Alright today I have a special episode for you. I have taken the audio straight from a facebook live that I did with my good friend Brittany, who happens to be the co founder of the Woman to Woman conference that we are hosting in september and today's episode is just all about how we met, how networking and being surrounded by like minded women has changed our lives, how our friendship is so much different than friendships of life's past. Um it's just a really great episode and I'm so excited for you to tune into it. You're listening to the marisa raider shell, I'm a mom of three farm wife and creative entrepreneur who thrives on helping dreamers endures make the most of their God given talents. You can consider me your newest BFF who will be in there to cheer you on and give you practical tools to use in your business and your life all while empowering you in your faith, providing you with hard truths and much motivation to get you chasing your dreams.

I am bringing you actionable tips to uplevel your life and business as a busy mom and believer, I'll share laughs and encouragement with you as you chase after your God given dreams, I believe that you've been given this one life and purpose for you to live out and if you're ready to be the rock star you're meant to be, then you're in the right place, let's get started. Hi, so we are live here in the facebook group for the Woman to Woman um conference and events that my friend Brittany and I have been hosting lately. This is hi guys here wherever I'm at right now things backwards and I remember that on the screen that I'm, that it's mirrored but I'm gonna let Brittany kinda go ahead and introduce herself first and then I will take a minute to introduce myself. So guys, I am Brittany mason. You have seen me throw up some posts in there with Marissa um I am a mom to three boys. I am a small business owner and I recently started a job kind of part time with the school throwing information on social media.

So I am all social media. Um my business is hair accessories and t shirts and I am in the, you're going to see my kids pop in here. I am a mom of three boys and they're probably gonna pop in um but anyways, I am excited to be in this group and just yeah, I want to, I am so sorry, bring all fine. Hi boys. So I am excited to be part of this group and share more information about this media. I'm gonna let Marissa go. Alright, so I'm marissa raider. I am also a mom of three girls though. So Britney has the boys, I have the girls side, they're actually all about the same age so we've, we've got a lot going on in our home lives but we are both super passionate about helping other moms connect and grow their businesses and just kind of chase their dreams and follow that purpose that they have, they've been given and so I am a life coach, a certified life coach and I work primarily with other women entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and and reach those dreams in the quickest amount of time using sustainable habits and and building a lifestyle that really works for you and not the other way around because we often feel like we need to do things a certain way, but my goal is to help women do it the way that works best for them and their family.

And so we just wanted to come on today and share a little bit about how we met our ideas and where we see this group going so kind of crazy, but we are instagram friends. Um, I randomly found Marissa through um she was doing around christmas time, a goal setting event and I was so bummed because I found it the day the event was going on and I missed out on it, but I started following her and then kind of shooting her messages back and forth and we kind of found out that we both have like this idea to bring women together in business and we kind of both went, okay, let's do something and um yeah, it's kind of been history since then we both share the same ideas of wanting their women together. Absolutely, I tell this story all the time, but a few years ago I, we were both, we're both former teachers first off and so we, we had some things in common, we both live in Northwest Iowa which it turns out we were only like 40 miles apart, you have no idea.

And um when I was still in the classroom was when I had started my business, so I've been an entrepreneur for about five years and it's evolved into life coaching, but I started off selling teaching resources on teachers, pay teachers and I kept asking God to put women in my life that we're going to challenge me that we're gonna put to be a better person, that we're gonna be good friends and it was kind of slow at first, like no one was really coming into my life and I was like, really God, can it be that hard? Is it that hard to find friends? And so I found that, well he doesn't just like present them to you, people don't just randomly show up on your doorstep and like bring the doorbell and like, hi I'm a high achiever and I would like to be your friend, but guess where they do do that on instagram. So I started like reaching out to other women in forming these relationships and not just treating everyone like some random stranger on the internet through my social media platforms and so Brittany and I were like, wow, we found each other this way, how many other women's lives can we impact the same way, And so we started holding just small get togethers in our area and that's just kind of where we're at now, we've come to the conclusion that we wanted to do something on a much larger scale though, and so we're kind of excited about this event that we're holding in september, so I'm gonna kinda chime in.

Um Marissa kind of mentioned that we are instagram friends and share same similar interests. Well, Marissa has had this idea to hold a conference for a while and she just wasn't wanting to do it, she wants to do it, but needed someone to basically say do it, and that was me. So I also thought it was a great idea and I'm kind of holding her to it to reach one of the goals that she has on her list. And that's kind of something interesting about our friendship too, is we both run completely different businesses and are at completely different stages, but we do share things in common and we'll share some of our goals or ask each other questions and we get feedback from each other too, so just kind of a little side note on how this event kind of started to, so, yes, yes, and honestly that's what we're hoping for all of you as well, is that you can find people for your inner circle whether it's Britney and myself or it's women that you meet at our events that there's somebody out there that is not only gonna cheer you on, but they're gonna ask you the hard questions and help you grow not only as a person but in your business as well, you know Brittany as much, I'm a kind of fly by the seat of my pants kind of person, I have so much going on on all the time and I thrive that way.

But Brittany is always there to like ground me and ask the tough questions like does this need to be done right now, is this the best use of your time or is this the best use of your business? Is money, you know, she asks me those hard questions and none of my other friends do that, you know, and so that's what we want for you guys as well, is to find somebody that is willing to celebrate the small winds, be there to celebrate the monumental winds but also be there to ask the hard questions and that's kind of where this event has stemmed from was how can we reach the most amount of women and give them the opportunity to find, find that inner circle that's going to help them reach their goals that much faster. So our event is september 18th, it will be at calico skies winery if you have not been to calico skies, it is a beautiful winery sitting up on a hill and overlooking just the hilly part of Iowa which is kind of crazy but um it is a beautiful winery, great wine um and they have a bedroom that we are taking over that afternoon and we are going to fill it with all of our attendees, we have vendors and we have some amazing speakers that are coming to share information about business just basically uplifting you as an individual, whether you are in business currently or if you are thinking about being part of a business or you just work for a business, it really will apply to a wide variety.

Yeah are absolutely. So I have at one time or another in my life gotten the opportunity to meet all of our speakers in person, they're all small business owners in either south Dakota or north west Iowa. So they are people just like you, they're in the same area, they've had the same opportunities. They, they, it's it's amazing that they're and they, this is like the short list of a very long list of potential speakers that we found just in our area alone. And so um our keynote speaker is carla Santi. She is um a co founder of blend interactive odyssey falls. She has been in business for over 20 years and they employ a number of people, they are leading like cutting edge of website design and things like that and she is also South Dakota's small business person of the year and hopefully we'll be bringing her into the group here to chat with you just like Brittany and I are here and you're gonna get to meet these speakers in a more in depth way before the conference takes place.

Another one of our speakers, her name is Mariah Bruns, she is a brand therapist, Otto's to fall South Dakota, another amazing woman who really loves owning her own business but really has a passion for helping mom preneurs grow their businesses as well. Um Rebecca scott is another funny story, how I met her, it was literally 20 some years ago I was attending a church camp and she was one of the counselors at said church camp, she got engaged there to her now husband of 20 some years, you know, and I've been following her ever since and she runs a very successful um handbag and design business. She employs 20 different women that all get to work from their home and spend more time with their families because of it. And she's just got a really awesome mission. So I'm excited for you guys to meet her as well. And then um Kayla Raymond is another, her and her family, they're inspiring to say the least and I'll be interviewing her here.

Um it'll go live next week in the group, so you'll get to get to know her even more, but she runs a nonprofit um that benefits the women of Haiti and her husband um run schools down there and they are actually, she's from northwest Iowa and he is from Haiti and so I'm excited for her to just share a little bit about their story and how they got started and how their businesses look different than ours because there's our nonprofits, but it's still following that purpose and following that passion that they have. And then I will also be speaking so super excited to share more of my knowledge with you and we feel that no matter what type of business you have or stage of the game, all of these ladies are going to bring something That is going to hit you in some way, shape or form and no better time to have it than to push into the end of the year of your business last few months, this will just really sparked the fire in you to reach whatever goal you have before the end of 2022.

Yes, absolutely. Some of the topics that include like impostor syndrome, um, time management, getting it all done, how to grow and scale your business and it's just going to be a wide variety of topics that are going to, everybody's going to be able to get something out of each and every one of these speakers conversations, it's gonna be really great knowledge and information and I think to just if you grab a bunch of your friends, even if they aren't in business and you go spend the afternoon at calico skies, you gotta shop, you could have some wine and you're gonna listen to these amazing women. It's going to be an awesome afternoon and it's gonna be uplifting and positive and you're gonna walk out the doors just feeling even better and more high energy than you did when you walked in. And that's what we're looking for is to create an environment for women to come to and leave energized when they walk out and know that they were just in a room of women who are like minded and want the same positivity in their lives.

Absolutely. It's gonna be, it's gonna be so much fun. And like you said, we're gonna have some vendors, there were gonna be posting about them in the group as well coming up. But we have Brittany and her headbands and t shirts gonna be there. Um, aerial coaxial with divine Oil company. She makes candles and bath products. Um, little you market is for all the moms out there. She has some of the best kids clothes and activities and games and it's just you guys, I don't even know how to describe it. It's phenomenal. Um, we have amplified elements, which is uh, polymer clay earrings. They're amazing. Rosie's boutique is going to be there, which is Kayla who was talking about all of the stuff is handmade by women in Haiti and I want to tell you, I've been to some of those vendor events where they're like, yeah, we empower women and we, they make these products and then the products aren't really anything that you ever really want to buy.

That's not the case here. But my husband has to like steer me clear of her when we're at vendor events because he's like you will re decorate our whole house and you'll come home with a coffee mugs and worry for every day of the next two weeks. Like you guys, it is all stuff that you want to take home with you, which is amazing. And then Rebecca is bringing some of her purses and her bags and some of the things that they build at Rebecca scott designs. We have a florist coming that will build bouquets right on site, Joey floral. Um, and then we have gravel road designs and she has some of the best woodworking and engraving pieces that I have have seen. So I'm excited for you guys to get to see and experience all of them as well. And the best part is they are all local small business, local small businesses ran by women in our area as well. So we will be coming but you get to see what they all have. Absolutely. And that's part of our mission too is that this isn't just something that we want to do for ourselves.

This is something like this is strictly out of our desire to showcase other small businesses in the area and just really empower and uplift women and and the purpose that they're fulfilling because there are so many amazing women just in our own area that it's amazing to me, it's absolutely mind blowing to me how many there are, and this is just a small snippet of them and I know I am attending as a vendor and I'm helping you put this event on, but I am so excited to be sitting there listening to these speakers because I know I'm gonna leave learning something, so that's part of the reason why we're putting this on it, because we want to benefit from it as well and learn and continue to grow as businesswoman. Yes, absolutely, and that's exactly how we've designed this event, it's been what is, what is going to give people the most amount of positivity information, fun, networking, what's going to propel them as people and businesses as quickly as we possibly can in a fun environment.

That leaves them wanting more, because that's what we want, we want you to walk away knowing that you can do this, that your business can be successful and that we are going to do whatever we can to help boost you and your business along the way. So if you have any questions you can always reach out to any of us, but you can get ticket information in the group, We will also be posting that later today as well in case you can't find it, But um we are so excited, invite your friends make a girls day out of it and maybe your team if you work on a team or you are in some line of um business where you have others on your team. It would be great personal development day for you guys. Yes, absolutely. So yes share this group out, invite people to it, do whatever you can to help us get the word out because the more people we can get in attendance, the more pieces that we can offer this is our, this is our first event. But we're already looking at, we're having a videographer come in so that you guys have access to these talks, not just live but you're gonna have recordings of them for the next three months that you can refer back to.

It's going to roll over into the virtual conference that we're looking at um extending this into in october and we want to offer the most that we can for you. But we also need people to show up and help us spread the word about it so that we can make this just the absolute best event that we can absolutely excited. Awesome. Well, we hope you all have a great day. Thanks for sticking with us here and learning all about our woman to woman conference and we can't wait to see you all there. Thank you guys. Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. I hope that you will be sticking around for the series coming up. That I am going to be interviewing the upcoming speakers for the conference. And they are some of the most amazing women that I have the privilege of knowing. So if you yourself want to attend a conference or want to be a part of the facebook group and be surrounded by these amazing women as well, hop on into the show notes. The links are there for you and we cannot wait to be a part of your story.