Soar Collective's focus is on building an engaged and supportive community of businesswomen who by sharing their successes and failures, can learn from and empower each other. In May 2014, founder Jess Jones saw the need to create a comfortable, open environment allowing the women attending to be brutally honest with each other as well as identifying collaborative opportunities. She'd had enough o
f attending events where guests seemed to be competing for a prize for who was the busiest. Jess realised that there was something lacking in the regional businesswomen's networking market and was frustrated at the current offer not quite resonating with her. The first Soar Collective event was held in Mornington, Victoria and has grown to 3 locations with 6 more to be launched in 2017. Jess encourages attendees at their unique After Dark events to have a ‘no bull approach’ when talking to other women. She says ‘it’s absolutely ok to say “I’ve had a really rough day” or “things aren’t working at the moment and I want to fix it, but don't know how.” The need for authenticity is imperative at the Soar Collective events as the founder explains ‘if you’re not being genuine about who you are and where your business is really at, how can you expect to truly connect with anyone and identify opportunities for improvement?’ This makes for a refreshingly honest conversation amongst members and attracts speakers who want to share their real business story, not just their successes. Jess grew up in East Gippsland, living most of her school years in a town with a population of 4000. No stranger to regional living, she watched her own parents attempt to run a successful business in a small country town and saw how theirs and many others, fell victim to a lack of resources and support. Jess believes that mobilising a workforce is the whole community’s responsibility; encouraging partners and family members to recognise that the women in their lives have aspirations to fulfil is key to this objective. Jess believes that a cultural shift is needed to empower women in non-metro, rural and country towns. “Changing old habits and mindsets can be a slow process but I’m ready to take it on. I want to see regional businesses actively seeking out women in their communities, developing collaborations and projects, challenging the traditional networks that they have relied on for so long.”
Jess is passionate about celebrating and empowering regional businesswomen of calibre and believes there's a lack of events, funding, support and awareness around businesswomen in non-metropolitan areas of Australia. Jess wants these incredible women to be seen and heard by the business and general community.
