International Women's Day Special 2023 - Taz Thornton

To celebrate International Women's Day, we interviewed some influential women to share with you all about why IWD is important to them.

What’s your name? Taz Thornton 

What’s your profession? Coach, trainer, speaker, author   

What’s your business? Taz Thornton 

Where is this business? Lincolnshire, though we work worldwide 

If you have a team – do you have a gender mix? Are there challenges in achieving this? What are they? We have both men and women in our support team. Honestly, it didn’t happen by design; it unfolded naturally. For the first few years, we were an all-female business, but then our illustrator came on board, and our web designer, who were both fellas.  

What does #embracequity mean to you? I love that IWD is talking about equity over and above equality. So many people don’t actually understand the difference between the two. It’s massively important, for me, that everyone is able to truly enjoy the same opportunities, which might mean tweaking the offering to suit each person/community. 

That graphic of three people, of different heights, standing behind a barrier at an event, comes to mind; equality is them all being able to be at that event, equity is providing steps to the ones who aren’t tall enough to see over the top of the barrier.   

In which of these areas do you support women?   

• Women and Sustainability 
• Women & Wealth/Money 
• Women & Work/Business 
• Women In Tech 
• Women in the Arts/Creative sector 
• Women and Health  

Cripes - it’s almost impossible to just choose one because I touch on many of those. I guess I’d have to say business because too many women in business aren’t reaching their potential because they don’t know how to access it and properly use it. That’s where my #UnleashYourAwesome hashtag comes from - I truly believe we all have an untapped well of awesome potential - we just need to understand how harness it and put it into action.  

We stay small, quiet, so desperate to avoid being seen as egotistical, arrogant or loud, we allow opportunities to pass us by. Sometimes that’s because we genuinely don’t feel qualified, yet our male counterparts often have no issue in going for gold anyway. It’s time for us to step up and start believing in ourselves far more - if often find myself coaching awesome women to do just that. 

Which women have inspired you over the last year generally? My wife - Asha Clearwater - for believing in herself, and in her clients, and really going for it in launching her publishing venture. She’s helping so many brilliant women to get their words into print, coaching them every step of the way, from concept to content to creation   

My best mate - Lu Corfield - for always having heart, showing up, keeping on keeping on, despite the hard knocks the acting ‘industry’ took during the lockdowns. It’s really good to be seeing her on screen again, and I’m hoping she’ll have more wins in 2023. The world needs more Lu! 

Every one of my awesome female clients (yeah, I know I’m cheating some here, but they all totally blow me away!), for choosing to step up, be seen and create positive change for the world. They’re all real trailblazers in their own way, and I’m massively proud of them all. 

Which local women have inspired you in the last year? I’m going back to Asha for this one. She’s taking a stand when, not too long ago, she couldn’t physically stand due to MS. Not only is she turning her business dreams into reality, but she took that medical diagnosis and used it to drive a new outlook and way of life. She drastically changed her diet, fitness levels and mindset. Not only is she walking now, but only this week she cycled 100Km in one evening for a virtual challenge. If ever I think I can’t do something, I look at Asha and my excuses disappear. 
 
What do you think are the biggest issues facing women this year and beyond? It’s far more than the patriarchy. It’s about us finding the courage to step up and take - or create - the places we deserve in the world. We must not just wait for HIStory to change and invite us in. We need to drive that change. And that’s ALL women, of all backgrounds and identities. 

It’s not about being better than men - it’s about equity and equality. As someone far wiser than I once said: “The eagle needs two wings to fly.” 
 
Why do you think it's important to have an International Women's Day? We need to remember how much we matter, how much we’ve achieved and how much we still have to achieve. 

Though the challenges might sometimes be different, the same is true for men. International Men’s Day is November 19. 

For more information on Taz Thornton visit https://tazthornton.com/