Pearls of Wisdom: The NETWORK 30 Years On

Post by THE NETWORK
June 5, 2021
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The NETWORK celebrated a very special occasion this month: its pearl anniversary. The aptly named “Pearls of Wisdom” event was an opportunity to reflect on 30 years of women supporting women in Luxembourg, as well as looking ahead at the future of the country’s oldest English-speaking professional women’s network.

This milestone event brought together (virtually) over 25 members and committee members, as well as four of The NETWORK’s Presidents, past and present: Sharon March (1996-1997), Cindi Wilson (2012-2014) and Lisa Francis-Jennings (2016-2018) joined current President Marie Louise Ashworth in sharing their pearls of wisdom from their time at the helm of the organisation.

Looking Back

Sharon March, who was instrumental in the creation of The NETWORK back in 1991, explained how a group of talented professional women came together to create a unique networking and career development association in Luxembourg 30 years ago. Two of her successors, Cindi Wilson and Lisa Francis-Jennings, highlighted that their respective boards and committees had worked on branding, building on the association’s foundations and determining what it should look like in the future.

Throughout the years, there was discussion over to what extent (if at all) men should be encouraged to get involved in The NETWORK. As Lisa pointed out, more recent developments concerning diversity and gender equality led to the association’s decision to launch a campaign to try to “bring men into the conversation”. Marie Louise Ashworth, who has served as President since 2018, added that an increasing number of men now appeared to be “opening up” to the idea of greater inclusion compared to 30 years ago. In fact, for its February event this year, The NETWORK teamed up with fellow Luxembourg-based non-profit Men for Inclusion to address the role of men in promoting gender equality in the workplace.

Marie Louise highlighted two other areas in which The NETWORK has evolved over the past three decades: the association has become both more governance-orientated and more digital. As Sharon pointed out, the association was still sending out newsletters via post (later via email) in its early years since the general public did not have a computer at that time. With the COVID-19 pandemic, digitalisation has accelerated even further; Marie Louise congratulated her board and committees on adapting quickly to this new virtual world into which we were plunged last year.

Presidents past & present

Looking Forward

In addition to reflecting on the past, attendees looked at the future of The NETWORK. Attendees pooled their ideas with the various Presidents in breakout rooms on what the association could do to become even better than before. Each group focused on the existing benefits of being a member of The NETWORK as well as what would contribute to the association’s future success in relation to a different pearl-related topic: “The world is your oyster, it is up to you to find the pearls” (Sharon’s group); “Those who look for seashells will find seashells; those who open them will find pearls” (Cindi); “Pearls don’t lie on the seashore, if you want one, you must dive for it” (Lisa); “We are pearls and the network is a string of pearls, all different but very valuable together” (Marie Louise).

After lots of inspiring and fruitful debate, attendees agreed on the main benefits of The NETWORK membership:

  • a sense of belonging, a safe space where women feel welcome and accepted;
  • an opportunity to develop new skills (especially for board and committee volunteers) and open up new possibilities;
  • being part of a group of diverse and inspiring women who share a professional focus;
  • making genuine connections (networking).

Ideas for the association’s future success included:

  • helping young women get where they want to be in their professional career;
  • increasing visibility;
  • working with men constructively;
  • teaching new skills and inspiring women to set and achieve greater goals (such as becoming a Board Member);
  • mentoring and sponsoring;
  • all members becoming ambassadors of The NETWORK, sharing their experiences with others.

Current President Marie Louise Ashworth concluded that it was important to continue to raise the bar and to bring in more people to ensure that The NETWORK continues into the next 30 years and beyond…

“Connecting and empowering women in keeping with the values of The NETWORK set out by Sharon and her group right back in 1991”.

Marie Louise Ashworth

Here’s to the next 30+ years of women supporting women!