Winning and Celebrating

I’m all for celebrating the little everyday wins as a way of boosting my happy hormones and overcoming the inevitable challenges of running a non-profit business. Yet, a really big capital letters 'WIN' is all very overwhelming for me.? I have to take time to process how I feel and accept praise – yes, I know this all points to the most obvious case of imposter syndrome ever but there you have it!

BUT, I am honestly over the moon and massively proud of winning a gold award in the Most Inspiring Businesswoman category for my work with Funny Women CIC in the 2024 Best Business Women Awards Women Awards earlier this month.?

Not only was I pleased to be considered inspiring enough to win an award, but I also received it from the wonderful Hela Wozniak-Kay on behalf of Sister Snog who sponsored my category.? Thanks to the incredible Debbie Gilbert who created these awards 10 years ago and everybody who commented or sent me good wishes on here. It has been truly overwhelming in a good way. Congratulations to all the other amazing winners - gold, silver, shoes and all!

I’m still on a self-contained high, allowing myself to simmer lightly with renewed confidence about my business prowess, and will be celebrating my win over the next few weeks with a couple of speaking engagements for both Women in Business, North Kent & Medway and Lady Val Corbett . I look forward to sharing my experiences of 22 years spent changing the face of live comedy and I'm available for more talks, panel discussions or podcast interviews if you fancy.

PM me here and please visit www.herlarious.co.uk to see what Funny Women offers in terms of humour-related corporate training, coaching and entertainment as we head into the festive season.

On a personal note, those of you who read my posts on here know that I've been battling with the NHS in terms of my elderly mother’s care for various age-related health conditions. I posted about our experience of visiting A&E to ensure that she was scanned for a suspected mini stroke.? A&E is not a fun place for a frail 91-year-old (or me for that matter) to spend six hours and the experience left my mother vulnerable to a nasty bout of bronchitis but no sign of a TIA. Thanks for all the support and empathy – we battle on and Mum is stable again.

I’m just back from celebrating some personal milestones with my husband in Bologna Italy.? He has been there many times on business but not with me, so this was an opportunity for us to enjoy the food, culture and history of the city together.? Despite a lot of rain and the disruption caused by multiple roadworks to build a tram system and restore the canal, Bologna is still beautiful. We enjoyed some amazing meals, incredible art and stunning architecture. The win was a few precious days of R&R after a particularly brutal few months of workplace challenges for both of us. ??

I'm hugely proud that we've successfully launched The Glitter Project – A Safe Place , an important outreach initiative for Funny Women CIC . This is now live in two locations: Manchester at the Frog and Bucket Comedy Club with our launch event as part of the Women in Comedy Festival UK , and London at the Museum of Comedy (pictured above with Rachel Creeger facilitating a Q&A at the Mentoring Meetup).?

Next up are Medway, Bristol, Brighton and Birmingham and none of this would be happening without the inspiration of Jo Fletcher-Cross or funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England .? If you would like to take part in our series of Mentoring Meetups and?Open Mic events all dates and details are listed on the Funny Women website .

I’m pleased that there have been some amazing wins over the last few weeks and this year has been a major turning point for Funny Women with four successful funding bids.? These have been game changing for me personally as in my head I’m still that awkward 15-year-old struggling to pass her Maths GCSE!

Finally, in this very belated update for October, I am delighted to be back at the The Groucho Club Ltd. in London running my next Stand Up to Stand Out comedy workshop on Saturday 16th November.? It is my ‘winning formula’ as I’ve kickstarted many comedy careers and inspired a few women to use humour more liberally in the workplace since I first started running these workshops 15 years ago. ?

I love running these more than anything so join me if you fancy a fun couple of hours, all the details are here and if you sign up for Funny Women Patreon at the 'Amusing' level or more, you can come along for free! Yep, giving it away!

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Funny Women isn’t all about winning, although we run our Awards (more news coming very soon) to recognise and encourage new talent. ?I am merely the facilitator of innate and often unrecognised talent – prising the top off the compressed pot of creativity that lurks in all of us! ?

Enjoy what’s left of October – I’m off on my broomstick as Halloween approaches and looking forward to some more comedy tricks and treats in November. Woohoo!

Best wishes - LYNNEx

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