During the pandemic crisis, Beth Hodgson decided to help business women and shouting about the area. After following some mentoring programmes and becoming an Ambassador for Redcar and Cleveland, Beth started a successful journey to support herself and others.
As everybody was affected by the pandemic, Beth was as well from being furlough. But then Beth decided that have to do something about it. With no work, for the first time, Beth had the time to invest in her self.
“I always struggled with my confidence; sometimes people think I don’t because I do come across in a certain way.”
“I have joined a few programme, courses and membership routes and been focused on self-love. I feel like a butterfly comes out from the chrysalides.”
Before the Pandemic, Beth was a marketing manager in the music field.
“I didn’t want to lose the skills acquired. Then, the mix of I don’t want to lose my skills combined with wanting to do something
“I started looking at how I could help others, googling tons of pages and researching, when I came across the Redcar and Cleveland Ambassador programme.”
Beth started working with Camille Plews, a Redcar based business consultant, working together in the coaching programme and focusing on social media strategy and launch mastery, and self-esteem.
“I had a look at the programme; I feel like I am in line with that, I love what it is about, so I am going to apply in January.
But Camille said; No! apply now, get it done before Christmas, and I did.”
Beth went in touch with Richard Baker, the ambassador project’s marketing manager and leader, who welcome Beth on board.
“Now I am part of the team, and I feel part of the team. A bit of breaking news, I just had a conversation with Richard Baker, marketing manager and leader of the ambassador project.; all my feature will go on Enjoy Redcar and Cleveland website.
“Being part of the team is so rewarding, the lovely comments for the work produced. It’s nice to have the recognition from the people that you did a good job.”
“I want to celebrate women in our area who managing the juggle of running a home, organising child care and now homeschooling.
“They juggled many tasks before the pressure of the pandemic, and now our lives have dramatically changed, showing the determination that women have got.”
At 7 pm, Beth, every Thursday, is online streaming on Instagram, promoting local businesses and looking forward to expanding her events network.
“As soon I ended my first live chat, the endorphins afterwards were unbelievable.
“Every Thursday, I still get butterflies and a bit of nerve. But I like that because it shows that I still care, and I want to make sure it’s the best possible thing I am putting out for my audience.”
Beth also runs a Facebook group to help local entrepreneurs get visibility on social media. She aims to develop a community for connecting and support not only women but also anyone who benefits from her freebies free to download. In her long-term plans, the Professional NLP Coaching qualification to become a coach helps other women boost self-esteem.
73% of Women Lack of Confidence at work
A research carried out from My Confidence Matters Ltd about self-confidence in work over 300 women employed across various sectors, including voluntary work, found out that over 73% felt they lacked confidence in the workplace regularly.
Most of the respondents directed difficulties in interaction with others; Appearing confident but not feeling confident (46%)
Forgetting what you were going to say or waffling (38%) and having a negative mindset, e.g. why should anyone listen to me? (31%).
In terms of building confidence, the best service that women would use, according to My Confidence Matter research, two options were the most selected; being part of a community (57%) and one-to-one coaching (48%). However, other options also received a high level of choices, like bitesize online mini-courses (37%), and workshops (37%)
What is the confidence gap between men and women?
The graph below shows that women’s confidence increases more with age than men’s. But we need to consider the many opportunities we lose for our career progress in the early years because of fear and lack of confidence. We need to take the courage to take action and become like Beth to succeed in our career aspirations.
Alessia Miceli 