How we built a community of kickass women in Asia who empower each other to live impactful lives

Women of Influence Asia (WOIA), co-initiated by Brain Juice Collective in 2019, aims to empower a generation of women to find clarity around their life purpose and lead sustainable businesses with global impact. WOIA taps in to its regional community of amazing women for their vast knowledge, expertise and network to create innovative programmes. In essence, we empower women to empower others.

This ecosystem was born to highlight and uplift kickass career women in Asia. Similar experiences, created out of the shared similar cultural experiences and close geographical proximity, allow for a tighter network of women who are more capable of empathising and relating with one another. Our aim for the future is that WOIA grows to be a primary resource for Asian business women who are looking for answers to questions such as:

• How do I have a purposeful career?
• How can I have it all?
• How can I find my life’s calling?
• How do I overcome my own limitations and setbacks to achieve success?

With our regular events, livestreams, programmes, conferences, talks and more community-building initiatives, there’s no limit to how wide our community can grow. Read ahead and get up to speed on our journey so far.

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Women of Influence Asia - Soft Launch

The soft launch - WOIA’s first official event - took place online in February 2020. With over 240 + international registrants, we were pleased to receive vocal support in the form of over 1000+ responses and positive feedback from participants sharing:

“The most interactive webinar ever”

“I couldn’t believe that I was experiencing the power of community ONLINE.”

The programme included the following elements

• A Welcome Address where co-founders Milena Nguyen & Tiziana Tan shared their personal stories that compelled them to launch Women of Influence Asia
• A meditative experience to settle the participants and relax them into finding their purpose
• A facilitated panel discussion with 3 speakers from 3 different locations about their journeys to becoming a woman of influence
• A thorough webinar on how to marry purpose and business for success
• Q&A segment with live voting
• Activity driven workshop

The value-packed schedule of our soft launch gifted us with a steadily expanding community base of women who were notjust wanting to receive but also to contribute.

Find Your Calling: Interactive Art and Learning Festival

Following this, we created Find Your Calling: Interactive Art and Learning Festival. Live on Crowdcast, this online event was designed to help participants gain clarity on their calling and to help them navigate their own journey to becoming a woman of influence.  

The format was simple and effective: 3 hours, 3 artistic performances, 3 actionable tools to help purpose-oriented women follow their calling.

Tapping into the storytelling power of performative art, we were able to contextualise the more concept-based information in our workshops into a transferrable, relatable and personable format. The audience were given the opportunity to see themselves in the shoes of the various portrayed characters and relate directly with the emotional and interpersonal struggles most women face on their path to success.

The three curated pieces were:

1. An Interactive Theatre Experience, eponymously titled ‘Find Your Calling’, where the audience got to participate in the storyline a woman’s struggle to create the life she desires. A movement piece performed by performance-maker and filmmaker Hui Er Tan.
2. A Dramatic Storytelling piece, entitled ‘The Trailblazer’, performed by storyteller and entrepreneur, Anna Ong. Anna brought the audience on a captivating journey through one woman professional ups and downs. She used applied theatre techniques to relate this real-life series of events with wit, confidence and poise.
3. A collection of original spoken word poetry pieces, grouped and named ‘Awaken to Your Truth’  performed by artist and entrepreneur, Jyot Bhalla. She uses the expressive medium of poetry to awe us with intimate insights on purpose and identity.

The corresponding workshops, aligned to and reflective of the artistic pieces were:

1. How to make the right decisions: Unlocking body intelligence with Milena Nguyen
2. How to overcome fears and take action: Insights from sports psychology and a strategic action road map with Tiziana Tan
3. How to start gaining clarity on your "why?": Activate a Purpose-finder tool and 3 key calling questions you should start thinking about with Milena Nguyen

We also used this as an opportunity to repurpose the content for online sale: https://www.brainjuice.sg/find-your-calling-session

WOIA Trivia Night: Discovering Women Innovators

In line with WOIA’s commitment to raising the visibility of barrier-transcending women from the Asian region, we launched our very first Trivia Night. Filled to the brim with interesting tidbits, engaging stories and interactive games, this was one of our most popular events yet. We had a sold out event with participants eagerly and actively contributing throughout the session!

The theme was ‘Discovering Women Innovators’. This Trivia Night was centered on mobilizing our community to learn more about real-life wonderwomen who have driven impactful innovation and led awe-inspiring lives. The session featured quiz questions and bonus challenges woven with storytelling from our guest presenters.

Here are some of our highlights from conceptualisation to execution:

1. Go-Live training and rehearsals with speakers and guests

2. Dial-in remote speakers via video call, allowing us to tap into the network of women in different places

3. Hi-res video screening for an enjoyable and entertaining evening

4. Interactive quizzing with participants using Kahoot!, a game-based learning platform

5. A live panel discussion session with 3 speakers on screen

Watch the recording here: https://bit.ly/woia-trivianight-recording

PowerTalks

PowerTalks are 45-minute sessions led by our curated faculty of experts. They happen live, online, and free for women from all over Asia to attend. The topics range from how to build your influence online to how to better manage your finances and are designed to be relevant to women at any stage of their lives. Sessions are on Zoom for a more intimate setting where we can see and hear from our participants. Through these sessions, we've engaged hundreds of women on Zoom and thousands more via Facebook Live.