Bringing women together.

Gwen, tell us a bit about your background.

After my studies I moved to Mallorca, where I lived and worked for seven years. Then I moved to Frankfurt and managed an art gallery with a presence at fairs all over Europe. For 20 years now I have lived in Switzerland, where I worked in marketing, communications and events for companies like First Tuesday / Xing and Swiss Re.

After that I went on a completely different career path: real estate. I didn't have much knowledge, but I felt like I wanted to create something from scratch. I got a job at an international real estate company working with investors in commercial properties all over Switzerland. I learned a lot, I gained a great deal of knowledge in the real estate business, and I managed a small team.

After the company moved from Switzerland back to Israel, I became centre manager for an iconic shopping mall in Zürich, where I worked on branding, events, with tenants, and on a renovation project of over CHF 10 million. And then came the pandemic.

Which in fact was the calling that you needed to finally start Women World.

Exactly. The shopping centre had to close shops and restaurants and was not operating very well. I already had the idea of Women World in my head for a long time, and felt that it was the right moment to help women stay in touch, get support and be able to meet and exchange — during the pandemic, mostly online. We started with branding, the website, and created the business.

Tell us more about the idea. How did you come up with it?

This is also a very personal story. In my life I had the opportunity to travel, meet lots of people, have real connections, and build an international network around me. I was always a very active and dedicated person. Until 10 years ago, while juggling my career, my marriage and two young children, I got a burnout. I had panic attacks in places with lots of people and was not able to drive a car, which was scary to me. I felt like my life was on hold. I decided not to take medication, but instead dived into all kinds of spiritual therapies — from tapping to pendulum, family constellations, yoga, breathing methods and hypnosis. These practices helped me to connect with myself again.

Today I know tools to help myself and how to deal with my thoughts. But during that time, I wished I had known and understood these things already when I was younger. That's why I had the idea to create a community for women that helps you understand yourself, and offers a platform to empower and evolve together. Always hustling between family and career, I realised too late that I didn't take care of myself. Especially during the pandemic, I saw that many people were struggling with the same issues. It was the right time for Women World to get going.

What were the next steps that led to creating the community?

I got the opportunity to work with a really great professional company, Kunde & Co, who created the entire branding, design, logo and slogan. They helped me through the entire website development and design together with Krock Digital Solution. I started to talk about it with my girlfriends and we brainstormed. I had the chance to find women who immediately wanted to join the project, like Talia. She supported me from the start with social media, graphic design and web support. Other women joined during the journey, which became a great way to exchange and get things done. We created a WhatsApp group, sent out newsletters, created music playlists, events, retreats and even a podcast. We tried and failed, but we always put a lot of effort into bringing this collaborative idea to life.

Did the purpose of the community change over the years?

Not at all. Our slogan «Exchange, Empower, Evolve — Together» is our main purpose. We offer women the possibility to meet, learn from each other, have fun, talk openly about all topics and taboos, develop personally with our coaches and experts, and get inspired.

Women World is a safe place to surround yourself with different women in different stages of their life. As we all want to evolve physically, mentally and emotionally, we organise beauty escapes, styling swaps, cooking experiences, kundalini retreats and other holistic events that have a real impact on our lives. Feedback we once got was: «It feels like I am part of the movie Sex and the City, where women can feel and exchange everything.» That's what it is all about.

It's said that who you are depends on who and what you surround yourself with.

I totally agree. Surround yourself with the right people. We need great relationships with all kinds of people and backgrounds. Surround yourself with people who lift you up and push you to be a better version of yourself through your journey. In this sense, we bring women together to experience and discover life in a very unique way. I have met a lot of beautiful women and souls, and I learned that women are really out there to help and support each other — whether they are professionals, housewives, teachers, mentors, family or trusted friends.

Even when it's not possible to meet in person, the future looks bright. We intend to grow internationally and organise more events and retreats in different locations, and we offer the help of all our coaches, online in private or group sessions, or offering their own events and retreats to the Women World community. Stay tuned for all our ideas, and let's move forward together.