Dear Women of THE NETWORK,
Here comes December! What a wonderful month! It is a time when families and friends get together, it is a month of giving and sharing, reflecting about the year just ending, and dreaming and planning for the year to come!
In this newsletter we will look back at all the exciting events of 2022 and we will let you know what to expect next year!
It seems like a long time ago, but we started 2022 with ongoing Covid restrictions in place. Our first event in January was online and its focus was on How to Improve our Sleep. Annika Carroll, CEO of Sleep Like a Boss, talked about typical and hidden sleep saboteurs, including sleep habits, stress, hormones, and even about our gut health.
March, started with our Gala Dinner & Charity Fundraise, celebrating 30 years since the inception of The NETWORK. Still following Covid restrictions, we gathered more than 150 people, members and friends, for an elegant soiree at Double Tree by Hilton. The funds raised, together with dedicated funds for donations, amounted 9,000 EUR and were equally split between the charities we decided to support: Femmes en Détresse, Dress for Success and ThinkPink
Still in March, and as the Covid restrictions started to lessen, we had another in person evening, on AndersonWise Executive Recruiting premises. It started with the AGM, where I had the honour to be voted as the President of this amazing association! The AGM was followed by an instructive Cross-Cultural Awareness Event by Françoise Falisse, who introduced her podcast of interviews “Women Abroad”. This podcast represents a great opportunity for women to share their experiences of living and working abroad.
The April event, Aspire to Inspire: Female Role Models was moderated by Lisa Francis-Jennings. This event, kindly hosted by Amazon, tried to answer questions such as: “What steps have high profile women in Luxembourg taken to achieve their goals?” “How might we emulate them to build our own success?” Our female role models were from different professional fields, from Amazon, our panelist was the Head of Compliance, EMEA- Laetitia Kister, then we had an inspiring woman entrepreneur Christianne Wickler, an incredible Process Dr. Engineer Maryam Baniasadi, and a successful lawyer, mentor, and founder Jackye Elombo
May was about Financial Wellness & Taking Control of Investments. Gaelle Haag, the Founder of Women's Best Financial Friend, encouraged women to take charge of their finances and invest their hard-earned money savvily in order to make the most of their investments.
June was a busy month, with two great events, before a well-deserved summer break. We started with Jill Saville’s event on Female Leadership: Getting out of your own way! Jill outlined 12 habits that women seem to display more often than men, inspired by the book How Women Rise, written by Marshall Goldsmith & Sally Helegesen.
After a two-year hiatus, due to Covid restrictions, our Summer Drinks networking event was back! We were all excited to gather once again and celebrate with our members and supporters the beginning of the summer! This event was graciously hosted by Pall Cafe. We had the chance to be the audience of one of the first demo shows of The Duchesse of Comedy, the newest and first ever all female run comedy club in Luxembourg, how exciting!
While we enjoyed our summer break, the Board members and their teams got together in August for our Strategy Meeting. We reviewed your answers to the survey sent before the summer and we did our best to integrate your suggestions in the 2023 events. Based on your votes, it was decided that the charity to support this coming year will be once again Femmes en Détresse. We did have a lot of fun during our strategy meeting, and we ended that sunny working day swimming and enjoying a homemade pizza kindly offered by our host Christine Hansen, the Events Director.
September started with another fun event. In partnership with Madi.lu and Max - Lahr et fils Vineyard, we organized a Wine Tasting Fundraiser for Femmes en Détresse. As an extra bonus, we had the chance to meet this year's Riesling queen, Céline Max, who is part of this family of winemakers. Sales-Lentz helped us with the transportation to the beautiful and picturesque village of Luxembourg where the winery is located.
We got more serious in October, with our event Women on Boards hosted by Arendt & Medernach. Rita Knott shared with us a few success recipes for female professionals aiming towards a board role. She taught us what are the most efficient steps for our members’ search for a suitable board mandate, be it on a commercial, public or non-profit board.
November was the month of another successful event, How to Build & Maintain a Thriving Business. The discussions were informative and enlightening and ING Luxembourg made sure everybody felt welcome and at ease. Our Panelists Christine Hansen (Christine Means Business), Lynnete Stoltzfus (Majorel) and Leesa Soulodre (r3iVentures) discussed key strategies for successfully taking any business from concept to full operation. They focused on women entrepreneurs' unique and specific needs, from balancing personal and family life and business, to securing funding.
We cannot end this year without a wonderful Christmas event! On the 7th of December we will be delighted to welcome you to the Stroghoff restaurant overseeing the Christmas Market in Place the Paris. We aim to create a festive and fun atmosphere with Christmas gifts from our sponsors, while enjoying delicious food and indulging in a glass of your favourite wine!
Now, that my report of the year 2022 is done, I can only hope our program for 2023 will be at least as exciting! I am truly looking forward to meeting you as often as possible at our events!
I would like to wish you and your families a wonderful Holiday Season and a prosperous New Year!
Yours sincerely,
Mariana Florea - President
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