In Her Shoes by Carol Haffke
WNA South Brisbane networking event with Guest speaker Carol Haffke, owner of The Shoe Garden at Bulimba, Brisbane.
Another WNA event and anticipation was climbing weeks beforehand. Shoes, I love shoes!
I couldn’t wait to hear from the Carol Haffke, owner of The Shoe Garden, and her shoe stopping stories.
I met Carol at the last WNA event, a goddess specialising in shoes sized 10-13. I was looking forward to a shoephoria experience.
Well, did I totally misread the situation.
It’s not about the shoes, but it is about the shoes. Polarity is a beautiful thing. It’s never really been about shoes for Carol, though having a shoe size of 12 does bring its own challenges but it’s really irrelevant.
Our lives take us on incredible journeys, journeys of discovery; discovery of self, passions, limitations, barriers, desires, motivations and fear. And through these journeys, ourselves are revealed and further exploration and understanding of ourselves brings us closer to the core of our souls.
I was mesmerised by Carol’s goddess-like appearance and divine aura. Her wisdom filtered into the hearts of the women in the room. A radiant presence of femininity, this goddess swept us through stories of conviction, courage, commitment.
Her stories were adventurous, bold, and terrifying… terrifyingly exciting, terrifyingly challenging, terrifyingly humbling. Cultures, countries, belief systems, values; four continents; editor in a fledgling democratic African country; a dream-turned-nightmare role working for the UN in Vietnam. This incredible determined woman had an internal driver of truth, humility and hard work. She expected these values from her friends, colleagues, bosses and herself as a leader.
With a background in journalism, it is not surprising that Carol’s life experiences involved forms of elevating voices and empowerment. Carol supports Microloan Foundation Australia, an organisation that raises funds in order to provide microloans to women in Malawi, Zimbabwe and Zambia in Central Africa. They provide women with business skills, training and mentoring services to start their own businesses, be empowered to create a better life for themselves, their families and their community.
I sat and embraced the power of these spoken words, the collective magic of being woman, as empowered women empower women.
Thank you Carol Haffke for an inspiring morning at WNA.
