Are you brave enough to be vulnerable? It’s easy to pretend you’re okay and everything is perfect but one of the things we discussed in our leadership workshop with Kylie Lewis from Of Kin was the power of vulnerability. Of showing people your TRUE self: the imperfections, the struggles, the quirks.

Earlier this year I had an experience that forced me to show my vulnerability… and it actually helped me through an extremely difficult situation!

A couple of months ago I hosted an event just off Flinders Lane in Melbourne – a change from our usual venue in Richmond. I’d had a huge day at work and the traffic on St Kilda Road was literally at a stand-still.

My biz partner Natalina was driving, I was navigating (badly) and time was ticking. I’d never driven into the city before in peak times and no idea about all the one-way streets and hook turns. We turned up at the venue 20 minutes late and the security guard wouldn’t let us into the car park.

Arghhhhh.

It took us another 15 minutes to get into the building, carrying 100 wine glasses, boxes of wine, laptops and food.

Guests had already arrived, there was no wine or nibbles laid out and the catering was no where to be seen. The owners of the event space –, who had very kindly lent me the space for free – were pretty unhappy (rightfully so!), which only added to the pressure.

I was so stressed that I was literally sweating.

But do you know what? When I frantically explained to the guests that I had a crazy day at work and was so sorry to keep them waiting, every single person reassured me that it was totally fine. They even helped me put out all the wine glasses!

When I finally got up on stage to introduce our speakers, I apologised profusely and explained my struggles juggling full time work with She Mentors events. Everyone smiled and nodded along in support. And someone even shouted out “don’t worry Ali, we love your events!”

What a relief!!!

Strangely, I think it resonated with people. Everyone in that room had rushed from work. It just so happened that I was the organiser, trying to juggle a MeetUp with working full time.

After that I started being more open with people. Being vulnerable. I kept telling myself that it’s okay to nervous before going on stage. It’s okay that the the microphones sometimes cut out or the speaker presentations overrun… These things happen.

So if you were at that event, thank you for being an incredible bunch of women who cheered me through that moment! And next time you get yourself into a sticky situation, tell people. Be brave enough to show your vulnerability. It works wonders.

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