Rooted as a female-founded brand, SARE/ studio believes in the influence women have in shaping our homes, communities, and even society. One of the ways to do that is by empowering each other and tending to our entirety, in our case, through products that are made to meet the comfort of women from all walks of life. Supporting not just their comfort, but also others around them. 

In celebration of International Women's Day on March 8th, SARE/ studio together with WomenWorks dedicate the rest of the month to celebrate female figures; how they live their days with flair and sharing their stories on what it is like to be Everyday Leading Women. In this first part of the blog series, we asked Amirah Kaca Sumarto (Public Policy Consultant), Maryam Jamila (Showroom Marketing Lead at Fabelio), Levina Purnamadewi (Co-Founder of Menjadi Manusia), Bethanny Putri Supriadi (Fashion and Lifestyle Content Creator), and Nafisah Wulandari (District Head of International Partnership at Traveloka) to share their stories, opinions and experiences towards empowerment, be it empowering or being  empowered.

What does it mean to empower and be empowered?

Levina Purnamadewi:

To empower means that you have the ability to encourage and give support to other people in order to make them feel strong and confident in doing things they do. And being empowered means that you have the confidence and strong will within yourself to do things!

Amirah Kaca Sumartoi:

I believe being empowered is having the ability and freedom to choose a path of life that suits one’s optimal potential, talents, and abilities. Unfortunately in the current world, the majority of the population is still being prevented from achieving their true potential by economic, social, cultural, and institutional obstacles. Empowerment is the process of overcoming the obstacles that one faces in one’s journey to true human flourishing. To empower others means giving them power so they can also free themselves from those constraints. 

When do you feel most empowered?

Bethanny Putri Supriadi:

I feel most empowered when my closest circles, team mates, even my family show their support on everything I do and appreciate the process.

Levina Purnamadewi:

I feel most empowered when I get support from my family and my closest friends. Also when I can spread positive impacts to other people. It always gives me energy when I hear other people's thankfulness.

What does it take to break the glass ceiling in the man’s world?

Nafisah Wulandari:

I believe there are two steps in breaking the ceiling in the man's world. First, is to encourage women to normalize speaking up about their opinions and asserting their ideas. Second, is to support other girls and women in acknowledging their voices and capabilities. The more we bring each other up and make our achievements visible, there will be more momentum for us, women to rise together. 

Maryam Jamila:

First, we need to believe in our capabilities and potentials within ourselves, then, we have to have the bravery to speak up whenever we are treated unfairly because we are women.

In starting your business or career, what is your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?

Bethanny Putri Supriadi:

I think the biggest challenge when I first started my career back then is a fear of change, to overcome this, which I know is not that easy for others, is to force ourselves to get out of our comfort zone, always learn and evolve, be visionary and quickly adapt to change.

Wina Wilanisa Wirsatyo:

I would say that self-doubt and overthinking were the challenges I face in earlier years of my career. Sometimes we get too caught up on certain outcomes, that we worry too much about the future and/or we get too consumed by the opinion of others. I overcome this by trying to stay present, to focus on my goals and the path I want to pursue and constantly remind myself to stay on track and treat these challenges as simply rocks along the way that we can overcome if we are kind to ourselves. 

By empowering and being empowered, not only we support other people but we also support ourselves. While other people support us, we need to keep in mind that the most important validation comes within ourselves. That’s why we have to be courageous and acknowledge our voices and capabilities. Besides that, we also have to acknowledge our limits in order to keep our life balanced. There are a lot of great simple activities that can unwind yourself such as wearing your favorite outfit of the day that has the most comforting fabric and completing the touch with your favorite scents. Exciting journeys ahead, we’re coming!