The words “Self-Help” that you see on some books always makes me think:”  Me…?   I don’t need a self help book, I’m doing just fine by myself thank you.  I don’t need someone to tell me what to do”  Don’t you agree?

However, people who write self-help books usually does talks, workshops and conferences to introduce you to their theory and methods.  Since last year December when I started going to Woman at Work I have met a few extraordinray people like Renate Landman (a Qualified Demartini Facilitator), Tumi Frazier (Personal Life Coach and Motivational Speaker) and Donna McCallum (The Fairy Godmother) who just all helped me realize once again what makes my soul blossom and how to attain just that.  These ladies are phenomenal, I would never even have looked at any their books twice (in fact I don’t even take a stroll down the self-help aisle) in bookshops like Fascination books.  But after hearing them speak at the Woman at Work functions I have bought their books, followed their methods and have had my passions in life re-ignited.

Let’s face it, there is a lot of self-help books and videos avaliable out there but how do you know which one will work for you?  My advice, is to go to one of their workshops and see what their methods is all about.  If you don’t think it will work for you, you haven’t lost out on anything.  In fact you have merely narrowed down the list of what works for you and what doesn’t.  BUT, if it all just makes sense, and you have that AHA moment, then buy the book and follow their guidance to getting what you want!

50% of making any dream come true starts with thaking the first step.  So your future is in your hands.  Go out today and make your own story.  Incredible individuals are ORDINARY PEOPLE like you and me with EXTRA-ORDINARY DREAMS  …

Riani

Did you know yesterday was the first wednesday of the month of August?  Which also means that it was Woman at Work   Let me tell you monthly events like this makes me realize just how fast time is flying and I’m sure all the other ladies will agree.  It feels like you go to an event, then go to work the next day and the next and you get so caught up in the fast pace of life that all of a sudden it’s time for Woman at Work again. 

Anyways, I’ve been involved with Woman at Work from the very first function in December which was held at Rietvlei Zoo Farm till last night’s function at The Oppenheimer at Gold Reef City Casino & Theme Park.  It started out as a normal work assignment, going to a function and creatively capturing everything till now where I’ve got to the point where I really enjoy it so much and spend a lot of time meeting and networking with lots of other business women from The South   Every month these networking events are even bigger and better.  Women today don’t make time for themselves, they spend everyday getting their kids ready for school (not to mention all their extra mural activities) and then going to work and Working themselves over the wall. Where they then return home to look after and care for their family.  Bring your girlfriends with you to this event and just spend some quality time with yourself and other women….  On to the event, I can’t find the right words to describe how wonderfully the Oppenheimer hall was decorated.  I walked inside with all my display items and literally stopped right in the doorway to admire the gorgeous pink and white drapings (with fairylights and all) on the ceiling and walls…. Absolutely amazing!!  Thank you Zefnie, you got some true talent   The theme for the evening was pretty in pink (as we are celebrating womens day this month) so the whole room was filled with ladies wearing every other shade of pink  (I’m not really a fan of pink, and I even wore a bit of pink   

Woman at Work basically creates a platform for ladies in the South of Johannesburg to network with other like-minded business women.  This network of women then support other Woman at work members and so we build up everyone’s company by using ladies within this network to support and provide different services. 

The charity for this month was once again TLC (The Love of Christ Ministries)  They take in and look after orphaned and abandoned kids.  They have little ones ranging from newborn to 16 years old.  They house 75 children and have 25 volunteers.  That’s one hundred meals 3 times a day (a few more for the smaller babies)  Can you imagine to cook for a 100 every time you prepare something to eat?  They do truly amazing work and they always need help  

 ”I… am a Fairy Godmother”  This is how Donna Mccallum started her talk last night. She is such a passionate and lighthearted lady.  Don’t mistake her for the kind of godmother who just swishes her wand and viola all your problems are solved, no no no.  Sorry to break it to you but there is no such a thing as a quick fix.   Donna is the kind of godmother who is passionate about helping you find direction in your life and then manifesting your goals.  Every lady attending this function got a magic wand and had to interactively listen to Donna and share their dreams and “things that make your soul blossom” with the person sitting next to you.  She guided us through this whole process and just by doing a few simple exercises got everyone’s passions reignited.  Let me share an example of Donna’s with you.  “I want to go on an overseas trip and have finally saved up enough money.  I now go to Toni my travel agent and tell her that I want to go on an overseas holiday and I want her to book it for me.  Toni now say that that’s great, where would you like to go?  And I reply:’  You are the expert and I want you to book my trip for me.  Toni replies:” But where would you like to go”  And I reply:’ Anywhere, you tell me.  You are the expert and I trust you’  So Toni goes ahead and book’s my holiday for me.  On the first day of my overseas holiday I am super excited as I board the plane   After I get off the plane I realize that my holiday destination is…. Kazaksthan  (yip, you heard right.  Toni has a wicked sense of humour)  Now if I imagined my holiday with white sandy beaches, warm lightblue seawater lapping at my feet and gorgeous bronzed men playing volleyball next to me I am definitely not impressed  with… Kazaksthan.  So immediately I start looking for someone to blame and who comes to mind… Toni.  This might be a funny little story but there is a lot of truth behind it.  What Donna was trying to say that YOU and ONLY YOU are responsible for the way your life turns out.  Your life is like a storybook and you are the author.  Only you can decide what will happen to the main character (makes sense doesn’t it?)  So take charge rather than staying in the same old rut of being the poor little victim of your circumstances.  Lastly, ALWAYS be grateful for everything you have.  A house, a job, food on the table, your family, your good health etc etc etc.  Ladies, Toni, Tanya, Donna, this was a very enlightening evening which I (and I’m sure many others) truly enjoyed!

Riani

The monthly ladies networking function Woman at Work was held on the second Wednesday of this month because of school holidays.  Last night’s function was held at the promise grill in Meyersdal and it was really nice and cosy.  There was roundabout 80 ladies attending the function and the guest speaker for the evening was Marietjie Tame who owns the local Alberton newspaper called The Tame Times.  She spoke about marketing your company in these tough times.  A lot of people are in the frame of mind to cut out some of their advertising to save on costs and this is a fatal mistake.  Take a company like Coca-Cola for instance who spend millions on advertising.  One employee suggested that everyone on earth knows Coke and will keep on drinking Coke regardless of if they advertise or not.  So technically speaking Coke could save millions and decided to give it a try.  Within 6 months Pepsi had replaced Coke as the number 1 selling soft drink in the world and it took Coke 12 months and three times as much money to get back to the top again.  Which just goes to show you that everyone needs to advertise their company and get (and keep) their name out there.  There are millions of ways to advertise your business and not everything is going to bring you business immediately but the client might keep your business card and later on when they require your services they might pull out your card and give you a ring  

 The charity of choice is a new initiative called no regrets, reach for life. Margaret Janeke is the main driving force behind it, she was a lecturer at UJ when she got called upon by the Lord to serve his purpose.  She changed and modelled her thesis  and created lifeskills manuals (and now a DVD) on how to live your life.  (and what to avoid)  Basically BOUND is a lifeskills initiative which helps young teens to realize their potential and helps them to keep control of their freedom and to live lives which isn’t overshadowed and ruled by drugs or dangerous sexual activities.  It was very inspirational to hear Margaret speak as she has been through process of having the visions you have for your child shattered by drug abuse and has such a passion to help others.

As always there was lots of sponsorships and prizes to be given away in the lucky draw and this personalised “one-of-a-kind” sports bag was just one of many prizes.The whole idea of a networking evening like this is to support other likeminded women in the South that we can build our businesses, whilst having fun and a bit of social.  Sometimes we laugh so much that my stomach muscles hurt…

Riani

As you know yesterday was the first Wednesday in June so we attended and photographed the ladies networking event woman at work.

About them: ” Woman@Work is a society for women who work or women who run their own businesses or women who just want to meet other people. We have a big get-together on the first Wednesday of every month. It creates an opportunity for all ladies to network and promote themselves and their businesses or products/service. The objective of these fun-filled networking and socialising events, is to create a platform where ladies are given the opportunity to meet like-minded women and are able to find out about and support local businesses.”

The event was held at Thaba Ya Batswana in Kibler park and let me tell you it’s an awesome venue, absolutely gorgeous.  Upon entering the hall they had drummers playing Djembe drums which just completed the atmosphere.  We even had a demonstration from these drummers and some ladies got chosen to play along on the drums, and let me tell you it’s hard work, but you feel totally destressed afterwards…

The theme for the evening was african winter (so animal print all around) and let me tell you these ladies we’re dressed to kill    )  Glynis from Glitzerati was even wearing her leopard print slippers!

The ladies drom Dianamix hairdressing were armed and dangerous with their limited edition GHD straightening tongs.  They did Tanya and Toni’s hair right there on the spot and they also straightened and curled any ladies hair who was willing to give it a try, and did they all look fabulous!  Their husbands will probably ask them something like : ” I thought you went to a networking evening…” 

Renate Landman was the speaker for the evening (she also talked a little bit at the diamonds and pearls event held at the Royal Boma in Alberton) so she was back by popular demand.  Seeing that we we’re an all women audience Renate chose to speak about realationships.  She talked about balance in your life.  About the five languages of love and negative and positive energy in the world (which comes back to balance)  For instance picture a family driving down to the coast from JHB for a vacation.  So the kids are continually fighting in the back of the car (negative energy)  and mom has to keep threatening them to quiet down and leave each other alone.  After that they keep bickering and fighting so dad pulls the car to a halt and says to them:’This better stop immediately or we’re turning around and going home”  So the kids end up huddling together in the back seat (suddenly standing together and telling each other it’s okay – positive energy) and mom looks at dad and goes:’  Sheesh, that was a bit harsh’ (so now the negative energy has moved to the front. Basically there is balance in everything in life and once you start accepting and working with that belief you will become a whole lot happier.The thing that I love most about woman at work networking evenings is meeting with other business women and moms, whom you can even just chat with and in the process I’ve made some great friends.  So come along  on the 8th of July to The Promise Grill and find out what the hype is all about

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

The woman at work chosen charity for this month was St Mary’s childrens home.  They are situated in Rosettenville.  The fourth woman at work function (which was held at The Boma Barnyard Theatre in Alberton)  managed to raise over R2500 for this great cause   Well done ladies!!  And thank you to everyone who contributed!!I Went to St Mary’s with Tanya Dimas this week to hand over this great donation.  I love being able to help and give back to the community. When I arrived at St Mary’s I was warmly welcomed by he staff and given a little of background information.  The kids were all full of laughter and just loved having their photo taken on the jungle gym at the home. Here is a little bit more info I found on their website:

”

Who are we?

St Mary’s Children’s Home is a registered non-profit organisation which has its roots in the Anglican Church. However, we provide a safe, secure home and therapeutic environment for children from families in crisis, on a completely non-discriminatory basis.

Although we offer residential care, our aim is always to work towards the reconstruction and reunification of families wherever possible, and in this we co-operate with others working in related fields of Social Welfare.

Core Values
Our core values are those of the Christian gospel – humanity; compassion; involvement with the poor, the needy and the broken; the pursuit of justice and peace; and concern for the homeless.

Since the establishment of the original orphanage in 1902, St Mary’s has embraced the more modern cottage system of family units and adapted to meet the challenges of the present – including the impact of HIV/Aids on children and families, and the large-scale immigration to the city of Johannesburg, resulting in unemployment and extensive poverty in the community which, in turn, lead to abuse and abandonment.

Waiting List
We have a waiting list of children in need of admission through the Children’s Court and receive daily enquiries from the community regarding family and child issues. Efforts to extend our services are hampered by lack of funds.”

Riani

Louise and I have had the privilege of being extremely busy the last few weeks, from photographing events like woman at work to taking baby photos in studio to photographing exclusive weddings at the Michelangelo.  It’s truly been loads of fun and hard work….

Let me tell you a little about the bride and groom (we photographed) who got married on the 4th of April at The Michelangelo Hotel in Sandton.  Alan is Irish and Susan is South-African, they’ve been living together in London for 5 years.    As their families are from two different continents they’re having two weddings, one in South-Africa and another one in Ireland.  Sounds like fun to me..   Susan is the most outgoing bubbly woman I have ever met.  She is easygoing and nothing really stresses her out (oh ja and she’s always giggling).  Alan on the other hand is a little bit more quiet and reserved but as the saying goes, opposites attract (and usually to tend to compliment each other well)

Susan got dressed at her mother’s house in Northcilff ( I photographed the bride getting dressed) and Alan got dressed at some family of the bride’s house in Randpark Ridge(where Louise was taking photos).  They got married at a catholic church in Morningside and the Reception was held at the Michelangelo in the heart of Sandton.  Can you imagine our dilemma with traffic…  The Groom’s party (best men and Louise) got stuck in traffic and it took them over an hour to get to the church and the bride left her house late and also got stuck in traffic (It made the whole wedding quite interesting   )If I can give you one top wedding planning tip it’s to get married at a venue or not having to travel more than 30km from your house, to the church and to the reception hall.

The wedding ceremony was so special and intimate that Louise and I had to hold back our tears.  It was like something from a movie scene.  At one point in the service the minister said:’ Take Alan’s hands, turn them face up and hold them in yours.  Now look at his hands, these are the hands who will look after you, these are the hands that will share every intimate detail of your life with you. These are the hands which will understand and help you through trying times.  These are the hands that will help you up after you’ve fallen and will share the sunshine in your life.  These are the hands which will caress your pregnant tummy in happy anticipation of your unborn child.  These are the hands which will hold your newborn baby with unbelievale tenderness…’ etc. etc. etc.  Can you get an idea of what I’m talking about…?  It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard at any wedding ceremony!

Outside the church is this narrow little path which leads to a big wooden gate, once you walk through it there is the most beautiful little secluded garden where we photographed the family, took some fun entourage photos a few wedding photos with a sunset sky in the background and then we were off to the Michelangelo.

We also didn’t let the chance to photograph the bride and groom at this Sandton five star hotel pass us by.  I even got the concierge (as Susan called them) to move the cars parked in front of the fountain for some shots.  They didn’t mind going up and down the elevators to different floors for photographs since Susan also has a passion for photography.  Louise and I had such fun shooting at this wedding and Susan a you really made us feel like family!

Riani