Here’s to strong Women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.
#AD Inspirational Women are all around us. In the news, in the films we watch, the books we read and in our own homes. And today, I want to talk about them. This isn’t the typical sort of post I usually write, compared to blogging tips, a product review or gift guides but it’s definitely one of the most important posts that I’ve ever written. Today I want to talk about some of the Women that I find the most inspirational. Some of them I know, some of them I wish I knew and some of them unfortunately I’ll never get to meet. But they’re all on this list for a good reason, so grab a cuppa and enjoy! (And thank you to Women of London for sponsoring today’s post – keep reading to find out more about the incredible work they do!)
My Mum
Let’s start with the obvious shall we? My Mum is my biggest inspiration but that’s only something I’ve really come to notice more and more as I’ve gotten older. The first thing my Mum did was get me into books and my love for reading came from her when I was a kid. But as I’ve grown into an adult myself, gone through school, break ups, horrendous mental health issues and generally not been where I thought or hoped I’d be at the age of 26, what my Mum does and has done all her life has only made me admire her more. I’d love to be more like my Mum; she’s resilient and selfless but I definitely got my love of cleaning and things being tidy from her too!
My Boyfriend’s Mum
I won’t go into to much detail here in respect for her privacy but I really admire my boyfriend’s Mum as well – obviously in slightly different ways but if you’re looking for strong Women, these two are the ones to go to. His Mum is a rock, incredibly compassionate and has been through a heck of a lot but always manages to have faith and look at the bright side. We have a lot of the same values as her and I know I can have a really good conversation about something and come out the other side feeling better.
Other Bloggers
There’s no doubt that so many other female bloggers inspire the heck out of me. The incredible thing about blogging is there’s so many different people from so many different walks of life, it’s impossible not to be inspired by someone else. Bloggers have taught me so much, welcomed me into their lives through their blogs and showed me that everyone has something going on and is strong in their own ways.
Claire Williams
Claire Williams is the deputy team principle of the Williams Formula 1 team – one of the oldest (and family run) team on the Formula 1 grid. She grew up and worked in this “male dominated” sport and then was thrown into the role of deputy team principle without much warning or preparation. She’s been awarded an OBE, had a baby last year and still runs a bloody Formula 1 team. As a huge Formula 1 fan, you can’t get much more inspirational than that.
Emily Hayward
If you haven’t heard of Emily Hayward before, she was a YouTuber who documented her journey with skin cancer. Emily sadly died last Summer but I still think about her frequently and follow her wife, Aisha, on Instagram. Emily had the largest of life personality and took every day as it came. She was an absolute beacon of light and helped so many people with her YouTube videos – simply from being herself. I emailed her once, to tell her how much I enjoy her videos and how she’s helped me cope with my anxiety in some small way and she took the time to send me a long, heart-felt reply and I’ll always cherish that email.
Now I’d like to hand it over to Women of London for the last part of this post, an amazing London-based walking tour company who are shining a light on the inspirational Women of London in a new way:
Women Of London is a walking tour company created by female tour guides who, after many years of Tour guiding around London, felt the need for a company that approaches London’s history through the achievements of Women. We started running tours over International Women’s Day last year and felt so inspired, the women we usually spoke about on our normal walking tours were rarely presented in the best light, for example the ‘victims of Jack the Ripper’ or Henry VIII’s six wives.
The ‘positive’ women we spoke about happened to be Queens or Suffragettes and even within their history there are question marks over the reputation of some of the figures. Running Women’s History Tours is not just a breath of fresh air for us as guides but to people who visit London. We want to show that London is more than Trafalgar Square and the Houses of Parliament and instead everywhere you look are marks that Women left on its history.
Our first tour (which is available to book now); the Women of Westminster, focuses on the monuments of women in Literature, Nurses, Monarchy, War, Politics and as campaigners and reformers, it is just one of many tours we plan to have available to everyone and anyone who wants to learn about Women’s History. We will be launching a Women of the East End tour on the 1st of March 2019, which will cover the stories of Mary Wollstonecraft, Sylvia Pankhurst, the forming of Toynbee Hall, the Women who were murdered by Jack the Ripper and how as women the were left with very little options in terms of their life style, as well as speaking about the Match Strike of 1888 and its larger impact on London’s Trade Union movement.
We are very excited to be lucky enough to spend our days reading about great women in books written by many female historians, we have already received some great feedback and are in conversation with many charities who work with Women about collaboration throughout the year to inspire young people across the country to see and enjoy Women’s history. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter where we post our daily ‘OnthisdayinWomensHistory’ Tweets which cover a range of Women’s achievements throughout the World and History.
A huge thank you to Women of London for helping and encouraging me to write today’s post. I’d absolutely love to hear about the inspirational Women in your life or those you admire from afar in the comments!
* This is a sponsored post