“There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women”.
It was that powerful Madeleine Albright quote that began Anna Jones and Debbie Wosskow’s journey to creating their all-female members’ club, which has now morphed into a global phenomenon seeking to give women a new way to connect, network and succeed. Instead of seeing other women as competition, AllBright is hoping to change the conversation and encourage their members—and the world at large—to see fellow women as potential business partners, collaborators, and friends instead.
Now, more than ever, women are seeking out spaces that encourage the connectivity of other women – from all facets of career and life, in order to lift each other up and grow. It was the momentum from Time’s Up and Me Too that LoveHomeSwap founder Debbie Wosskow OBE and former Hearst CEO Anna Jones, saw the need to create more women-centric spaces.
Allbright, now 18-months in, encompasses a collective of members’ clubs (including in London and West Hollywood, with two more clubs currently being built), a digital platform, an Academy and content verticals – all made by and for the working woman. The aim of Wosskow and Jones’ now global collective was to simply bring women of different industries together to network, socialise and empower.
The next venture for Allbright? An expansion into Australia. While an actual club is still in its beginning stages, Australians have access to the collectives extensive list of digital content, including its online courses and app.
“I feel like Australia needs us, actually.”
“I feel like women here need places to call their own. They need bigger, better networks. They need support and thinking bigger about those careers,” Wosskow tells marie claire Australia.
Wosskow emphasised Australia’s need for such initiatives and resources, especially considering our current statistics of women in leadership. As Wosskow pointed out, “95 percent of the CEOs of Australia’s 300 biggest companies are men – we’re not on the table.”
“Really the central tenant for us is that, it’s about sisterhood, sisterhood works,” Wosskow adds. “How do you build this monster global sisterhood of connected women from very diverse backgrounds, walks of life, ages, stages, industries. Because that would actually change the world. And it would change the lives of women who work. And, smart minded and ambitious women can change the world, but they need some help from one another.
“They need to help to build up their skills and their confidence and that’s when we got started and what AllBright’s become in the two years since we launched it, 18 months since we opened the first building.”
However, Wosskow adds that Allbright’s idea of connecting women through spaces is far more than just “bricks and mortar.”
“We can program fantastic events in there to connect and empower women. But also give them great cocktails, a fantastic blow-dry and a place to get their nails done and workout. Listen to female standup comedians, female DJ’s, have food cooked by chefs with a supply chain of female bakers. You know, it’s fun right? Because we stand for something. All of the art on the walls is by women. We’ve got, an amazing collection of female artists and curators.”
While a physical club is yet to be launched on our shores, the Allbright community is far and wide. The Academy, as well as the collective’s extensive digital platform, is available to a global audience.
“When you ask women why they’re not fulfilling their career potential, 70 percent of them say that they don’t feel like they have the skills required to do that,” Wosskow says of the Academy’s creation.
“Men don’t answer that question, by the way. So, at least for women, there’s a perceived skills crisis. And when we try to break that down into what, because we’re really practical. Like, okay, there’s a skills course. How are we going to solve it? What skills do they need? So, we’ve created these completely bespoke courses. One for female entrepreneurs, one for female executives and one for freelancers and consultants. We’re just about to launch, return-to-work mums, which is a whole separate set of issues and it’s a bit like the content in the book when you get there…Which is super practical.”
For now, while we wait for no doubt one of Allbright’s chicest locations to open up Down Under, you can see more of the collective’s initiatives and online offerings here.
