The LiftHerUp Team is a small group of Brisbane businesswomen from different backgrounds, but we all agree
(and the research backs us up!) that the three most important
assets a woman can have to succeed at work are:
Competence comes from training and education and on-the-job experience, but
Confidence and Connections come only with life experience and the right kids of opportunities.
A
recent study found that women's aspirations and self-beliefs can be eroded as early as 2 years into their working lives! It's important then that young women develop their Confidence and Connections (particularly with supportive other women) early
in their careers. Even better, girls can begin practising these skills in high school.
Personal and professional development programs can be expensive however, and some are only made available to high academic achievers or those who plan to work in a profession.
Here's where LIftHerUp is going to make a difference: we're going to make our program available to Every Girl.
And we're going to give her that chance with ...
We will find each Girl a suitable (volunteer) Mentor from an industry or job that interests her, and provide them a safe and supported space in which to grow their relationship. During their 6 months working together each fortnight the girl will learn about
herself, grow her self-beliefs, and practice skills at making and building connections.
The Mentor and Mentee will both receive basic training about mentoring, as well as prompts, tools and a "roadmap" to help them along the way.
The Mentors can expect to learn a lot too; about being a Mentor, working with younger people, and maybe some things they didn't realise about themselves!
We are also going to give the girls some important life-skills training ... the kind that they won't get at school.
The 6-month LiftHerUp Program includes 5 professional workshop-style sessions for the girls to gain new skills and knowledge to help their career (and life) journeys:
***Personal Financial Literacy - Budgeting, Saving, Insuring and Investing or, Everything a Woman Needs to Know to be In Control of Her Financial Future
***Business Literacy - How to Think and Talk Like a Business Person and have an Impact at Work
***Personal Branding - Creating the Way You Want Others to See Who You Are, What You Do and How You Do It
***Health & Wellbeing - How to stay healthy as a working woman, how to manage stress and maintain balance
***Technology and You - Understanding how you can use technology to give you an edge.
A Sponsor is a senior person who opens doors for a less experienced person, for example by speaking positively about them, recommending them for a job or project, or even just introducing them to someone to whom the junior person might not otherwise be able
to gain access.
By acting as their Sponsor, the adult woman (Mentor) will open doors for the girl by inviting her into their workplace for work experience or "shadowing", and also by taking her to a networking event and introducing her to more women with whom she can connect.
All the Mentors and Mentees in the Program will get together several times, so the girls can also sow the seeds of her own network among her LiftHerUp colleagues!
We believe that by participating in the LiftHerUp Program in year 10 of high school (aged 15-16), young women will
***have their eyes opened to new possibilities, and be inspired to take on challenging and rewarding careers
***be empowered to be financially independent and take control of their future and
***feel better equipped to seek out and grab opportunities to advance and grow
By helping Every Girl to be the best that she can, whatever she chooses to be, LiftHerUp aims to increase the number of young women choosing, and staying in, rewarding jobs. career paths and ways of working.
It's not hard to see how this can benefit everyone: better earnings for women means a better future for them and their families; a more gender diverse workforce means a
better bottom line for companies, and higher female participation means
a $25 billion boost to Australia's annual GDP!
We are a skilled and experienced team, with our own extensive networks within government and industry. Our Program Director has significant experience running mentoring and e-mentoring programs in the NFP sector in Queensland, and knows how to conduct and
evaluate a mentoring program of this kind.
If we can hit our tipping point, we'll be able to run the Pilot Program for 20 girls and their Mentors, conduct a thorough evaluation, and prove the short- and longer-term positive outcomes.
If we reach our funding goal, we can set ourselves up to capture the experience of the Pilot Program, and pitch it to government and corporate sponsors so that we can deliver this unique opportunity to girls all across Queensland and (we plan!) Australia.
Between us we have 7 daughters, and this is what we wish for our own girls. We and our supporters are passionate about bettering the futures of young Australian women.
