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Soft caress Of the shoulder Whilst she puts on her bra. A spotting of blood Downstairs onto her pants. Is thirst for bleeding Now a hunger On the rise? Why is it taboo? To roll off tongues A journey into womanhood. Ambiguous it seems Larger than life to deal with Hot chocolate soothes the mind like menthol to a chest Hot water bottles soothe this cramp Why does she endure pain? For the sinner of Eves punishment of persuasion? She's designed beautifully On hessian she's displayed A uterus with might A crown in its own right Where jewels that speak More than the kohinoor speaks For a democracy She's not a republican Or a migrant. She already belongs. With substance Alright.

By Paramjit Oberoi Thank you, my dear child, for supporting me to emerge into a woman. My dear child, the world can be scary and intimidating. Before I give you any words of wisdom, I want to thank you for showering me with your precious gifts which can never be purchased but are most treasured. I am forever grateful to you, my child. I am offering back, what you have taught me. As a woman I now thank you for the wisdom you bestowed upon me. You often stopped me in my tracks, scolded me and reminded me to go back to my childlike innocence: no shame, no guilt, no ego, just pure soul. Yes, my dear child I comfort you, I treasure you. I hold you; I thank you and I love you. I am not the teacher of wisdom, you are. You are pure essence, the universal power. You are a true princess. Don’t let the world take away your essence, continue being you. Dear beautiful soulful you are an angel, you sparkle, you shine, and will forever outshine any adult. You are unique. There is no one, yes, I mean no one that is like you. I want you to hold onto your uniqueness. You truly are one in a million. I want you to feel comfortable in your own skin, be true to your true essence. Remain curious, advertise your bubbly, innocent, personality. Remember you truly are a child of the universe and have not been tainted with the worldliness of this world. Savour the divine connection. Be inner directed, not other directed. Continue listening to that flutter in your tummy, itis your intuition speaking to you. Hold on to your inner sense of knowing, your original spirit my angel, your true sense of being. Don’t let anyone, I mean anyone, destroy your inner knowing, your intuition, and your inner beauty. Express your true essence. Revel in your expanded heart. Live in unfaltering faith and hope. I love that you do not discriminate, you just see souls. You are angelic, pure and non-judgemental. Never hide your feelings. Be true to your nature, purely childlike, innocent, not indoctrinated by society. Shine my dear child. By shinning you will set the world alight with your flame and light. There are no words to describe your inner and outer beauty. You are totally exquisite, you are marvellous, revel in your marvelousness. Embrace your inner beauty and inner knowing. You are divine, you have the divine light shining in and out of you. Love yourself to the core. Never ever, I mean never ever, ever: are you listening? Never ever give up your true Essence for anyone. Continue being you because, you, yes you my dear, makes this world a better place,just by being in it. Know your worth, know your true essence. Value all your emotions, your inner knowing. Continue dreaming.’ Dream Big dare to fail’ Your vulnerability is your strength, it’s a beautiful gift, honour it and show it proudly. Embrace your love and know you are loved beyond measure. Remember dear child I love you; I adore you, I treasure, and I cherish you. I ask one thing of you dear child, that you will always see the pure glory of the universal power that I see you in you. I love you. In total gratitude to YOU.

By Darcie Thomas I want to go To run and pack my bag To take the things that I love And leave To get on a train A plane A bus To simply go Where the darkness won't follow Where the sad Lonely Scared Little girl Woman Won't be She will be happy Brave Confident The woman you aspire to be The one with no fear No worries No sadness But she isn't there The sad, lonely, scared little girl woman is still there Still hiding beneath Crying out for me to hold her To love her To embrace To accept her She came along with me when I left Huddled herself into my bag Folded herself tightly into a small space Easily ignored Forgotten Not easily left behind Just waiting Patiently For when I'll come back Back to her When the new place becomes lonely Becomes sad Becomes fearful Because I am not the woman I aspire to be As much as I run Hide Abandon The sad lonely scared little girl woman follows She always follows Crying for acceptance Begging for love Hoping I'll look inwards instead of out The place is merely a distraction A short term reprieve A holiday It is not a home The home is me I am sorry for abandoning you

By Bridget Harper Don’t tell me how I should or shouldn’t age Don’t you dare Aging means I’ve earned the right to be Graceful and disgraceful Silent and loud Considered and opinionated Sexy and sexless Girlish, Boyish, Manish, Impish, Childish should I choose Because I choose I will dance when I want, sing when I want, speak when I have something to say I will eat when I want, sleep when I want and if I want, play with my rabbit all day I’ve spent a lifetime playing small to fit your expectations of my womanhood The only expectation, condemnation, praise or criticism I hear now are my own I am a woman And my womanhood is what I choose it to be.

By Adlin Shorter The evening sun was handed to the night by the eclipsed crescent moon which stood guard over the room which housed Mya. Within the walls she made it her home and boxed herself away from her disgrace. In her most painful hour, the half-moons gaze guarded her from the echoed whispers. Like thick fog it clouded over the house unable to reason, Mya withdrew into the corner of her bed. Like bullets the unspoken words had hit, and it hurt. The heaviness of the night was filled with fear, her one chance had been snatched away leaving her helpless. Her disgrace had held her back. The first quarter was left with the rawness of her painful decisions with the confusion of things that were never said but only behind closed doors, the face and the humiliation which drained her. The thickness of the fog filtered through to all involved seeking out to destroy her. The bedroom was furnished with acquaintances that busybodied around her with the coldness of wanting and waiting for her next move. The moon’s glow blossomed the old wardrobe in the corner which had morphed into distorted mannerisms which towered over her. The blue-eyed monsters haunted and caged her in a coffin which was her bed in which she lay asleep with a threat that silenced her. Unable to think clearly, she comforted herself by bargaining with the blue-eyed monsters, she had no choice it was her own way of keeping them at bay from scrutinizing eyes The first quarter left her feeling apprehensive and mistrustful of wanting to share and reach out to anyone that would listen. As much as she tried to make a bold escape from the shackles of her disgrace only to find the repetitiveness had held her back to the burial ground where she was of benefit. There was no way out. Mya had felt trapped and left frightened, Mya had made her home in the darkness. This was made the core of her existence. Hand in hand her disgrace had cradled her and offered no remorse. Mya had no were to go, she sought comfort in recreation from which she was allowed limited time to think of other everyday things. The waxing gibbous moon reflection had given her time to question everything around her even her disgrace why, how and can I move forward from this? If so, how having been put upon. Her disgrace was gift-wrapped with insults, the offer of money in exchange for her silence and the suggestion to keep quiet so that others can benefit and move on was the final blow. This un-rewritten agreement was left with a final word “deal with it”. During Mya’s recreational moment she had not long to gather thoughts, she had bundled them away in her head along with what she could salvage and packed them with what little dignity and pride left. She was ready to make her transition into the last phase of her life. The bright blue glow of the full moon had faded out the distorted figures that had raped Mya’s existence. It took with it the silent voices, the shame, deceit and betrayal back to the place of yesterday’s graveyard. Mya now stood alone she had now become an individual, no longer the washer upper, the ass wiper. The prop the ‘tagalong’ friend, the show pony, the trusted fool. The ‘dunce bat’ crippled and confined the school of lost causes with a non-existent life with no future. Mya, the individual person that loves to dance, who's creative, laughs, loves and feels. Mya had gone to bed that day and woke up to a beautiful sunrise. Happy Birthday to Shakti celebrating our 16th birthday!

Oksana Mauricio This season I'm inviting you to sit at my feet, sip from the warmth Layers of grace. Liberated, aren’t your inner child? Be what you never thought Possible. Remember the time in momma’s house when paper turned into dolls. Brown eyes fixated on the light, sun of tropical abundant African land. Luanda is a city that never sleeps to this day. Hasn't your inner being dreamt to have resurrected dead dreams lost and left in graves from the past. Their soil is fertile with productivity, flowers like welwitschia, and orange sunburn opened and available. Wooden historical monuments of childhood, dusty objects and artifacts all over a home abandoned. Bairro, as tight, as vivid in daylight, The colour in faces of community smiles, affectioned hugs, customs, traditional, medicinal herbs not found elsewhere but planted and rooted in the ground in Angola. The scent of passion fruit from afar, pineapple stirring in the air with juices inexplicable entering my palate. Tamarind soothing childhood memories as a way of comfort aiding digestive tracks, expelling ulcers and stabilizing blood sugar levels. Did you know that as a child? This is the only version to surpass any fear and unavoidable memories from ancestry times. If my grandmother Olivia was alive, what would she have to say about all of this? This, you inner me and you the woman who is yet becoming wiser gratefully for this, that, those times failure was the only name in her mind. Wiser never encompassed to be true in this or any other time. Did you feel the release of being you even in the most foolish decisions of guilt? Wisdom has come and kicked shame from both of our guts, spitting, turning, and vomiting what never was. Happy Birthday to Shakti celebrating our 16th birthday!

If you go down to the woods today, you are sure to be inundated with surprise, no teddy bear picnics with tough bread and salty butter sandwiches, no Hansel and Gretel with ginger melting spice into your nostrils as you inhale enough sugared-bread house to make you sneeze and feel you have Corona Virus, nor even Goldilocks taking advantage of the good folks away from home, breaking and entering - the ultimate snatch and grab artist. Scarlet blooms snake along a path and soon an x marks the spotlight on a voluptuous figure leaning against a tree, face shadowed by the red light of a lantern swinging from a low-hanging bough. You could say, this is a certain kind of pleasure district drenched in every shade of hot lipstick of a tart carmine variety. The wind in the woods is blowing up a tsunami of leaves, acorns - sycamore keys are spinning like boomerangs, cutting into your cheeks and it is bleak. No sun peeps out when our Little Red wonders by. “Hello,” say the maiden in a cape and red cap, redder than the blood that is lost in wars the world over. She smiles and the flowers about her wilt at the coldness of her breath. She is statuesque, her body the envy of any supermodel around today or yesterday. Auburn hair cascading down her back. Her face rouged. Her lips a crimson sheen of seduction. Her middle name is succubus and she is waiting for a male of any sort to cross her path, to try to take advantage of her. Of course, a lone wolf creeps by, on his way, he says, to his den to bring a little sustenance to his old Nan, who suffers from that common skin disease, well-known amongst wolf-kind, mange. This canis lupus is in big trouble as Little Red steps out from her tree and drapes her body about him, eying him up and down. He shivers. “What big eyes you have.” “All the better to see you with, my love.” “What big teeth you have.” His stumpy fangs chattering in his head. “Mmmm. All the better to eat you, Wolfie darling.” Firstly, Red licks her lips slowly and her vermillion tongue lolls - Rolling Stones style. Then, she luxuriously laps up the sweat from his brow, his nose, his cheek and pauses to take him in. Finally, her lips fuse with his and all the life oozes from him into her. Behold, Little Red! Bigger, badder, better than all the bad boys in town. Oh yeah. Interested in buying our anthology, click here: https://www.shaktiwomen.com/product-page/womanhood-anthology

I met Linda when she showed me around the new Erdington Wellbeing Hub, 196 High Street Erdington, B23 6SJ, and was delighted to learn that, as well as being a recognised Community Association, Witton Lodge has invested widely in their Flourishing Communities commitment, providing health and wellbeing services, housing and benefits advice, digital skills, employability, carers and domestic violence support, to name but a few. The Wellbeing Hub is open to all who need it - not just the Witton Lodge’s own Tenants - and is truly an exemplar of community investment. Linda is in her 70s and looks and walks like a woman in her 30s. She’s known in the community and is highly regarded by all from residents to police, Councillors and businesses alike. I’d heard about Linda from colleagues at the University Centre for Urban Regeneration and from staff, volunteers, and Board members. They told me: “Linda does not mess about, she does not suffer fools but has a heart of pure gold.” She was clearly someone I wanted to interview for our Woman2Watch series. INTERVIEW BEGINS Welcome Linda Hines: When I asked her to tell me about her journey her very first words were: “I love my life!” “I love Mondays” “You make your own happiness – I love the fact I have no idea what’s coming”. A JOURNEY TO SELF THROUGH COMMUNITY LED HOUSING In 1977 Linda was the wife of a disabled husband and mother of 2 children. She describes herself as having low self-esteem, no confidence and no social networks. “My job was to look after my family.” She said. Today, she’s the Chair of one of the most renowned Community Led housing initiatives in the land – the Association owns and manages 200 homes, provides a range of flourishing community services, supporting the local estate and the wider community of North Birmingham, as well as employing a 43 strong, workforce. The estate is conservatively valued at £11 million. And it started with a no! In 1977, Linda and her family bought a 3 bedroomed terraced house which was formerly owned by the council. These houses, locally known as “Boot” houses, were named after the builder, Sir Henry Boot, whose company built more than 50,000 homes between WWI and WWII to supply the escalating housing shortage. These houses were built fast, and due to the post war shortage of brick used precast reinforced clinker columns (you’ll see the relevance later I promise)…. They paid £10,000 for their home, and later, the Council bought back all of the Boot Houses that were privately owned when they realised that they were structurally unsound. Linda’s house was sold back for 30,000! “We made a tidy profit – Thank you Maggie! In addition, the council promised to fix the problems and we could return as Tenants. But it all went wrong. The council then found it would be cheaper to demolish the properties than to fix them and that’s when the residents got busy! The seeds of a now flourishing Residents’ Association came about and the new Linda, the dynamic stalwart community champion, began her 30 year journey of activism and self-discovery. “That meeting at Perry Common Library was the first time I had ever put my hand up to speak. There was so much I didn’t understand, and I was prepared to say nothing, until one solicitor who was due to speak, distributed packs of information to the officers but then said “I haven’t any for the residents as they would never understand.” “That made my blood boil – how dare he”. “I started asking questions after that. He fuelled my anger and my curiosity”. And so it was, in Perry Common Library that the Resident’s Association was formed, initially to work alongside the council to rebuild their homes. The Resident’s Association later became the Witton Lodge Community Association which was formed to oversee the regeneration and redevelopment of 900+ homes. “At that time, we didn’t really have a clue what we were doing.” The residents were steered towards a similar project at Stockfield in Acocks Green, which was the only other model of community ownership and management in Birmingham back then. And that’s when things started to get really interesting! Ladies in Lavender The Stockfield project, now Stockfield Community Association, was led by a group of mostly elderly ladies who were very proud of what they’d achieved. “They told us what they learned and what they would do better. They inspired and advised us and we were on our way…” At this time there were 908 properties to demolish… “there was just too much to do in one go! We had no money so the demolition proceeded in phases: Phase One – which consisted of 103 properties. Each resident was offered a new home once they had been built. Only 3 of the 103 families believed that this and 100 moved elsewhere in the city. Once the homes had been demolished, the land was then transferred to Witton Lodge Community Association on a 125yr lease, with the council still holding the Freehold. “I look at this as the first Community Asset Transfer in Birmingham. Perry Common had been built as a Council Estate, we wanted to bring in different tenures, so we sold 1/3rd of the land to private developers, 1/3rd to two Housing Associations, and with that money we were going to build our homes on the final third. But we knew that we needed more money to build the standard of homes we wanted to. We still had to borrow, so we got serious, and commissioned solicitors and financial advisors who helped us write our Business Plan. We were successful in obtaining a loan to top-up the shortfall. In 1995 we built 29 homes in our first phase”. “It had become real. My confidence was improving, but the unconfident Linda was still there, lurking…” OK I think we’ve got this… The next phase of the development was due to take place and 31 properties were planned for ourselves, but by now the Association was stronger and more knowledgeable and we started to confidently question comments made by the planning department: “We sometimes won the battle”. We wanted to change the road layouts and install cul-de-sacs so that the children could play safely. We wanted to know everything, we were like sponges; we went to planning meetings and we even chose the colours of the bricks!” It’s been an amazing journey and it’s taken 27 years to complete a 10year project, but it’s been worth every hour that it’s taken! “We don’t do normal” Linda proudly admits, and we are currently looking for ways to reduce fuel consumption in our homes and help residents with the rising cost of living. Q. What are the barriers you’ve overcome in your journey through life? My biggest barrier is my comfort zone – I still have self-confidence issues – the shy Linda is still here. I had low expectations and every day of this journey, I (we) had to prove I am (we were) worthy. My mother wanted me to work in an office and definitely not a shop as I went to Grammar School, but I didn’t want to and starting work at Sainsbury’s which helped to build my confidence and that’s where I met my husband. Another big barrier then and indeed now, is that there were no (and still are) very few women working in construction industry, women are virtually invisible, I want to change that. Hands of my Cherry Tree! Linda told me another story that made me giggle, but also exemplifies how she uses the art of persuasion and communication. She was coming home from a meeting, it was late and she was hungry. The chip shop was beckoning her! she passed a group of teenagers who were kicking a newly planted sapling. Instead of shouting at them, she asked the lads how they were doing and started a conversation. She casually mentioned that her friend, Mary, who was 84 years old, had just planted that tree and they were all genuinely mortified and tried to repair the damage. Linda believes in everyone and knows there is always a way to reach out to people and get them on side. Having only known her a few hours, I would definitely say it’s one of her superpowers. Q. What would you write if you had to write a letter to yourself? Dear Linda, Be Brave Be Bold You’d be amazed what you can do. Also don’t be afraid or ashamed of your vulnerability. Vulnerability is to be valued – it keeps us human; it teaches us empathy. Also speak your mind, but be respectful – I have learned it’s ok to say what I think – whoever it’s to! Q. Who is your shero and why? Oh, that’s easy – it’s Mary Harvey. She 100 years old, she is a Director of Witton Lodge Community Association and also a volunteer. She is never miserable, and she loves a man in uniform. She’s my surrogate mum. She’s an amazing woman who still collects litter from the streets and recently did a sponsored walk for John Taylor hospice. She comes in to fold leaflets and she still walks around the block everyday checking-in on the “old people”! Mary is my shero. Q. What advice would you give a woman or community group starting out now? “Don’t give up and never give in!” “I find a gem in every day – my joy is working with people and making new friends”. “You don’t need to know everything, just be willing to learn, listen and most importantly, to ask. It took me 15 years to be able to ask questions, to feel informed enough to question. I always wanted to make a difference and I am very proud of what we have achieved! There is a thin line between arrogance and pride, I hope I’ve stayed on the right side of that line.” INTERVIEW ENDS Linda Hines is an amazing woman, a shero in her own right. She is most definitely an inspiration to women and men alike. Her team adore her, and I’d love to have her school a new generation of budding activists. Her baby, Witton Lodge Community Association, is definitely a model of community led housing worth studying – in fact my university, the University of Birmingham Centre for Urban Regeneration, take students there every year. She’s one hell of a gal and watch this space, she’s got her heart set on an Enterprise Centre in the heart of Erdington and I for one, have my money on that project coming to fruition very very soon.

Background Liv Garfield was one of the youngest female FTSE 100 chief executives when she was appointed as Chief Executive of Severn Trent in April 2014. Before this, she was CEO of BT Openreach and is credited with overseeing the commercial roll-out of fibre broadband to two-thirds of the country. Before joining BT she worked for Accenture as a consultant in the communications and hi-tech market division and she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in October 2020 for her services to the water industry. In 2013, she was ranked 10th in Fortune magazine’s annual 40 under 40 list of rising corporate stars and ranked the 14th most powerful women in Europe/Middle East and Africa. She is the winner of the coveted, Veuve de Clicquot Business Woman Awards 2018. Liv is also a member of the 30% Club which is committed to reaching at least 30% representation of all women on all boards and C-suits globally. What made me want to interview Liv was of course her amazing achievements but also what I loved about her is what people who worked for Severn Trent have told me firsthand: “she’s so approachable, and she cares.” From the kite marks Severn Trent have gained to date, it is clear that she has most certainly created a culture of inclusivity where women will not be hitting the glass ceiling under her watch! I also loved seeing the work she does out there in the community, including setting aside time to give careers advice to young leaders and taking time out of each working week to meet all of her 15,000+ staff and of course taking time out for an interview with yours truly. Interview begins: Q: what did you want to be a growing up? A: A Blue Peter presenter Q: could you tell us about yourself and your professional Journey? I studied French and German and was not really prepared for the world of business but soon learned through work experience in Brussels in my university foundation year and later 5 years with Accenture. This really prepared me for the world of work. I was also a bit of a competitive people watcher! Q. What was your greatest achievement? That’s easy my 2 boys – yes like most women I juggle, like holding plates on a stick, we compromise but in order to make time for the people and things we really value, we must be selective about how we use our time. I have also made a zillion mistakes – that’s why I think it’s so important we enjoy the journey. Q. What advice would you give a woman starting out on her career today? To me leadership is about authenticity. I’d say… Take the real you to work Don’t do a job you don’t adore – it’s a form of empowerment. Put yourself in the shoes of your boss/customer Treat every second as an opportunity. And remember, successful people are the most resilient people. Q. If you had to write a letter to your younger self, what would you say? I’d say, don’t worry about the end, worry about the journey. Part of our success is, is about our failures. Our worst days make us strong. Q. What is the key to success in business? Strategy Communication The right team Q. Who is your shero and why? My mum – because she’s amazing – I had some challenges as a child and it was her strength that pulled me through. Liv’s mantra is.. Be kind. Be authentic. Be enthusiastic. Be helpful. Thanks for the advice Liv – you certainly are the most authentic and enthusiastic person ever!

1. In what ways are you serving women in the West Midlands right now? Athac provides a weekly women’s wellbeing service offering every parent an income and benefits review to ensure they are getting all they are eligible to; personalised money advise including home visits where needed; debt management support; weekend family breaks for carers in the Cotswolds; Support with mobile foodbank during lockdown; developing recovery services; Creative session opportunities for children and young people. 2. What are your biggest challenges as a women's organisation? Working with women who sometimes lack confidence, poverty, women who need upskilling, wasted talents - many have crafting skills etc. but don’t wish to take on running a business. Diverse women need a personalised approach to support Providing one-to-one coaching. 3. What keeps you motivated? Knowing our support and opportunities make a difference not only to the women but to their children through our programme of enrichment opportunities. 4. Do you have any advice for other women running their own organisations? Know you mission and stay focused throughout any projects or collaborations you deliver. Also work in creative ways to achieve your goals. Take time out to connect using the 5 ways to wellbeing approach: Connect; Be Active; Give; Take Notice; Keep Learning

It's hard to forget the film East is East (1999) - if you’re of the right generation that is. This classic 90s comedy-drama Britflick was one of the first big-screen depictions of the post-war immigrant experience in the UK. With a large helping of delightfully British humour and plenty of candour, it depicted the trials of a Pakistani father trying to arrange marriages for his two mixed-ethnicity sons. Not only was it totally hilarious, it was also ground-breaking, bringing the experiences and culture of a minority group that most people in the UK had no idea about at the time right into everyone's living rooms and playgrounds. The same could be said about Kelly Kaur, founder of the housing and support organisation ‘Throughcare’. She’s hilarious, candid and in many ways what she has created broke ground where support for people who have experienced domestic abuse, particularly in the form of forced marriages, is concerned. “O.M.G.” she says repeatedly as she recounts her own story of narrowly escaping a forced marriage...by accident. “I didn’t even realise I was in Birmingham,” she tells me through a wry laugh. Kelly was 16 at the time studying to become an art teacher when she’d taken her usual bus home from college only to realise too late that she’d forgotten to get off and found herself in Birmingham city centre with no phone (this was the 80s), no money, and no contact number for her grandparents, who were raising her. A few weeks prior to this, she’d come home from school one afternoon to find something like a scene from East is East taking place in her ‘parents’ living room: about 15 Asians sitting around staring at her. Now, this wouldn’t have been unusual to most people growing up in an Asian household, but Kelly’s grandparents, who she classed as her parents, had chosen to live in a ‘white’ area of the Black Country to avoid facing the shame of their Asian community, so seeing any large number of Asians together in one space was a bit of a shock. You see, Kelly’s mother had fallen for and married a white man, a total taboo at the time, one her biological mother never overcame as, sadly, she left Kelly with her grandparents when she was just five and from then on, Kelly became their “tarnished” daughter. The marriage had been arranged and Kelly had no say. The day she visited her future husband’s home in Wolverhampton, she was adorned with the red head scarf and the 20 or so people who were there started putting money down to symbolise her acceptance as the bride. Kelly began crying but everyone thought she was crying for joy and happiness. “I didn’t disagree with [arranged marriage]. I always knew that’s my culture, but I assumed it wouldn’t have been arranged until I was ready.” She was wrong. From that day on she was expected to send love letters to her fiancé who was back in India. “I went to school the following week and I started to rebel a little bit. The teachers didn’t understand. This was in the 80s. Nobody knows what this kind of thing is.” Kelly didn’t know she was going to ‘run away’ until it happened. Not knowing what to do, she called her friend who picked her up from the city and in that moment, she said to her, “You know what? I’m leaving home.” Eventually she got a flat, but there were times of immense hardship, living on the streets. After a while she found herself working in an estate agent and, she recalls how “this woman came up to me and said, ‘my husband’s abusing me and this and that’, so I got the Women’s Aid number for her and [they] went to her house and left a card in the door saying ‘we’ve been told you’re under domestic violence, please contact us’. That woman came quickly to me and I thought O.M.G., that’s putting your life in danger! So I got her housed, sorted out her benefits and thought why don’t I just set something up myself? And that’s how Throughcare came about.” It’s been a challenge to keep it going, to get funding, but Kelly is a determined woman who likes to do things her own way and finds it very difficult to work with people who try to follow a text book when working with people they don’t understand the lived experiences of. “Nobody understood the concept of what a forced marriage was or what an arranged marriage was in the Asian community [context]. I don’t deal with just Asians; I deal with any ethnicities because there’re different types of forced marriage and domestic violence. It’s different across cultures and religions but when it comes down to it, we’re all the same. We’ve housed people from a white ethnic background, like skin heads, and they’ve gone and fallen in love with a black person.” Despite what many of her haters might think, Throughcare isn’t all about teaching people to leave home and live independently. “Back in my time all I wanted was for someone to mediate between [me and] the family and say ‘look, she doesn’t want to get married yet but she will in the next four/five years, you know, see how it goes.” “We’ve had stories where we’ve housed some girls and the next thing, I’ve done mediation with their family and they’ve gone back home. I’ve had one Muslim girl who’s in love with a Hindu boy - we had to kidnap her from school - it was so bad! She got pregnant and all sorts. We did mediation, got death threats and everything and, guess what? They’ve been married for 6 years! And then you think to yourself what was all that hoo-har about at the beginning? But you do get the odd ones that just want their freedom.” Ultimately, Kelly’s organisation is filling a gap in other services and that gap is the genuine knowledge of peoples’ desires and empathy for cultural practices that can only really come from lived experience. About women’s organisations, she says it like it is: “we’re all aiming at the same goal but [we] all do it in a different way.”

Dr Pauline Roche describes herself as an amplifier, producer, relationship broker and freelance journalist, increasing digital and data skills in small charities to build sustainability. She is and does all those things and so much more. Currently a producer and co-presenter on the Dr Tech Show started by the late John Popham, host of Tech Talk on Hope Radio, and an award-winning producer, broker and journalist for Digital WM News, Pauline has been an Associate and Member of Shakti Women since 2007 and recently spoke at the launch event of our Pink Paper 2021 about the importance of data in the fight for gender equality. Born to a middle-class white family in Ireland in the early 60s, Pauline became politicised when she moved to Birmingham and saw first-hand the oppression of Irish and other marginalised people. She fought hard to be taken seriously as a female organiser in the staunchly patriarchal, Irish community who were keen to protect themselves by promoting their culture and traditions. She persevered and became one of the key members of the Birmingham Irish Community Forum which relaunched the St.Patrick’s Day Parade that had come to a grinding halt in the aftermath of pub bombings in 1974. She feels glad to be able to look back and think that she had some hand in encouraging changes, and she welcomes recent significant events like the Birmingham Irish Association’s celebration of St. Bridget’s Day and the Irish Embassy’s first Black History event. Most recently she’s become the Chair of the West Midlands Funders Network, steering it from a voluntary group with no constitution to becoming a registered charity. Their mission is to provide a support network for funders in the West Midlands, helping them to work more effectively and increase their impact on people and communities. “Some funders don’t always welcome new ways of doing things but we have had good engagement with[the] events that we run. We are starting to increase membership from local authorities and other funders in the region big and small like Heart of England Community Foundation, the National Lottery Community Fund and BBC Children in Need. Most of the funders with a big presence in the region are members.” Pauline believes it would be valuable for funders in the West Midlands to make it known whether they’re interested in funding women-focused/led organisations and projects. “Things go better when women are in leadership roles and when women’s leadership is supported by others.” For women coming up in social entrepreneurship, community organising, writing and journalism, she stresses the importance of networks. “My success has always been because I take part in lots of groups, including on social media. I help to run lots of different activities. I suppose if I was starting off again politically, I’d be looking at the all-party parliamentary groups for women because I believe that, politically, there are opportunities that we don’t always understand. Even if it’s just getting involved in a local campaign of some sort because you start to meet people who are like you and different from you and you can learn new things. It’s also about finding your niche. There’s a lot of us, including myself, who try to do too much and end up Select an area to comment on maybe not doing one thing really well, so I’d like encourage people to strip away the things that don’t “spark joy”. ” She keeps coming back to networks though. Joining groups, she advises, will help you to find your circle–that is, the people who will have your back. Blogging is another thing she encourages doing. “I wish I had started [blogging] years before I did. It’s one of the things I’ve encouraged in Shakti Women forever. When I first started teaching women about Twitter and LinkedIn in the early days, I was saying[then] even if you write a paragraph every week on your LinkedIn, that’s a mini blog and I wish I had taken my own advice. I think it’s a great thing to do, even if it’s just for yourself to get your thoughts together about what you’re doing, especially in this last year--the more we know about this, and how we handled things, the better prepared we’ll be for the next time this happens.” Ultimately, Pauline’s work is all about having a positive outlook. “I’m very happy that so many women have come into leadership and are in leadership positions around the world. It gives me great hope for the future. ”We want to thank Pauline for participating in the launch of the Pink Paper 2021 and being a long-standing ambassador of Shakti Women. This Doctor is most definitely in our circle.