Member Article

Yorkshire Entrepreneur Creates Bestseller Supporting Global Female Empowerment Charity as Writers Share Their Stories of Rising Up

This week, a female entrepreneur from Halifax has spearheaded a collaboration book that has brought together women from across the UK as they each share their personal stories of rising up and taking back control of their life – and within hours of its release has become a bestseller on Amazon book charts.

‘When She Rises’ went straight in at Number 1 on the Amazon bestseller charts in; Women’s Spirituality and Collections Biographies sitting alongside criminologist, historian and author, OJ Modjeska’s book ‘Gone - Catastrophe in Paradise’ and the popular book box set ‘American History By The State’.

Supported by ITV’s Real Housewives of Cheshire, Leanne Brown, all proceeds and royalties from the book are going to the global charity One Woman At A Time, dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls in parts of Kenya, India and the UK who are severely disadvantaged by social or economic circumstances.

Tiffany Skirrow, 33, from Halifax has brought together a collection of female entrepreneurs whose heart-breaking and inspiring stories include: surviving a terrorist attack; parental death; a friend’s suicide; overcoming domestic abuse; a battle with a rare cancer; beating bullying, anxiety, bipolar and alcoholism; battling eating disorders, drug-abuse, mental and physical abuse; surviving parental suicide, financial, emotional and physical abuse, and debt. Despite their traumatic and harrowing pasts, each contributor has found the strength to rise up and rewrite their story, turning their adversity into strength.

Tiffany, a business mentor and founder of When She Rises Coaching, has lived a life that should have left her broken. Suffering grief from her brother’s death at 16 and becoming a mum at 17 told “You’ll never amount to anything” Tiffany’s teenage years were turbulent and saw her spiral from abusive relationship to abusive relationship. Tiffany believed this was down to her being unlovable and spent years feeling unworthy, self-harming, battling depression, anxiety and anorexia. Although crippled by lack of self-worth, which led to her having suicidal thoughts, Tiffany knew she had to fight back for the sake of her son and has turned her adversity into a story of triumph, going on to enable other women’s empowerment and becoming a 6 figure business owner in the process. The book is very much a part of this.

Sharing her own story has been a huge step for Tiffany and she is proud to help other females take the leap too. She said: ‘I haven’t always felt free. For years I felt pressed down, suffocated and worthless. I didn’t choose the circumstances that made me feel that way, so I didn’t consider that I had a choice to feel otherwise. Anyone who has endured painful adversity or suffering will identify with that feeling of helplessness. When you’re out of options and seemingly powerless over your own destiny, there doesn’t seem to be a way out. And if low self-worth has been enforced over and over, you feel as if you are the last person with the power to turn things around. I know this place and I know how difficult it can be to envisage a brighter future when it doesn’t seem available to you. I have put together this volume of remarkable stories because I want women to hear a different narrative.’

She continued: ‘In my darkest moment, I realised I had a choice. I didn’t want to live in sadness for the rest of my life. My story was not going to be one of hurt, pain and suffering. In that moment, I chose to believe that life had more to offer me. It was that one decision that changed the course of my life. As I rejected the words that had been spoken over me and the words I had believed about myself, I was choosing instead to write my own. It is the stories we tell ourselves that define us. Whatever you are facing, you do have a choice. You do have the power to turn your life around.’

‘Each of the women who have contributed to this book have come on their own momentous journey. I approached them because they have come through healing and now stand in the light of their own strength. From this place they can share their whole story as a powerful and inspirational gift to other women who aren’t yet on the other side of healing. It takes bravery to lay bare past vulnerabilities and hurt, so I am honoured that these women have agreed to share themselves so completely. From the bottom of my heart I thank and admire the contributors of ‘When She Rises’.’

Each woman has taken the incredibly courageous step to sharing stories of past trauma, loss, abuse, grief and much more and how they eventually used this as a driving force in which to rise up and finally be heard.

Stories that are shared in When She Rises include Ali Smith’s journey with overcoming trauma and PTSD. When she was 10 years old, she was faced with the sudden and unexpected death of her mother. This was followed three years later by a motorbike accident, in which her 19-year-old sister was killed. Years later when she was in her twenties, she was involved in a terrorist attack in a church in Cape Town, followed soon after by a traumatic family murder and thereafter the suicide of her best friend. Ali said: “I have known for years that my purpose on this planet is to raise awareness around trauma and how it affects our lives, only it’s taken years for me to get to the place where I can fully own my story.”

Helen Elizabeth shares her story of an abusive childhood, sexual assault, an emotionally abusive husband and her traumatic time in the Police Force. Helen recalls how bullying, sexism, personal prejudices and racism became regular occurrences and she shares the impact this all had on her, causing stress and ill health that eventually saw her request early retirement. Despite all this, Helen has risen up and is passionate about helping others let go of victim mentality and self-sabotage and is keen to teach people the power of forgiveness.

Charlotte Lewington courageously shares how she nearly died as a baby, and how losing her 13-year-old brother to cancer when she was only six has had a lasting impact on her life. Having struggled with low self-esteem and suffering at the hands of bullies in her youth, she was in the road to self-destruction, however, keen to share her highs as well as her lows Charlotte’s chapter focuses on the pivotal moment she embarked on a self-development journey to overcome her own confidence and self esteem issues.

All proceeds and royalties from the book are going to the global charity One Woman At A Time, dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls in parts of Kenya, India and the UK who are severely disadvantaged by social or economic circumstances.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Chocolate PR .