Its unbelievable to think that Woman at Work has been going for a year!?  We’ve been there photographing these networking functions since they started in December 2008 and it’s truly amazing to have walked this road with Toni & Tanya and see their vision evolve and grow like it has.

The woman at work year-end function was held at the Glenvista Country Club and we had an absolute ball.  No microphone glitches, nothing (I know… unbelievable) The Glenvista Country Club offers an indoor & outdoor function area and they will help you arrange everything.  You can even get married there and have your wedding photos taken on their lovely green golf course…

The charity of choice for the evening is Carita’s Home situated in Brackendowns.  An extract from their website:”Yvonne Deetlefs saw an urgent need for a safe, secure and loving environment for abandoned and abused children. The result was the birth of Caritas Home, May 2001. There are anywhere from 14 to 24 children living at Caritas, all of whom have been placed with us through Social Workers and the Courts.  The outward appearance of our house gives the impression of an ordinary home in the area. This is so that the children can live as normal a life as possible and ensure a “Place of Safety” for the children” 

Yvonne and your team, thank you so so much for everything you do for all of these children.  I’m sure it means more to them than they will ever be able to express!

Edith Venter was the guest speaker for the evening.  Let me tell you she is one remarkable lady!  Even though people judge Edith (without really knowing her) she still addressed all the ladies with an opening about how important it is to never judge  any other person because you never know what they might be going through.  It takes so little effort to tell another woman her hair looks pretty, or you love her dress and I promise you by building up other people you will feel uplifted yourself. 

  Here is a little something Edith read to all of us:”

A strong woman works out every day to keep her body in shape, but …

A woman of strength kneels in prayer to keep her soul in shape.
   A strong woman isn’t afraid of anything, but …
A woman of strength shows courage in the midst of her fear.
   A strong woman won’t let anyone get the best of her, but …
A woman of strength gives the best of her to everyone.
   A strong woman makes mistakes and avoids the same in the future, but …
A woman of strength realizes life’s mistakes can also be God’s blessings and capitalizes on them.
   A strong woman walks surefootedly, but …
A woman of strength knows God will catch her when she falls.
   A strong woman wears the look of confidence on her face, but …
A woman of strength wears grace.
   A strong woman has faith that she is strong enough for the journey, but …
A woman of strength has faith that in the journey she will become strong.”

And I truly found this inspirational.  Read these words again and just think about it for a while…  Edith Venter is a graceful lady, and even though she is standing on a podium she speaks to you like she is sitting across from you in your sitting room having a galss of wine or cup of tea.  She makes you feel like you’ve known each other for years and years. 

Truly a very different person to what the media portrays…

This is one year end function with great photos. Every woman at work networking get-together is such a great function because there is always constant laughter.  Basically ladies, business women, mothers and friends coming together to network and have a great time!

Riani

The fifth woman at work function was held at the glamorous Gold Reef City Crystal Room.  Woman at work is the brainchild of Toni Mackrell and Tanya Dimas.  These two dynamic ladies are also involved in other companies like Firzty Realty and Sinzinani Day Spa (which has recently relocated to the beautiful Thaba Ya Batswana)  This event was hosted a little differently from all the other events but was none the less spectacular and very successful with just over 150 business women attending.  Instead of having everyone seated there was little tables where you could place your drink and stand around to talk about work / love and life.  The idea behind this was that when you’re sitting down at your table you are only networking with ladies whom you already know, by having everyone standing we increased the minngling and networking (and it seemed to me like it was working)Even though hosting an big event like this Toni and Tanya always seem to be having great fun!   When the first woman at work event was held Toni and Tanya seemed a little bit shy being photographed with other people, I think the camera made them a bit self-conscious. After five events ( and many other functions which I have photographed for them as a professional event photographer like the Firzt Realty annual awards ) they have become such great models who truly enjoy being photographed.  Getting to know your subject and associating with them is a very big part of being an event photographer.  You have roundabout 3-5 minutes with a group of people, in which you have to chat to them, associate and form a bond with them in order to make them feel comfortable enough to be photographed.  So that is the reason why most photographers are so talkative… LOL Tumi Frazier is a life coach and she was the speaker for the evening.  Her book called Your Moment is being launched at a special breakfast networking morning hosted by woman at work.  Basically she’s all about self-worth.  You have to be able to improve and value yourself for other people to be able to value you.  Makes sense doesn’t it?The woman at work network consists of 500 ladies so far and it just keeps growing at a truly phenomenal rate.  This business networking event has gotten a lot of great feedback and is really making a difference in the Johannesburg South community.We also got free tickets to watch the Gold Reef City Lyric Motown Magic production in the Lyric theatre and what fun we had.  This was truly a magical evening and I’m looking forward to the next event!!

Riani

As planned the 3rd woman at work ladies networking event was held at Thaba Ya Batswana Eco Lodge & Spa.  What a fun event this was…  The power and word of mouth of this ladies networking event really amazes me…. At every function there just seems to be more and more ladies! It started off with 60 ladies atttending the first ever woman at work get-together at the Rietvlei Zoo Farm in December. Then it doubled at the second event held at Adega in Glenvista and at this third event a staggering 160 women attended this great initiative.  Thaba Ya Batswana’s marketing department assured us that this was their biggest ladies only event that they have ever hosted.  They also kindly invited anyone who might be interested in having a conference, function or team building event there to set up an appointment and come through to have a tour of this lovely wedding venue based in the South of Johannesburg.

At the function last night the co-owner of Sinzinani Day Spa, Tanya Dimas, also announced that their Spa will be moving to the beautiful and serene environment of Thaba Ya Batswana. What a great opportunity for both of these companies and I can assure you that their combined Spa experience will leave your body rejuvenated and your soul re-awakened.

The theme for the evening was: “Your health is your wealth!” and so fittingly Beverley Joshua from Herbalife was the speaker.  She spoke about how important it is for you to eat healthily.  Let’s take a small example like what you have for breakfast every morning.  This will be the deciding factor on how the rest of your day will go.  For instance if you have toast for breakfast (carbohydrates) they will make your blood sugar spike (so you feel ok) your body then has to produce insulin to balance your sugar levels, which makes you feel like you’re on a low and you start craving more of what you had just to feel better.  This rollercoaster could be avoided just by eating healthily every morning.  Herbalife also has a range of products to supplement your diet and help you to be a better you.

The ladies from the Breast Cancer Awareness program also made for great entertainment.  They have been invited by the Guinness book of world records to try and beat Cypress’s record of collecting more than 14 900   bra’s which will then be given to less privileged women who’ll also attend a brief lecture about breast cancer.  Their slogan is: “TAKE-IT-OFF” and one of their representatives (who is absolutely brilliant at marketing their cause) actually sang for 20 seconds and then she said take it off, and removed her bra and threw it into the collection box.  All of a sudden Toni had to run around with this big pink box and collect bra’s being thrown into the box like basketballs.  It’s great to know there are so many women out there who really support worthy causes like this Breast Cancer Awareness program.

As usual there were loads of prizes to be won, like a Family Photoshoot Gift voucher from us at Louise Diesel Photography, a Jewellery hamper from the ladies at Gllitzeratti (there were so many ladies who offered to sing for this prize that we had to hold our own little mini idols), two office stationery hampers from The Stationery People and much more.

The chosen charity at this event was Hope Ministries in Jesus Christ.  It’s made up of a few great individuals who realised that crime is escalating because these homeless men and their families had no food.  They work on the principle  ‘don’t give a man a fish, but teach him to fish’.  This initiative takes the homeless people and beggars from the street and feed them and their families but they’re also creating jobs for these unskilled people.  Like cleaning up the area, reporting crime, potholes and broken traffic lights. 

All in all this evening was a teriffic success and I can’t wait for the next woman at work event which will be taking place on the 1st of April at the Boma Barnyard in Alberton.  See you there!!

Riani

Well, we have been appointed as the official Woman@Work photographers!

The directors of Woman@work, Tanya Dimas and Toni Mackrell,  loved the photographs that we took at their last event so much that they have asked us to be the official Woman@Work photographers. This means that we will photograph every networking event, which is currently held on the first Wednesday of every month.

This is a wonderful oppurtunity to meet other women in the south and promote your business. We certainly enjoyed the last event and found it to be very beneficial to our business. We love photographing corporate functions and events as we have the freedom to walk around and catch those special unexpected moments as well as the different interactions between people…. It certainly is true that every picture tells a story.

Our photographs from the last networking event will also be published in this month’s issue of Get It! magazine in the south, so look out for those! The next Woman@Work evening will be held on the 4th February 2009 at the Adega restaurant in the Comaro View Shopping Center, Bassonia.

It is certainly worth going – you get to meet some wonderful women, create a few new business oppurtunities (which is always good and more than pays for your entrance fee), eat some good food and of course have your photographs taken by 2 amazing professional photographers, Louise Diesel and Riani Labuschagne!!! What more could you want……