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Jemimah Ashleigh – Rare Birds Ambassador, Canberra

Jemimah Ashleigh

Jemimah Ashleigh

You pretty much fell into entrepreneurship – what was the catalyst for that?

The catalyst for me was realising I was living the same day almost every single day. I’d wake up – go to work – come home, feel exhausted, become a TV zombie – and then I’d do it all again. I wasn’t passionate about my life or the work I was doing. I was in a very medium life and I wanted more for myself.

Who in your life had prepared you to seize the moment and start a business? What did they teach you?

Early on in my business journey, I read about Jim Rohn’s theory of The Sum of Five People. One of the most difficult things was I didn’t know many other people in business – and that’s when networking and finding a good circle of people became very important for me. I went to DOZENS of networking meetings in my first year in business. I listened to podcasts daily, invested time in listening to amazing speakers and learned as much as I could. However the most valuable lessons I learned were from Gary Vaynerchuk. Gary taught me that life is short and we need to act quickly and that kindness and generosity should be at the front of everything I do

You now work to put people in the spotlight and help them be highly visible. I can imagine men jumping at that idea. How does it work with women?

I love working with women and helping them become more visible. Since the creation of The Visibility Lab, I see women daily who are doing incredible things and who have the potential to change the world but they just don’t know how to get seen or heard.
We focus on making sure they are clear on what problem they want to solve, show them how to market themselves in a way that feels authentic to them and show them how to get media invested in what they are doing.
We’ve helped women all around the world to get seen and featured in media outlets, podcasts and in print media across the globe. It is amazing to see women get featured and thrive at what they are good at.

How do you help people trying to get over imposter syndrome? Have you ever had to deal with it personally? We hear about it A LOT!

Do you want to know a secret? I still deal with imposter syndrome on a near daily basis but it’s a lot less powerful now. It has been a really challenging situation at times though.
In the times when it does pop up and that voice tells me ‘I’m not good enough’ and that ‘I don’t deserve to be here’, I flood my thoughts with enormous gratitude for that voice trying to help me – but they aren’t helping. I remind myself I have a 100% success rate of answering every question that has been put forward to me. I remember I was invited to be where I am. I remind myself that what I have to say people have found interesting before – so why not now?! Imposter syndrome can only be truly silenced by massive gratitude and love.

What is your top tip for people trying to overcome a fear of public speaking?

My number one tip for getting over public speaking is to go and do an improv class! This is where I got my start in learning to speak in public, but it also is the place I learned to really trust myself while other people watched me.
If you’ve never heard of improv, it’s a style of theatre where it is all made up on the spot. Think of TV shows like Whose Line Is It Anyway or Thank God You’re Here. The biggest lessons from improv are not to take yourself too seriously, learn to have fun on stage and that failure isn’t fatal – you get to practice being on stage in a safe environment with other people and have fun at the same time.

Improv classes have changed my life!

What is your personal driver for mentoring others?

The World Health Organisation estimates that 97% of female-led business fail in the first five years. That is twice the rate of our male counterparts. That is unacceptable.
My why of being in business is to have amazing women visible, get seen by their ideal client, become successful and make more money – I want to help as many women as I can.

What made you decide to be a Rare Birds Ambassador and what do you hope to achieve?

I had the opportunity to attend a Rare Birds event and I was asked if I would be interested in being an Ambassador and I jumped at the chance. I think there is something incredible that happens when women support other women and I want to be part of such an incredibly powerful movement.

What’s next on your journey? Anything exciting on the horizon?

I am excited to be growing my business The Visibility Lab this year with 10 more clients by the end of the year.
I am also working on my second book (which will hopefully be another best seller!) and have been working on a passion project board game which will hopefully be out in October 2021.
With Covid-19 impacting so much at the moment – I’ve been forward planning to run some more retreats in the next few years in Bali and Tulum, Mexico.

If you would like to join us as a Rare Birds Ambassador and make an impact on economic equality, we would love to hear from you! We are looking for champions of change who will advocate for us, amplify our message and help us reach more female founders, innovators and leaders. Get in touch HERE.