Fighting back against competitiveness amongst females in the business world, LadyMafia believes women should actively befriend powerful peers
In the age of Instagram and social media, we often compete with each other, and subconsciously race for the ‘perfect life’ – but in doing so we have lost a fundamental truth —’we shine more brightly together’ – or so is the message of Malaysia’s latest female-led networking group, LadyMafia.
Co-founded by Meredith Wallace, Jessica Yong, Jennifer Ooi, and Niniek Sugiarti, LadyMafia was founded in response to a revelation by the co-founders: women often compete with each other (especially in the workplace).
The co-founders, who work alongside each other in their professional lives, found that in their primarily female-led professional work they experienced greater success in unity, by building an inspiring network that empowers and encourages each other to pursue greatness.
“To see each other’s hard work come to culmination was not just a win as a fellow co-worker, it was empowering and inspiring to see each other’s hard work pay off, and to experience each other’s success,” said Wallace.
“And to learn from each other, whether in a professional or personal capacity, has been an experience that has inspired me to push my own boundaries.”
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And so the group, all senior executives at the digital agency Lion & Lion, started LadyMafia, a networking group that strives to bring together the best and brightest of Malaysia, and to connect inspiring women with a greater network.
Yong puts it this way,
“Should we be scrolling our Instagram feeds in anxiety at our friends’ promotions, vacations, and seemingly ‘perfect’ lives? In our opinion, ‘No – we want the strongest, happiest women in our corner’. We want to befriend challenging, independent women who push us to be our best, to become a better version of ourselves.”
Originally inspired by Ann Friedman’s coinage of Shine Theory (the idea of actively befriending powerful females), and the global group Tech LadyMafia, the team looks to echo the sentiments towards women networking:
“We believe in not only surrounding ourselves with the best and brightest, but in actively pursuing powerful women, and basking in the light of our shared awesomeness,” the website reads.
LadyMafia will host its first event (July 14) at The Co. in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur. The event will be themed ‘Independent Women,’ and will be a discussion panel with women entrepreneurs as they share their success stories.
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The discussion panel will feature Penny Choo, co-founder and COO of BloomThis, Evelyn Marieta, founder of Wunderbath, Jessica Li of Dah Makan, and Nur Aqilah Hanoum Binti Omar Hafiz, who has founded and designed the Que Qollection, a ready-to-wear hari raya collection.
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