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Bringing people together is nothing new to Anne Day.
She has had an eclectic career from heading several charities, to being the editor of a national parenting magazine, but always the focus has been on women.
In 1999, Anne received an award and as a result of the award got to attend an exclusive conference. One of the speakers at the conference, Bonnie St. Jean Dean, talked about being authentic and being true to yourself. At the time Anne was working for the government - on women’s issues - so the work was interesting, but there were a lot of rules and she felt trapped.
After she heard Bonnie, Anne quit her job and started her own business. However, she found that working for yourself can be isolating, and so, she started Company of Women as a way to connect women - professionally, personally, profoundly.
“So here I am at 52 finally finding what I was meant to be doing when I grew up. Winning the Entrepreneur of the Year award this year (at 58) was validating – and to me shows that age is not a barrier and it is never too late to follow your dreams.” says Anne.
Anne’s father had a strong influence on her. He advocated making life more equal for others. Anne inherited his strong sense of giving back, and has always been involved in charitable organizations – at the local, regional, national and international levels.
While most of her life Anne has been very fortunate, she had some health challenges and had cancer twice. However, these reminded Anne about what is important in life, and deepens her desire to leave a legacy – Company of Women.
“However, while cancer has shaped who I have become, it has not taken over my life. I don’t like to be called a survivor, because I am not just surviving, I am thriving,” says Anne.
When I asked Anne what she thinks women need to know about themselves, her response was “self-knowledge is one of the keys to success. I think it is important that we know and understand ourselves. In raising families, we can often lose track of who we are and what makes us unique. Being aware of your strengths and weaknesses is important, especially in the business world. You want to play to your strengths and find others to do the work that doesn’t fit with your skills set.
As women we tend to put everyone else’s needs first – but we need to remember 'to put our oxygen mask on first' otherwise we can’t help anyone else, let alone ourselves.”
One of Anne’s favourite books is A Walk on the Beach by Joanne Anderson. It is the story of a writer who takes a sabbatical from her life, to live in a small cottage, where she met an older woman who mentored and helped her to find herself again. Joanne writes eloquently about her sense of loss at not knowing who she was any more.
Anne Day is Let It Shine’s Inspirational woman of the month.
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