Day 1: The Article That Started It All
Coming away from the 2017 Women of the Vine & Spirits Global Summit, I was inspired that we could openly discuss the challenges we face as women, around gender equality, glass ceilings, and career negotiation, but also frustrated that no-one talked about alcohol itself. What it does, how we relate to it, and how we can navigate an industry intrinsically soaked in it. So I wrote an opinion piece for Meininger’s International Wine Business in the hopes to start a conversation. The article spurred comments, conversations, calls, texts, and emails, and follow up stories indicating we had hit a nerve – and a topic that needed further exploration.
The gauntlet was thrown down to WOTVS, and not only did the Board hear mine, and numerous voices, a few days ago I found myself wearing a Speaker badge, and on the official billing with my fledgling business A Balanced Glass - a forum for beverage alcohol industry professionals on how to survive and thrive in the business we love. Huge thanks to Deborah and the entire team for listening and taking action and offering me the opportunity to bring an idea to fruition!
I prepared and presented the inaugural Mindful Monday workshop on “Breathing and Meditation for Better Business” with my incredibly talented friend, fellow yogini, and meditation teacher Cathy Huyghe. We also created a Refresh Lounge for the conference – a quiet space of respite intended for meditation, mindful reflection, a spot of restorative yoga, or escape from the busy noise of a motivational conference. Above all, we opened up a dialogue beyond the normal, swirl, sniff and spit.
The response to both the Workshop and lounge was overwhelmingly positive and thanks to Cathy's work, we are offering a 30 Day Practice to share daily tips, ideas and teachings on meditation, yoga, breath work, life hacks, tools and tips for surviving and thriving in the wine, spirits and beer business.
So thank you for joining us here; we look forward to an enriching month ahead and please share your feedback and ideas - after all, we are all in this together.
Namaste, Rebecca.
