She is as beautiful as the autumn scenery, as fiery as the colours of the autumn leaves, as glorious as the autumn sunshine.
Our fashion feature ‘Legends of the Fall’, in collaboration with Sakhi magazine (http://sakhi.online) is an ode to the changing beauty of women, who adapt with time and seasons to emerge as legends, yet her aura and charisma remains the same.
The aim of our fashion photoshoots and features is to empower and uplift women through fashion and make them feel confident about themselves. Another purpose is to provide a platform for women business owners like designers, makeup artists, photographers etc to showcase their talents, skills and products.
Models:
Vanshini Wani Tiya Gorain Sony Reddy Shilpi Shah Gupta Reetika Bhalla Pallavi Gupta Liana Chakrabarty Lakshmi Naidu Indrani Kakoty Aman Preet Alpana Srivastava
Meet our featured beauty with brains Chitra Cynthia Nathan, a relationship counsellor based in Sydney, Australia. She is the owner of 3R Counselling (http://www.3rcounselling.com.au) and works from her heart.
Here is an interview with her.
Tell us a bit about yourself, your hobbies, dreams, passions etc.
My name is Cynthia Nathan, I’m an Indian, Malaysian. I’ve been married for the last 22 years to my husband Ravi and we have 2 teenagers, Rani 18 and Rajan 16.
We migrated to Australia 12 years ago but we remain very close and connected to our family and friends back in KL. We have a lovely community of friends and neighbors here in Sydney too and we feel very blessed and thankful for it all.
You run a counselling service. Can you share some basic tips on maintaining a healthy relationship?
I am a qualified Relationship Counselor and a Marriage and Relationship Educator. I opened my private practice 3R Counselling which stands for Relationship ,Responsibility & Reality (of marriage) in 2017 after facing a job redundancy, which at that time left me a little lost and hopeless but as they say ‘every cloud has a silver lining’, the rest is history!
In my past jobs I had worked with couples and their children facing separation and divorce. It was very painful, sad and difficult to witness families shatter, their struggles with custody battles and then single parenting etc.
I often worked with helping the children voice their pain and helping the parents come to a new understanding of co-parenting despite their divorce & new living arrangements. It was sad and difficult to comprehend most times. The recent stats in Australia show that 1 in 3 couples end up in divorce.
It then became a true passion of mine to help couples prepare for and to build a strong foundation for their journey into marriage and to hopefully try to prevent these things from happening in the long run. After all, when we know better we can all do better. I feel that Pre Marriage Education is a great prevention method especially since the course itself has been researched for over 40 years on thousands of couples around the world.
Also with DV being on the rise in our country, I believe that the Pre Marriage Education Course, Bringing Baby Home Program and Relationship Couple Check Up’s that I offer will help prevent violence from happening in families. These courses are all cleverly targeted at helping couples thrive at different stages of their relationship by providing them with the skills and tools to overcome such struggles and challenges that are inevitable to all families.
Some great tips on maintaining a healthy relationship with your spouse is to never forget to be each other’s best friend, to make time intentionally to connect with and talk to each other daily with a date night or 2 per month and to always uphold our vows and commitment to marriage with each other.
Where do you see yourself ten years from now?
In 10 years from now, I see myself training other counsellours and professionals to run these wonderful programs that I offer in strengthening both couple and family lives. I see my small private practice growing and thriving in helping couples from all walks of life to achieve the best they can for their marriage and beyond.
How do you define happiness and what makes you truly happy?
Happiness for me is defined by the lives I can help touch and bring some intended change into. When someone feels touched by my work, words or sincere gestures, I feel true happiness in my heart and I thank God for the opportunity to have crossed paths with them. Happiness to me is ultimately to lead a life in service to others.
“To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.” — Thich Nhat Hanh
There is no one ideal body type. Every woman is built differently and everyone’s beauty is unique. The gorgeous Kirsty Barrett, who confidently embraces her curves, is a positive role model for young girls. We love these candid shots of her from our ‘Midsummer Dream’ photoshoot.
The aim of our fashion photoshoots is to empower and uplift women through fashion and make them feel confident about themselves. Another purpose is to provide a platform for women business owners like designers, makeup artists, photographers etc to showcase their talents, skills and products.
Meet our featured beauty with brains Shannon Miriah, a law enforcement officer based in Colorado, USA.
She is 31 years old, lives in southwest Colorado and has been in law enforcement for about 2.5 years, 6ish including dispatching. Hostage negotiator, possibly SWAT team in the nearish future. She enjoys baking, music, working out, reading, hunting, fishing. She feels she can be “one of the guys” but also enjoy being a girl.
Here is an interview with her.
1. What are your hobbies, dreams and aspirations?
I have many different hobbies. I enjoy running and for the most part lifting weights. I like riding horses, although I am very novice! Fishing, hunting (also novice on this one). I love to read and enjoy knitting.
My dreams include living on a nice piece of land in SW Colorado, where I can have a garden and some animals (I want goats so bad!). I also hope to travel. I would love to go to Ireland, Italy, England, Spain… everywhere!
I aspire to be the best I can be in my field and to keep learning. I also aspire to be the best human I can be. I want to improve upon myself, and hope to be able to help people going through difficult times, by sharing difficult times I have been through.
2. What does a typical day in your life look like?
Honestly, my days vary so much it’s difficult to say what a “typical” day is. I work night shift, so a typical work day is me waking up around 3 pm, drinking a cup or two of coffee, getting in some sort of workout, then showering and heading off to work. Days off, I wake up mid-morning, drink coffee, and catch up on house work.
3. What does women empowerment mean to you?
I believe I take a pretty different view of women empowerment than a lot of people. In a way, I believe women have concentrated in giving so much “equality” to women, that we have negatively tilted the scales. I do take great pride in being a strong, independent woman and being able to be “one of the guys.” I also enjoy being able to take “advantage” of different aspects of being a woman.
Because I am a woman, if I choose to have a child and breastfeed, my place of employment has to accommodate me. Because I am a woman, people tend to think twice about fighting with me, and I’m able to talk people down better than most men. I don’t want to be treated equally to men.
I can be strong, and stand up for myself, but when needed, I can let the man handle the job. I can shoot a gun, kill an animal, change out a light fixture. But I can also ask my man to do it for me.
Women empowerment to me, means being proud of every aspect of being a woman, and not complaining about being treated “different.” We ARE different, and it’s a beautiful thing!
4. Have you faced any gender based obstacles in your personal and professional lives?
Not as many as you may think. I have actually found the opposite, that being a woman in a man-dominated field has worked to my advantage. It’s often appreciated to be a more “sensitive” individual. However, my guys also know I can take care of myself and won’t take crap from anyone.
Meet our featured beauty with brains Chandni Ravi, an immensely brave and a very inspirational lady who has battled many obstacles in life including cancer but have never let anything dampen her spirits and positivity. She recently shared an experience with us with some advice which we feel is truly invaluable.
Here is what she shared:
“I have friends from every culture ranging from 5 to 90+. I find it is a great way to be connected and to really keep me in perspective and grounded.
I have a friend who has turned 90 recently. We became friends around 15 years ago in Sydney. We bonded and she would open up to me time to time. I met her while she stayed with her children, to witness her being shifted to an old age home in Sydney CBD.
I would still visit her regularly and she would tell me nuances of life and experiences. Each time I visit her, I would have an eye-opener and most of the time I would come out with a heavy heart. Each time we go there, we would wonder what would be our fate when we get to that age.
She would say, Chintu (my nick name), remember you only live life once.
When you have children, in a frantic rush to nurture your children, you forget your partner and you move on. Once the kids have left home , the gap is too far and readjusting with your partner becomes tough. You become 2 different individuals with nothing in common.
Prioritise the people in your life. Your partner first, then children, then your extended family.
Have a good savings account for you and your partner. Never disclose the amount to your children. They will have 1001 needs and it is unfair to say you wont help them.
Never sell all your properties and move in with your children. If there is a fall out, or you want to take a break, you have nowhere to go.
Visit your home country as much as you can. As you grow older, the people you love pass on and the next time you go, you only see their photos. Never postpone visits.
Have your own circle of friends. It is hard to be friends with your children’s friends and their parents.
Avoid the habit of giving free advice. Open your mouth only when you are asked for an opinion, else kids stop telling you anything and start finding you a nuisance.
Just because you looked after your children sincerely or too sincerely, it doesn’t mean they will. Cease expectation. You just did your duty.
Remember that you cant reprimand your kids their whole lives. They only listen while they stay with you. If you continue your style, they will say many a thing you don’t wish to hear.
Schedule your own set of activities and hobbies so you don’t have to depend and get disappointed.
Visit your parents and siblings as much as you can. Call them regularly. When they pass on, the void becomes unbearable. As you get older, you will get illness, deafness etc and everything becomes an effort. You really don’t know what tomorrow has in store for you.
When your children are with you, take it easy. Build good memories, as it is memories which will get you going in later life. Make sure you take them for funerals as they will get an idea, today or some day, your turn will come.
I would always feel sad when I met her as the advice was real. In my last meet with her, we were sitting on the lounge. She was happy to see me as she said it gave her a chance to talk in Malayalam, which had become a rare luxury for her.
Suddenly she showed an old lady in a wheelchair dozing away. She told me “See that lady? She is 105 years old and demented. Her son was in another aged care and has passed away. No-one has visited her for months. Thankfully she isn’t aware.
Meet our featured beauty with brains, Needa Imran Shaikh, a successful businesswoman and professional based in Sydney, Australia. She is the owner of the popular restaurant Indian Curry Club. (https://www.facebook.com/indiancurryclubsydney/)
Here is an interview with her.
Tell us about yourself – what you do, your hobbies, aspirations etc.
I am Needa Imran Shaikh, a Corporate Employee and the Director of Indian Curry Club.
I have been working in the corporate field for more than 10 years and love my work in every way.
Since childhood me and my family have always been food lovers and have tried different varieties of cuisine around the globe. I also hold qualification in Hospitality Management before pursuing Business Management in University. My skills and my passion of cooking lead me to enter the exciting world of food business with a huge support from my family.
My husband and my brother plays a huge part in this business, they provide me with a lot of support and guidance and we together work as a team.
Being an Entrepreneur is a roller coaster ride each day but when we see our customers enjoying our food that’s where our hard work pays off at the same time we are also grateful to have an amazing team of qualified staffs and also our qualified Chefs are renowned for their combination of ingredients and for their creative style of presentation.
In my spare time I like reading with a big cup of black tea and travelling is my other interest.
You are the owner of a restaurant. Who or what inspired you?
My parents are my inspiration. My mom is a passionate cook and I have learnt a lot from her she is my absolute strength.
My dad is a person who never stopped believing in me. He has been supportive in every decision I took from studying Hospitality Management to Business Management and my dad strongly believes in women power.
Today I feel blessed to implement both skills in my daily life and make my parents proud in every possible way I can.
My husband is my mentor, a person who I can go to anytime for advice or counselling. He has a very strategic approach to life and always encouraged me in every part of our life journey. �Basically, my family is my inspiration.
What is your advice to women who want to start their own business but not sure how to?
The most important piece of advice I can give to fellow future female entrepreneurs is to have confidence, take a step-by-step approach, learn to embrace rejection, keep a goal in your mind and move quickly with your ideas. Far too often, females are held back by their fear of failure, especially as it compares to their male counterparts. That mentality can be extremely debilitating.
As women, our brains often tell us we need to have a perfect business plan or product before we ask for help or engage mentors, but the truth of this is our fears have more credibility in our heads than they do in reality.
It is said that beauty is not in the face, beauty is a light in the heart. Meredith’s inner beauty radiates on her face in these stunning captures, part of our ‘Midsummer Dream’ photoshoot.
The aim of the photoshoot was to empower women through fashion by boosting their self-confidence and to provide a platform for the businesses involved to showcase their talents and products.
“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time” – Thomas Merton
We love these beautiful sunny captures of creative artistic soul Shantana Deka Datta, part of our ‘Midsummer Dream’ photoshoot. She is the owner of ARTantana Handmade (https://www.facebook.com/artantanahandmade/) which offers an unique range of handmade accessories created with love and passion. They come in a wide array of colours and are intricate works of art. It could be wire wrapping, weaving through beads or incorporating the natural goodness of gemstones. No two pieces are the same. Passion is the only common element in each of the pieces created.
This gorgeous lady is showcasing some of her charming creations in these photos.
The aim of the photoshoot was to empower women through fashion by boosting their self-confidence and to provide a platform for the businesses involved to showcase their talents and products.
Meet our featured beauty with brains Rebecca Nina, a teacher and blogger based in Switzerland. Here is an interview with her.
1. Tell us a bit about yourself, what you do, your hobbies etc.
My name is Nina and I am on my journey to become the empowered and limitless woman I’m destined to be. On my blog, I invite other women to join me on this journey and try my best to encourage and help them to pursue their dreams.
As an empath, I feel deeply and helping people – especially women – seems just like the right thing for me to do. In my past, I struggled with extremely low self-esteem, anxiety, and depression. I was a magnet for toxic people and always felt trapped in
my own life. Until I realized that I, in fact, was the toxic person myself. I know, this might sound a little extreme, but let me explain why. Primarily, the problem was not my environment or my job – it was how I approached things, how I talked to myself – my MINDSET. I was attracting all this BS into my life. I was responsible for what has happened.
As soon as I knew that, I began to work on myself. For the first time in my life, I started to develop a vision of who I actually am and want to
be. And this was when I discovered my purpose. I am here to empower women, to help them unleash their feminine power and to encourage them
to be brave and never give up on their dreams.
I have been a “creative mess” my whole life… I absolutely love drawing, writing, and crafting, photography, interior – and fashion design – the list is endless. Some of you might relate when I say it is
a mixed blessing. Why? In fact, having that many talents is like having one penny of every currency in your purse. You can’t buy anything anywhere. I always felt like I’m not good enough in any of these things to make it my profession. But now with my business, I can actually unite all those things and use them to empower other women to do the same.
For example, I create and sell digital affirmation art prints on Etsy, to use my passion to draw and design in order to help women manifest their
dreams.
2. What are your goals in life? Have you achieved them?
Since I got to know myself better, I am able to envision my life much more precisely now. I know exactly how I want my future to look like. By
visualizing it on a vision board, I try to manifest these goals in my life.
At the moment, my biggest goal is to grow my online business: I want to be able to live from helping women, and working from home has always
been desirable for me. However, this requires patience and a great batch of dedication, and let me tell you – I’m not quite there yet. But even
though it’s not always easy, I’m not giving up and work on it almost every single day. Even on bad days, where it seems like I can’t get anything done at all, I try to find a small and simple task that I can
do regardless. And if even this is too much, I give myself a break and try to not pressure myself.
3. Where do you see yourself ten years from now?
I picture myself as an empowered woman, who is living her purpose by helping other women. Besides my online business, which will be my primary source of income by then, I would have invested in real estate to generate passive income as well. Not only will I empower women all over the world as a mentor, but I’ll also invest in projects to support
animals and our precious planet. I love the idea of sharing as much as I can, whether it’s love, wisdom, or money.
Living in a small old house amidst a large wild garden, together with my partner, probably two kids, a dog, at least three cats and a bunch of
chickens, I’ll be making sure to grow plenty of fresh and healthy veggies, fruits and berries for the entire family. I always loved the idea of having a low impact on the environment while being self-sufficient.
4. What does women empowerment mean to you?
I think by reading between the lines, it might already have come through what my understanding of women empowerment is. But I absolutely love to
talk about this and I could do it for hours, so I’m trying to only write a short summary here.
An empowered woman is embracing her divine feminine power. She is a goddess, a priestess, a witch, or even a warrioress. She doesn’t hide
from the world – She has found her voice. An empowered woman knows her worth and has boundaries. She lives her life wildly, unapologetically, and limitlessly. Whether you are just starting your journey of empowerment or you’ve already forged ahead, we are all women in process
and we all have this empowered women inside us. We just need to wake her up. And this is what women empowerment means to me: The process of
awakening your inner goddess and unleashing her divine feminine energy to live a purposeful life.
Meet our featured beauty with brains Christina Henry, a Registered Nurse based in Gold Coast, Australia. She has a passion for health promotion and writing. Her website Midlifestylist.com combines both passions and aims to inspire other midlifers to live the healthiest version of themselves. Having overcome several health issues herself, she is able to use her knowledge of the issues people may need to overcome to achieve their goals. Christina is married to her second husband, has two adult sons and a house full of pets. She enjoys cooking, gardening and traveling.
Here is an interview with her.
What are your goals in life? Have you achieved them?
My goals in life were to bring up my children to be the people they’re meant to be, to make a positive impact on others’ lives, and to create a life of peace and joy for myself and my family. I loved watching my children grow up into the creative, intelligent men they are.
I realised early on that they were creative and musical so trying to force them into an academic pathway wouldn’t work. By allowing them to express themselves, they’ve both used their creativity in their own way which I am extremely proud of.
My career as a nurse enables me to make a positive impact of peoples’ lives even for the short time they are in hospital. My blog allows me to reach people on another level and hopefully inspires them to live a healthy lifestyle.
I continue to seek peace and joy for myself and my family. My home is my haven. Being comfortable in my own surroundings helps.
Who or What inspires you?
Whenever I’ve gone through difficult periods in my life I find myself drawn to books and documentaries about people who have overcome the worst situations you can imagine. Reading how they rose above their problems and strove for a better life by finding inner strength is what drives me to find the same inner strength. I’ve had a life that’s so full of adversity and overcome more drama than most people. It has resulted in severe insomnia, anxiety and depression at times but it didn’t break me entirely. I wouldn’t be who I am today without those challenges in my life.
What is your success mantra?
“Do what you can do rather than focusing on what you can’t”
So many people let things hold them back, things like health issues, troubled upbringing, socio-economic status or lack of knowledge. Where there’s a will there’s a way. There is so much free information available now. Focus on the things you can do, e.g. my chronic back pain and heart condition prevent me from going to the gym or doing high intensity workouts. I can walk however, and I walk as much as I can, including taking the stairs rather than the lift. My upbringing by an alcoholic father, the early death of my mother, and a marriage to an alcoholic and abusive ex-husband, could have been reason enough to go down the path of alcohol, drugs and other addictions, but I chose to not use that as an excuse. You can only blame your circumstances for so long, after that it’s up to you to fix your life.
What is your advice to women who are too busy with family and career and unable to devote much time to health and well-being?
Your health is your most important asset. Don’t neglect it. Find some way to fit it into your schedule. After I nearly lost my life at 43 due to complications after a simple procedure, I realised how quickly life can be snatched away. My sister passed away at 44 from an epileptic fit. She landed with her head up against a door, which tilted her head forward so that she choked to death. Tragedy like that makes you appreciate life even more. I don’t want my sons being without me so I incorporate healthy lifestyle choices into my daily routine.
Empowered Brave Women Building Futures 