When you really look....
We went into the bush the other day. It’s heavily wooded. The old Grey Box gum tree’s have spend decades throwing down their seeds and the diameter for metres and metres around them is scattered with suckers. The kids took their little tommohawk and wanted me to watch as they chopped down the thin trees, to make a pile that would one day become a humpy of some sort. My eyes wandered, to the lemon scented gums in the distance, their coat of white bark beaming through the forest. I looked up and saw bee’s swarming to a hive high up on the huge branch of another gum. Hundreds of years old it would have been. My daughter handed me a leaf. “Look Mum, a pretty leaf." Green with bright red splotches. It’s the leaf’s reaction to a fungal infection. Survival in its natural state can be the most beautiful thing. We look closer at other leaves and find a cocoon, no bigger than a small safety pin, carefully wrapped up in natures twine, it couldn’t be human hair could it?! Once we took the time to look, like to really look, there were things to see everywhere, we were overwhelmed Mother Nature’s gallery.
Podcast Playlist
Is looking a bit bare at the moment…..
But by far and away the most exciting thing that happened this week was the arrival of Maggie’s book Graft. I ripped open the packaging and started to read. And then cried, twice, in the first 5 pages. It’s beautiful.
Celebrating women’s deep connections with gardens and gardening. Gardening with the RHS podcast.
Lay your eyes on these Instagram accounts
@madame_yves_style || @streetleaks || @ad_germany
This pile of things to read
This essay on desert walking is a product of the pandemic, but as you know from above, nature can be a great muse and walking through it is the only way to unlock it.
So, I walked and dawdled and walked and dawdled and walked some more, the world in motion as I moved through it. There must be a mathematical equation for such double movement, earth spinning, human walking, both tiny blips in the cosmos.
This week I watched documentary Dior and I (1995) but if you want an insight into the behind the scenes - as in the wonderful women who sew and sew and sew - to make Haute Corture Fashion shows possible, you will love this. I wish I could sew, what a gift.
And then check-out the actual show - a chateau wall-to-wall with rooms of fresh flowers.
Hotels are becoming beacons for local artist collaborations.
Meet Ruby……
Ruby Riethmuller is on a mission. Her vision for Womn-Kind is that collectively, all growing girls better understand with empathy everyone’s unique story - with all the highs and lows - is something worth celebrating and that maybe the most valuable tool we all have is each other and ourselves.
Womn-Kind is the reassurance behind a friendship or family fall out, the listening ear when you’re not feeling yourself, the experience behind writing a killer resume, the reminder that seeking help is in fact a greater reflection of courage than it is of weakness and if nothing else, we’re the big sister with a kind ear and a big hug.
T: Where do you live with you, and what do you do?
R: I am currently living in a share house in Surry Hills with three amazing young people; two girls from Adelaide and one boy from Sydney. Before that I was living on my family farm in Wagga Wagga.
T: Why Surry Hills, why Sydney? Of all the places Womn-Kind and your entrepreneurship could take you, why Sydney?
R: When I was in year 10 I was very fortunate enough to attend boarding school on a scholarship. So, I spent my senior years of high school in Sydney. For me, my friends and family and my network are here; the ones that aren’t in the country are here in Sydney. I made the decision to move to Surry Hills last year while we were developing the Womn-Kind app so that I could be closer to my mentors, the developers and everyone I was working on that project with.
I am also working part-time for the New South Wales Advocate for Children and Young People and their office is close by.
T: You have put yourself in a position where all those people who you draw comfort, or support, or passion or inspiration from are close by. Do you think it’s important to have a good network around you?
R: Having a network is probably the most important thing for anyone, regardless of who you are or what you do, or how old you are.
Especially for me, as a very young entrepreneur and in the tech space. A lot of what I am doing every day is unfamiliar territory, which is as much exciting as it is daunting. To be able to lean on the guidance of people who have navigated similar experiences or have skills that I am still developing is really important for me as a person, and also as a business owner and young leader in the mental health space.
T: Say you and I have just walked into an elevator in the Sydney CBD give me your thirty second elevator pitch for Womn-Kind.
R: Womn-Kind is a female-led youth mental health organisation. We offer everything from one-on-one wellbeing mentoring to mental wellbeing workshops, a podcast called ‘Dear Sister’ and our newest addition, I guess, the Womn-Kind app, which really leans on a peer-to-peer model of support. We are focussed on innovation and leaning into technology in combating the youth mental health crisis we’re facing in Australia.
T: What’s your short term and long terms goals for Womn-Kind; where do you see it 1, 3 and 5 years?
R: At the moment we are really focussed on growing the amount of users that we have on the app. Particularly focussing our efforts in regional, rural and remote Australia. We know that 80% of registered psychologists are based in metropolitan cities, so access to mental health support living in the country is a lot more difficult. Having grown up on a farm myself, I really realised the need for a service that ison demand and accessible 24/7. It’s a space where young people can lean into their vulnerabilities and come to a place where they are welcome as they are.
For us, the big focus is making the app more widely known about in regional areas and more accessible through partnerships with other organisations as well. That’s the long-term goal.
Short term – going into more schools; we love going into schools. Our mentors who are qualified in mental health first aid training love seeing young people face to face; that’s always a highlight. And we are working on an event at the moment, which we are hoping to launch at the end of the year which is a leadership summit for young women. A few things are in the pipeline but they are the main things we are focussing on.
T: There is such a need, but it is also an exciting way to help people. To be able to, as you said, lean into people’s vulnerabilities and to lean into how people connect in 2023, says a lot about how we can help people.
R: Absolutely. I think on the back of COVID, we all really understand the value of technology in connecting us as a society. A lot of the time technology can cause a lot of blame for mental health issues. It is a complex problem, and some forms of technology can play into negative experiences and negative feelings of self-reflection. Though for us, we are trying to work with young people; where they are, where they need support and then creating services around their ever-evolving needs and challenges.
One of the ways we have done this is consulting over 400 young people in the design and development of the Womn-Kind app. Instead of thinking we knew exactly what they needed and what they wanted, actually putting it on them and asking ‘what is it that you need’. We will continue to do that so Womn-Kind as an organisation is a voice of young people and a voice for young people.
T: What’s the logistics of your day look like; AM or PM, go with the flow, list person – what does the mechanics of a normal day look like for you?
I am a bit of all of the above. I feel like I am more spontaneous in the way that I go about things and go with the flow by taking every day as it comes. I definitely do go by lists, but it is usually a running list; a never ending list of things to get done. From there I prioritise.
I am always open to going with the flow because I feel like some of the best opportunities that I have had, or some of my most favourite moments, have come along when I let it happen as it was clearly meant to happen.
I definitely need my sleep; I wouldn’t say that I am a morning person in the sense that I get up really early. So a day in the life most often looks like getting up , having breakfast, get into work, having meetings – which I really enjoy doing, talking to other people- going into schools to run workshops, going for a walk with a friend, posting on socials. It’s always a bit of everything, no two days are ever the same.
T: A quote I try to live by…
R: My favourite quote is by Maya Angelou, and it’s the one that says – “people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”.
I think that is one that resonates with me, but also one I love to impart on our Womn-Kind community because I think it is true.
Another phrase that I always say to young people is “everything you are is enough.” You don’t need to be any more of anything, everything you already are is enough.
They are the two that I think about all the time. I do love a quote and a saying, so I have a vision board with a lot of different words on it
T: What else is on your vision board? Do you refer to it, do you update it regularly, is it pictures, phrases? What do you draw inspiration from?
R: It is a bit of everything. I usually update it once a year, but I leave about a quarter of it empty so throughout the year I can add things to it. I have key words, which are my focus words for the year; this year, they’re courage, balance, intention, belief, abundance and fair.
Then there’s phrases and quotes that other people have said, like “but what if it works?”. Things that challenge my way of thinking.
And there’s definitely a lot of photos on there; people who inspire me, places I would like to go and things that I would love to be able to do one day. Then also on the vision board are letters and notes which young people have written me, which remind me of the importance of the work we are doing.
T: Last question. The book everyone should read? What is it?
R: Ahh there are so many. One book that I would recommend to any young person, or a parent if you have daughter – Untamed by Glennon Doyle – such a great book.
Otherwise, there’s Wolfpack by Abby Wambach – I love that book.
One of my favourite books for any business owner out there is Shoe Dog by the founder of Nike – I just love that tale, and he’s such a great story teller. I always have it on hand.
T: I haven’t read any of those personally, but I have heard all of those titles said before, so when the crowds say they are a good one, they must be a good one.
R: They are, they’re good ones.
To learn more about Womn-Kind visit www.womn-kind.com.au or @womnkind on Instagram.
Thanks Skye!