We are delighted to be hosting guests from Joondalup’s sister-city in China, Jinan City, at our November dinner meeting. These women represent Municipal departments of culture, foreign affairs and finance and two are the chair and director of the Jinan Women's Federation. we will have the chance to converse with them on many topics, as well as to hear from the guest speaker about the challenges faced by women in business in China.

Members please note:  If you are coming and/or if you are bringing a guest please email Bianca Chantry by midday on Friday 9th November at biancachantry@yahoo.com.au

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 Spring has Officially Sprung

BPW Joondalup proudly held its 5th Annual UNIFEM Spring Walk on Sunday 7th October. We raised over $200, with all proceeds going to UNIFEM Australia’s peace scholarship programme, whereby students from the Pacific region are sponsored to study in Australia, gaining degrees and experience in such areas as international law and politics, development and engineering, skills that go toward making their own countries better places. Thanks and congratulations to Brenna Watt, BPW Joondalup Community Officer, for organising such an enjoyable morning and thanks to Riding for the Disabled (RDA) for the genrous use of their property. 

   

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 Think Fertility - WA Launch

Pictured above (L-R) BPW Joondalup Policy Officer Melissa Stanton, BPW Joondalup President Liz Flatters, Dr Mal Washer MP, BPW WA Policy Officer Sandra Cook and ECU Deputy Vice-Chancellor Dr Pat Garnett.

“Why didn’t anyone tell me? - allaying myths about endless fertility for young women”

Many thanks to members for their support of the WA launch of BPW’s federally-funded project, ThinkFertility, a national education campaign aimed to strip away myths and provide the facts about the decline in fertility of women in their thirties. Dr Mal Washer MP launched the project at ECU Sports Centre on 3rd October and was well received by all those attending, including representatives from Joondalup Health Campus, ECU, Joondalup Family Relationship Centre and Relationships Australia.

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  Welcome Baby Josie!

This month’s most exciting news is the birth to Anita Cheetham of Josie May Oliver on Thursday 13th September! We’re so happy for you Anita. Best wishes to you and Ollie and big brother Corey!

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Hot Links

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTciPFWzKj0  
Watch BPW Joondalup Membership Officer Sharon Cocklin’s sky dive in California last month.

www.democrats.org.au/campaigns/paid_mat/petition.htm  
Support Natasha Stott Despoja’s Senate bill for 14 weeks paid maternity leave.

www.chinahighlights.com/photo/index-6.htm
View some amazing photos of Jinan City, China, home of November’s dinner meeting guests.

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An Action-Packed Dinner Meeting 

October’s guest speaker was nutrition educator and health consultant Helen Frost. Helen specialises in presenting positive nutritional and lifestyle strategies to achieve optimum health and vitality. Her display of “live” and “dead” foods had many people questioning their concept of “healthy” foods, whilst her information about chemicals in our processed food was both shocking and sobering. Many chemicals in Australian processed foods are banned in most other countries. Helen’s dynamic presentation was packed with information, but those of us who have seen her previously do recommend her full-length lecture to anyone wanting to learn more and think differently about what goes into their body. (Details available from Vicki Chantry.) Special mention to Bianca Chantry for the vege-inspired centrepieces!

Also speaking at October’s dinner meeting was Fiona Crowe, state vice-president of the Australian Federation of University Women (AFUW) and board member of Zonta in Perth. Fiona gave an exciting presentation on two projects which Zonta Australia have initiated and which fall under the umbrella of Project Five-O (the group of five major women’s organisations including BPW). The first project is Yarri Wada Puppet Project, where puppets are used to tell stories by indigenous people for indigenous people to increase awareness of health and education. The Yarri Wada Mentoring Project is aimed at helping indigenous students starting out at university by offering friendship, advice, role models and support. You will hear more about these projects in the near future.

Trish Williams gave the first of a series of presentations on public speaking. She challenged us to note what we do and don’t like about any public speakers and bring these thoughts to the next meeting. This, she says, will help us to shape the public speakers we become. Congratulations to Trish, who last week received her PhD in IT Security and Medical Informatics from ECU. You are kindly requested to henceforth address her as Dr Williams or she’ll sulk. Congratulations also to Sandra Cook and Nicky Badman who sacrificed their eyesight proofreading said thesis for months on end. What wonderful friends.

Most people left October’s dinner meeting with a Christmas gift or two under their arms after another successful fund-raising auction. There were so many desirable goodies that the amount raised for the La Paz Nursing School was just under $800! This makes a huge difference to the three nursing students BPW Joondalup has chosen to sponsor.

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 Happy Birthday!

October 7     Sarah Jayne Flatters 9     Rita Cleaver    18   Sherryl Paternoster 21   Lorraine Town

November 1    Carol Hinchcliff 14   Vicki Chantry 23   Katie Hutton

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Everyone’s talking about this upcoming forum, held in partnership between BPW Joondalup, the City of Joondalup and West Coast TAFE. Delegates from Jinan City, China, (Joondalup’s sister-city) will attend and we expect considerable attention from the press. This is a fantastic opportunity to springboard BPW’s core issues into the wider Joondalup community. More information will be sent to you soon, but in the meantime here’s a taster of the topics to be covered:

Women and work: is it working for me?
This will include the hot issues such as pay equity, equal opportunity, childcare and fertility; gender equity and how BPW lobbies for change. It will stress the benefits of better working conditions for both employers and employees
 
Women in leadership: developing your team
This will include practical advice on how we can support and invest in the women around us and see them go on to take that next step of responsibility
 
Women and community: an wholistic approach to business
Community organisations give women an opportunity to contribute in many ways and we endeavour to support them in whatever capacity they choose. Learn how business and professional organisations serve the communities they live in – both locally and internationally.

Women and the environment: making your organisation lean and green
How can our local council help make our business more sustainable? The City of Joondalup is at the forefront of sustainable business practice. Learn how this affects our local community and what we can do as an employer and employee to save money and the environment.

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Hats off to BPW Perth!

BPW Perth recently held their dinner meeting at Windows Boutique in East Vic Park. Wine and finger foods were perfectly matched as were stunning dresses and hats for the racing season. BPW Joondalup president Liz Flatters models a classy little number here.

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Considering Mentoring

With mentoring high on the BPW agenda, I thought it might be timely to consider some 'sound bites' from management consultant Daniel Kehoe on the subject (www.superthinker.com):

Mentoring is a subtle skill that allows the learner (the 'mentee') to create their own 'ahas'.  
The mentor's main tactic is to ask a range of questions to let the mentee arrive at their own realisations or learnings.  

Some general advice that the mentor might consider in acting as facilitator and asking questions:

• Adopt a neutral view;
• Recognise differing realities - the mentee's perception might be very different to the mentor's;
• Focus on using 'understanding seeking' questions;
• Focus on improvement - what would the mentee do new, different or better next time;
• Encourage mentees to describe a situation from others' perspectives;
• Avoid 'you should do' statements;
• Avoid accepting generalisations as answers to questions - ask for their specific experience and how that has formed their view;
• Ask this question of each other - "what am I doing that you find unhelpful, what do you find helpful?" 

Some sample questions that a mentor might ask of a mentee: 

• What things happened during this project/task which you didn't expect?
• What worked for you this time that didn't work for you before? How would you explain that?
•  What were your reasons for making that decision?
• What would you change about what you did, if you had to do it again?
•  How will other people react to what you propose? What would be their reasons for reacting that way?
• Where are the opportunities for new ways of doing things in this project?
•  How would the situation change if you were to remove this factor…?
• What meanings have you attached to this event? What are other meanings that could equally be true?

Melissa Stanton
BPW Joondalup Policy Officer

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Belmont Small Business Awards
 
BPW WA is sponsoring the “Business Woman Of the Year” Award at the glittering Belmont Small Business Award night on 31st October at the Burswood Resort.
 
Past BPW members who have won awards at this event include Helen Axton (Chocolate Attraction), Robyn Metcalf (Metcalf Funerals), Alicia Curtis (Alicia Curtis Leadership) and Michelle Miller (Rivers of Silk). 

Awards are split into two sections: one for businesses in Belmont and the second for businesses anywhere in WA. To assist award entrants an alliance has been formed with Curtin University School of Business where a student will be allocated to help entrants complete their application process. This can be rewarding in itself as business owners often don’t stop to evaluate our businesses. 
 
You are encouraged to consider nominating yourself or someone deserving for these highly regarded awards.

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 Dates for your Diary

BPW National Conference................................2-4 Nov

BPW Joondalup Dinner Meeting.......................Tue 13 Nov

Women’s Forum with Jinan City delegates........Wed 14 Nov

Christmas Dinner / Party............................ .....Tue 11 Dec

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BPW Joondalup Executive: