Showing posts with label Xtraordinary Women. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Xtraordinary Women. Show all posts

Monday, 8 September 2014

BUSINESS PORTRAIT # 7 : Angela Greyling of VisionWorx at Xtraordinary Women, Somerset West


BY ERIKA

Feel the fear ... and do it anyway!

That was the message of guest speaker Angela Greyling of VisionWorx at the Xtraordinary Women’s Somerset West chapter September breakfast event last week.

In this manic society we live in, we often confuse success with being busy.

The way to test whether that which we keep ourselves busy with, is if it is making a real impact on our own lives, the lives of others and the world around us. Life is not about being productive, it is about being of value.

She quoted author of Success Intelligence, Robert Holden to not confuse:
  • speed with progress
  • urgency with importance
  • adrenaline with purpose

It's not about working harder - It's about removing the obstacles.

And our busy-ness is based in fear, those scripts / assumptions we have been brought up with and have assimilated throughout our lives.

Angela presented participants with four practical ways of how to ‘hold’ their fears from a place of self-power:
  • Stop talking yourself into fear
  • Act as if you are not afraid
  • Reframe your picture of fear
  • Make a point of remembering the last time you were brilliant

Angela explains that she has been drawn to people, their behaviours and emotions, and a desire to develop individuals. She studied a BA degree in Industrial Psychology at Rhodes University before working in the distance learning environment as a student advisor, then as a recruitment consultant. She eventually became a business woman, first as the owner of a training consultancy and then a florist shop.

Her interest in psychology also led her to being trained as a Life Line counsellor and more recently completing a Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Coaching Practitioner Certification Course. 

More images of the event can be viewed on the Xtraordinary Women Facebook-page.  

Friday, 22 August 2014

WOMEN'S MONTH PORTRAIT # 3: Diana Rankin - Fascinated by Fragrance


BY ERIKA


If there is one thing Diana Rankin, perfumista en Somerset West business owner, seems to understand intuitively, it is arte-vita or how to imbue life with art.

Early in the previous century, an Italian art and social movement called the Futurists 1) had appropriated this phrase, art-life, for the sensory revolution they envisioned. They wanted to empower and liberate society by infusing art into everyday life and into everyday practices. The leader Marinetti, believed that we think, dream and act according to what we eat and drink. Food should engage every sense and stir the imagination.2)

THE ART OF FRAGRANCE

For the Futurists it was food and for the owner of Perfume Power South Africa, it all starts with the art of fragrance.

Diana has had a lifelong fascination with everything to do with perfume and as so often happens, the desire to share her passion and knowledge, grew into a business. 

In 2011 she launched her company to educate, entertain and make uncommon fragrances from all over the world available to men and women.

The vehicles she uses are Perfume Power SA's  e-commerce website, presentations at workshops and at private and corporate functions as well as exhibiting at network events (Diana is the chapter leader of the Somerset West chapter of Xtraordinary Women), conferences, expos and wellness days.

One of the very special services is the three-hour personalised Signature Scent Session where you are guided to blend your own masterpiece.

SCENT ROOM

But it is the recent launching of The Scentroom in a quiet cul-de-sac in Somerset West that reminded me of the Futurists’ ideas of arte-vita and their notion of sensory elaboration and combination to create a feast of sensory awareness.

As with the Futurists who made olfaction the ‘star of the gastronomic experience’ 3), every sensation in The Scentroom brings your focus back to fragrance. 

The sound of running water in the beautiful garden, the tactility of fabric and bead work, the colours chosen for the walls, the reflections of candle light from the exquisite perfume bottles displayed on glass shelves, the feeling of body and soul relaxing in the easy chairs, the touch of perfumed oil or wax on the skin. It all has one objective only and that is to enhance your smelling experience and by implication your emotional experience. 

The relationship between smelling and memory is a very special one.4)  

While it is impossible to recall a smell without the source of it present 5), smells, more than any other sense, triggers memories of situations, contexts and people.

And the memories evoked at The Scentroom have to be special.

“Rather than a sleek and shiny sales room, I wanted to create an airy, peaceful and comfortable environment where people can have an emotional experience but also receive accurate product information so that they will find their perfect perfume match! “ says Diana.

So if you are looking to buy something special for yourself or a friend, if you can get together up to 10 friends to join you for a Signature Scent Workshop, or even if you just being in the moment in a beautiful space, give Diana a call and make an appointment for a scentationalist encounter at The Scent Room.

NOTES
3.    Playing to the Senses: Food as a Performance Medium by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett
4.    Ibid
5.    Ibid ‘The paradoxical objectivity of smell is that it is more intruding, more immediate, than any other sensation, and at the same time essentially fleeting and elusive. Its presence is never permanent. Not even when that which emits it is present in its materiality is it possible to remain attentive to the smell…. Smell does not permit the continuous examination and enrichment of the first impression which we take for granted, when it comes to the other senses…. The nose must continue to act incessantly, without being able to store the impression. The impression does not become more dense, it is not solidified as when we concentrate on a tone or a color. It is always evaporating.' Ruin, Hans (198?) Smell--Notes for a Phenomenology of Olfaction, Kris:138-41

  1. WOMEN'S MONTH 2014 PORTRAIT # 1: Faith Solomon Helps People Have Better Stories
  2. WOMEN'S MONTH 2014 PORTRAIT # 2: Merissa Slingerland's Art From The Heart

See also: 

  1. PERFUME POWER TO THE PEOPLE - Land n Sand Digital Magazine Nov/Dec 2013 issue

Thursday, 7 August 2014

BUSINESS PORTRAIT # 6: Xtraordinary Women, Somerset West, August 2014


BY ERIKA

The Xtraordinary Women chapter of Somerset West celebrated Women's Month by inviting human strategist and entrepreneur, Simon Hurry to talk about The Power of YOU: Why The World Needs You to be You!g

His presentation explored why being unique is a good thing and why the world needs individuals who understand who they are and understand what it is they wish to contribute. 

We shouldn't search for who you are, Simon says, we should live who we are.
  • Be unique in a way that is authentic, affirmative and encouraging. 
  • Be useful by crafting our meaning or purpose into something useful.
  • Be remarkable and be really good at what you do as a way to be happy and fulfilled. 
More images of the event can be viewed on the Xtraordinary Women Facebook-page.   

Saturday, 19 July 2014

STYLE & STORIES PORTRAIT PORTFOLIO: Bettina Horvath


BY ERIKA

I met Bettina Horvath only about a year ago when I attended a social media workshop she presented in Somerset West.

But in this year she has become such an integral part of Martin and my life on both a professional and personal level, it feels as if we have known her forever.

What I know about marketing a photographic studio on social media and using email, I have learnt from Bettina.

When I joined Xtraordinary Women there was Bettina, ceaselessly supporting inspiring and teaching.

And then we collaborated with Bettina the actress, marketer and director and self-confessed ‘drama queen’ at the Playhouse Theatre in Somerset West.  

As a master facilitator, Bettina has given Martin Van Niekerk Photography the opportunity to photograph the people and productions at the Playhouse, a job he thoroughly enjoys.

But now Bettina is leaving.

After 17 years of marketing, selling, training and shaking up the inbound marketing scene in South Africa, she and her son are going home to Vienna, Austria to do the same there, of that I am sure.

We wish you all the best Bettina, and we will miss you but if there is one person who will use all technology has to offer to stay in touch and to continue inspiring, it is you.

Auf wiedersehen!

PS: Bettina's STYLE & STORY

Typically Bettina style, her leaving will not happen quietly, no, she is going out with a bang! 

Amidst packing up and organising her new life thousands of kilometres away, she is still managing to direct  Sleuth, the classic thriller by Anthony Shaffer which opens on 24 July. 

Book your tickets via Computicket today!

MAKE-UP BY: Candice Harker http://www.mobilemakeupartist.co.za 





Monday, 14 July 2014

BUSINESS PORTRAIT # 6: Maree Steyn of Travel With Me, Somerset West



BY ERIKA

Maree Steyn is the owner of Travel With Me, a personalised service selling holiday experiences, corporate travel, group travel as well as golf packages including arranging airfares, accommodation, tours, cruises, insurance, car hire and foreign exchange
Travel With Me is situated in Somerset West.

Maree can be contacted at maree@travelwithme.co.za or telephone 021 8515226 or 072 364 2972.

MAKE-UP BY: Candice Harker http://www.mobilemakeupartist.co.za

Friday, 4 July 2014

BUSINESS PORTRAIT # 5: Xtraordinary Women, Somerset West



BY ERIKA

A group of extraordinary business women from the Helderberg and surrounds, meet every first Thursday of the month at Erinvale

F.l.t.r. Gwen Kloppers from Xtraordinary Women, July guest speaker and consciousness coach Ann Baret Solot and Somerset West Chapter leader, Diana Rankin of Perfume Power SA.

Xtraordinary Women is the brain child of Gwen's passion to create a community and platform for Xtraordinary Women doing extraordinary things.

More images can be viewed on the Xtraordinary Women Facebook-page.   

Monday, 16 June 2014

BUSINESS PORTRAIT # 4: Roslyn Grosch & Xtraordinary Women, Somerset West


BY ERIKA

Roslyn Grosch of Era Grosch, an estate agency in Kuilsrivier was one of the business women who attended the June meeting of Xtraordinary Women at Erinvale in Somerset West recently.

The guest speaker was business advisor and project planning expert Nicola Fourie of Pin Point Projects who guided the local business women through a project planning exercise.

More images can be viewed on the Xtraordinary Women Facebook-page  

Tuesday, 8 April 2014

BUSINESS PORTRAIT # 1 Happy Birthday & Cheers to Xtraordinanry Women, Somerset West!

BY ERIKA

Last week we celebrated the second birthday of the Xtraordinary Women’s Somerset West chapter as always with good company and good food but this time also with good wine spritzer from Jaydex Distribution.

What is more, we all received a gift from Jaydex owner and fellow Xtraordinary women, Janet Graham – a bottle of red wine with a personalised label.

I have been involved with this community of business women started by Gwen Kloppers, for only about eight months. Yet it feels like I have known these extraordinary women for ever and the support our studio has received from them, has been invaluable.

Since March this year we have had the opportunity to give back to the group when Martin was asked to document our monthly breakfast events at Erinvale for the Xtraordinary Women’s social media campaign. It is a privilege for both of us.

Happy birthday XWSW! May there be many more!



A very special birthday gift to Xtraordinary Women and members from Janet Graham of Jaydex Distibution, distributors of upmarket quality products, mostly associated with celebrations, romance, style and luxury.


 Xtraordinary Women members and visitors at the Somerset West chapter's second birthday celebrations at Erinvale Clubhouse