What a couple of weeks it has been for us behind the scenes. We have made our first hire… and we are so happy about it. The one and only @gar.monahan has joined us as our Grassroots Community Manager. I wanted to start by welcoming Gary to the team. He is an incredible guy with a wonderful personality and so passionate about the grassroots gazette and will be a key member of the management team leading the grassroots movement. Soon we will announce 1 or 2 more hires but more about that when the time is right.
That is not all though. We are incredibly excited to announce that we have developed a beautiful, inspiring and thought-provoking brand for Equitas!! Equitas is Ireland’s first ever Women’s Magazine for the Equine Industry with our tagline “Empowering Change, Together”.
This is a monumental moment for the Equine Industry here in Ireland. A first of its kind media brand and magazine inspired by our wonderful female writers, by the women we look up to, by our mothers, sisters and family and of course, by the sometimes crazy world we live in.
Equitas is Ireland’s first ever women’s magazine for the Equine Industry. Initially a monthly Publication, we have designed Equitas so that we can create a dynamic and engaged community of women supporting women.
Our Equitas Magazine and Media Brand will tell the stories of women and brands from across the equine community. From industry superstar trainers to vets, to racing queens, to rising stars and Happy Hackers on to the showjumping circuit or women who ride and don’t compete – we showcase the incredible value women relentlessly add to the equine community as the backbone of the equine industry!!
Lastly for us, we believe behind every great woman is a tribe of women supporting her and that have her back. Together and united, we can create so much more revolution in the equine industry!! This is about women supporting women.
You can Follow our Equitas Brand on Instagram @EquitasEire and on Facebook @Equitas
It really got me thinking about how your voice and your actions determine your future.
How you listen to people and understand what they are passionate about… what is affecting them the most and what matters most to them… if you are paying attention you really start to see patterns. You start to see where real change needs to happen and then it all comes down to a simple question… WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO DO TO ENABLE THAT CHANGE.
When you change your thinking, you change your actions, when you change your actions, you change your future!!
I write or talk a lot about the importance of how you talk to yourself. Another thing that aligns to this is your actions and how they dictate your future.
Is it any coincidence that Mike and I have no brothers but 2 sisters each? That we have inspirational female role models as our partners, as our friends or now with the amazing writers for The Grassroots Gazette which are like our new family!! 75% of our writers are female and we have been listening, for all that I talk, I love to listen. I love to see the patterns, to see where change is needed and Mike is the exact same.
We chat every day with people who write for grassroots movement. But not just that, we listen, we hear their pain, their frustrations and can see and feel their passion. We hear that women don’t feel fairly treated, that there is bias, that the majority of decision makers are men or that there are and I quote progressive companies with a department with 3-4 ladies in it called… wait for it…”The Lovelies”. THIS IS NOT A PROGESSIVE COMPANY!!! IT IS BULLSHIT, and it is going to stop… a lot sooner than people think. I hope someone working in this company is reading this! This is not how a “Progressive” company behaves!!
What I am getting at is the signs of why we do what we do are all around us and ideas are everywhere. The difference for us though is we realise that IDEAS ARE ONE THING… EXECUTION IS EVERYTHING!! We have deep discussions on how things might work and we have the same doubt as everyone else, we are human but our belief is unwavering.
Some days are tougher than others like last Sunday where I worked 16-18 hours straight on Equitas and felt like I’d been through 3-4 fights with Katie Taylor where she battered me with those nimble feet and quick hands. Equitas will be incredibly hard to build but it will be worth it. It is needed and we believe we can do it. We have the team around us, we have an amazing community; we have wonderful partners and people can see the mammoth task ahead of us but in our heart and souls we know they believe in us too simply because of what we have achieved so far with The Grassroots Gazette.
We are surrounding ourselves with the right people, listening to opinions from all ages and backgrounds and most importantly, being challenged in the right way by those who know us best and know what we are capable of!!
Creating change can be in big or small waves but the bigger the wave the more mindful and methodical you need to be. I didn’t say slower… I didn’t say fearful… I said to be mindful and methodical. Your Voice and Your Actions have to be in sync so you need to get your head right and understand what the journey will take and the sacrifices you’ll need to make so that you can consistently visualise the next steps and take action.
When we said we were going to transform the equine industry, that wasn’t an idea… that was us telling you all publicly so we could be held accountable, so we would lead and most of all… SO WE WOULD EXECUTE!!!
The 2 Questions I will leave you with are… 1. What changes do you want to see and 2. How will Your Voice and Your Actions create this change?
With great power comes great responsibility.
Until Next Time,
Shane