2022 was a wild year. In many ways, we’re all adjusting to a “new normal” in a “post-pandemic” world…where there is still a global pandemic…
We’re navigating what working looks like now that the world has (mostly) opened back up to business-as-usual.
In many ways, the pandemic forced many brands to pivot, reconfigure, rebrand, and reframe the way they’d always done things — and, often, it has been for the better.
Business owners showed an unlimited capacity for creative thinking, developing brand new ways of handling what they’re known for, and doing what they’re best at. The brands that managed to survive these trying times adapted and evolved to continue to remain relevant.
And in this pool of brands you’ll find our BRA Members.
Not only were BRA Members back in action in new and sometimes unexpected ways, but we showed back up in the world in force, letting everyone know we aren’t going anywhere.
And what we did internally as a Network was no exception.
BRA Network held 59 events this year. FIFTY-NINE. Whether we were in person or connecting virtually, we didn’t let global circumstances impede our progress as business owners. Instead, we utilized the tools that have emerged during these times to our advantage and pressed onward, together.
One of the Network’s favorite gatherings is always Wisdom Wednesday. In 2022, we came together 18 times to help hold one another accountable in our businesses as well as give and receive advice in this forum. We’re so excited to announce that Wisdom Wednesday is getting its own rebrand in 2023, taking on a mastermind format with cohorts designed specifically to build micro-communities of business owners at similar stages of business, with similar goals and problems to tackle as a group. (Members – you’ll want to fill out this form to receive more information on which new group is the best fit for you!)
We hosted eight sessions of the Fitting Room — a place where one size truly does fit all, because it’s all about getting to know our inclusive community, its Members, and the Perks of Membership. The Fitting Room hosts new and veteran Members alike and is a fantastic place to network, learn, explore, ask questions, familiarize yourself with BRA (even if you’re not a Member, but are BRA-curious), and more.
We’ve always been big on supporting one another in any way possible and that includes co-working to promote productivity! Sometimes, being held accountable through sharing space is the boost you need to get that to-do list to-done. We held three virtual co-working sessions this year during the Summer when it can be difficult to stay on task in lieu of basking in the sunshine. We managed to make it fun and feel good.
Our Push-Up Groups have never been more popular or more widely attended. There were 24 Push-Up Group meetings this year, providing Members numerous opportunities to get the absolute most out of their Membership:
- The woo-friendly Witches of BRA held 11 Coven Conversations this year where Baby Witches and Crones alike discussed a huge array of topics and their impact on our personal and professional lives.
- The Women of Wealth met six times to talk all manners of wealth and many of the meetups were geared towards preparing for some of our in-person events (WeWo Summit and 2023’s Manifest & Breakfast — more on these later!).
- The mompreneurs came out for Nursing BRA’s meetings, we got our blood pumping with a NetWorkOut session, the group dedicated to being a speaker called “I’m Speaking” discussed advancing their visibility as experts in their fields, and our newest Push-Up group — Self-Care Sisters — got down to brass tacks fast and met three times before the end of the year!
We have kept up with virtual events since the pandemic shifted the way we do things. At our Let’s Give Them Something to SWOT About event, we investigated strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in our businesses together.
For Friendsgiving, Carrie and Casey taught attendees how to make their favorite “Naughty” and “Moddy” stuffings, benefiting Every Day Action. And at Jingle Mingle we got together for our annual Office Holiday Party and played a friendly game of trivia for a cause — the Point Foundation was our beneficiary.
But we also got back to business in a real way with our in-person events. Our first in-person event of the year was Cocktails & Conversation with Sheila Darcey, author of Sketch by Sketch. Sheila walked everyone through her creative approach and daily practice of sketching that has a therapeutic and meditative effect.
Next up, we caught up over crêpes with our Crepe Catch Up, which was a precursor to our biggest in-person event to date — the Wealthy Women Summit. The Summit took place on the Sir Winston Yacht in Long Beach over the course of two days. It was an incredible event chock full of impactful speakers and invaluable networking. The inaugural event was so well-received we immediately started planning next year’s Summit as soon as we wrapped up this year’s. (We canNOT WAIT to share what we have in store for the next Wealthy Women Summit!!!)
We’re hitting the ground running with our in-person AND virtual Manifest & Breakfast event in January 2023 where the work we did in Women of Wealth will come in handy if you were able to make the last few meetings of the year (but no worries if you missed it — the event will still be just as relevant to you!). This event is for Members only and we’ll be participating in some grounding work with BRA’s own Joy Guide June and manifestation through an exercise with BRA Member Tisha Morris, vision boarding, and the option to have a tarot reading by Nicole Matthiesen.
Carrie recorded and released 16 brand new episodes of her podcast Get Carried Away where she featured 16 different female founders including BRA Members Lee Levy, Kelly Winget, Diana Greshtchuk, Gail Baral, and Tracy Litt. These conversations often take fun and surprising turns and contain massive amounts of entertaining takeaways. If you haven’t already, we recommend subscribing so you never miss an episode.
BRA Network is passionately dedicated to the advancement of all women, everywhere, and in that effort, we donated $2,920 to a variety of charitable efforts this year including $1,800 to Equality Texas from Cocktails & Conversation, $470 to Every Day Action from Friendsgiving, and $650 to the Point Foundation from Jingle Mingle.
The Network was also founded on the principle that we value collaboration over competition. BRA Members aim to hire other Members first and the numbers don’t lie. This year alone we had nearly 150 collaborations. Leading the pack, BRA Member Kathy Schuh collaborated with 14 other Members this year and Hillary Cohen and Sam Luu of Every Day Action worked with 11 other Members.
This collaborative spirit may be one of the things that draws women to BRA Network the most, but without the word-of-mouth referrals from our Members, our community would be nowhere near as robust and diverse as it is. We are so grateful that our Members love the Network so much that they bring people from their own spheres into the fold.
In 2022 we had 31 new Members join us based off of referrals! BRA Members Liz Svatek and Bernadette Marciniak referred some of the most amazing women to the Network and we’re thrilled to have them as part of our community. We are so grateful and so lucky to be surrounded by all of the incredible women in our Network who encompass the BRA Mission and vibe.
This year was one for the books and we’re just basking in gratitude for this amazing community. We can’t help but think about what’s in store for the year to come knowing that we get to venture into it with all of you. Thanks to all our Members for being what makes BRA Network everything it is.
Cheers to 2023!
xo,
Carrie Murray, Founder
P.S. We are prepping WeWo ‘23 and looking at castles as possibilities for our venue, because we are all QUEENS! ????
