What a day - Forsyth Barr Limited, Women in Business Lunch
55 women in the room, great food, a beautifully set space at the Levin Cosmopolitan Club… and three very real stories. Yesterday, we marked International Women's Day by doing what we think works best.
Getting local women in business together and hearing it how it is.
Emma (Woodhaven Gardens) talked about coming back to Horowhenua when she never thought she would. Stepping into Woodhaven, raising four kids, now a grandma, and backing herself to stand for Regional Council. Big decisions, a lot of responsibility, and plenty of doubt along the way.
Judy (Pioneer Outfitters) shared her Foxton story. From not planning to stay, to building a business in PPE and H&S gear, grounded in expertise, customer service and staying deeply involved in her community. Turns out sometimes you end up exactly where you’re meant too.
And Anna Robinson (Heights Experience), who never planned to farm, now running a paddock to plate sheep and beef operation, building an agritourism business involving shooting and axe throwing, and launching things like the Alesandeatsnz Festival. Just gets on with it and makes things happen.
A few things kept coming up across all three: Family matters. Community matters. You’re in charge of your own direction. And coming back to Horowhenua and being proud of it. And then there was imposter syndrome. That feeling of “I’m not really a successful businesswoman”… even when you clearly are. All three spoke about it, and you could see heads nodding around the room.
We even had a bit of healthy rivalry thrown in, with Suze Redmayne MP for Rangitīkei signalling she’s more than willing to compete with Tim Costley at the Electra Business & Innovation Awards. We’ll be watching that one closely.
The best part? It didn’t feel like a formal event. People stayed, talked, connected. If you weren’t there, you missed a good one!
Diana Walklate from Forsyth Barr, our sponsor, summed it up: “With three inspirational and incredibly relatable speakers, I left feeling genuinely inspired. A reminder that even when things get tough, we’ve got what it takes to keep going and turn things around.”
Thanks Diana, we really appreciate your support. And thank you as well to Blooming Bunch Horowhenua for the beautiful flowers, and the Levin Cosmopolitan Club for hosting us so well.
Watch this space for when we do it again.