women in leadership roles and how they can provide a very positive and balanced contribution to the organisations they are involved and for society in general."
Speaking at the event, Julie Watson thanked Women on Boards for being a primary sponsor of the show and to Foundry CoWork for providing the venue.
"It was great that Women on Boards were part of this exciting new initiative enabling business and community organisations to speak up through this platform of web TV show panel discussions," said Watson who started STME in 2020 after several serious health issues saw her launch her marketing consultancy business.
"I decided to become a speaker and tell my story, but first I needed to build my credibility and profile. I made some short videos and held some talks for community and business groups but eventually, I made the decision to produce and host my own panel discussion TV show for YouTube."
She saw the potential in showing other enterprises and businesses how to also produce their own web TV panel shows and Stronger Than My Excuses was born.
"When I invited people to be guests on my shows, everyone said yes! I was surprised how many people wanted their voice to be heard on so many various topics. I realised almost everyone needed to build their personal or organisation’s profile."
"Now the shows are a vehicle for anyone to explore important issues, initiate intelligent and passionate discussion and, importantly, to identify actions that will contribute toward change," she said.
All series are between three and eight episodes and are 20-minute shows which always finish with an action for viewers to take away and use and can be filmed at a venue, on Zoom or a mixture of both.
The Women in Leadership show will be broadcast on 2 July 2021 at 7am on the Stronger Than My Excuses YouTube Channel.