We want to bring together women who have a lot in common – but might otherwise not have had the chance to meet.
A little bit about us…
We are Helen and Hannah and we are co-founders of the Nonpareil Network, a network for senior professional women in or approaching the second half of their careers.
The idea was inspired by our own experiences as women in business. We worked together for three years in senior management roles and quickly became supportive allies for each other: we both knew we had each other’s back and wanted each other to succeed. We loved our time working together and became firm friends outside of work too.
Sadly, our experience seems to be a fairly rare one. It can be lonely at the top, and if you join an organisation at a senior level, or start your own professional business, it can be much harder to make genuine friends and allies at work than it is when you are just starting out or working in more junior roles. Sometimes, you’re the only woman in a senior role, or if not, your female peers see you as a threat or competition, and this results in negative relationships and feelings of isolation.
The challenges facing senior, professional women are many: finding the right work/life balance, keeping your knowledge up to date, and dealing with the common issues that women meet in the workplace, all against a backdrop of the health and wellbeing issues that come on in later life, including menopause and peri-menopause. All of this, together with the mental challenges of getting older and reaching the lifestage where many women feel they start to become ‘invisible’.
We think that we need to stick together, support each other, celebrate success and stand up for the wealth of experience and unique attributes that senior women bring to the business world.
We have created the Nonpareil Network to offer a supportive, encouraging and friendly network for professional women in the second half of their career, whether that be a senior role in the corporate world or running their own professional business.
We want to bring together women who have a lot in common – but might otherwise not have had the chance to meet.
The Nonpareil Network will offer opportunities to focus on personal development, health and wellbeing and positive business and social relationships, whilst using the value of experienced professional women through mentoring and developing future women leaders.
Why ‘Nonpareil’?
‘Nonpareil’ means ‘unrivalled, unmatched or having no equal’ - just like the women we want to bring together. When these women come together as a group, we think it applies even more strongly. As when women come together to support each other, they can truly achieve great things.
Nonpareil is also a French word meaning ‘not the same’. No two women are the same, even if they have followed similar career paths it is likely that their personal situations will be different. That’s why the Nonpareil Network aims to bring together women from different backgrounds and different industries so that we can learn and share together.
We know it’s an unusual word, that isn’t commonly used in day to day conversation – and a word many won’t be familiar with or immediately recognise. But we want to appeal to women with curious minds, who will want to find out more!
If YOU would like to find out more, subscribe here.
By the way, ‘Nonpareils’ are a type of chocolate sweet for cake toppings, and whilst we all love chocolate, really, that was just a coincidence!