Life in a day as a European Female Entrepreneurship Ambassador

Besides some bills and the Ghent city magazine, a handwritten postcard fell out of my mailbox this morning. 'It was great meeting you', it said and it was signed by I., a female entrepreneur I've met a couple of days ago at a meeting for entrepreneurial women in Ghent. Despite my limited business experience, I had been invited to speak about my entrepreneurship in general and about Ghent-Authentic in particular. 

It occurred to me that in a short notice of time a lot of things had happened. It seemed hard to believe -even to me!- that exactly 1 year ago, on a sleepless flight from New York to Brussels, I sketched out what would turn out to be my Ghent-Authentic business plan. One thing lead to another and so I found myself on a cold December morning and to my utmost surprise waking up as a European Female Entrepreneurship Ambassador!

Despite the fact that my ambassadorship started off big (the press conference in Brussels,  the Womed Award in the presence of her Royal Highness Princess Mathilde of Belgium and so on) it's the little things that stick by: meeting Adora (later the winner of the Womed Award South) and Mila Mercado-Bunker (President of the Microfinance Council of the Philippines) the day before the ceremony took place, listening to each others stories, sharing insights, uncertainties, plans for the future but most of all cracking some jokes and sharing a lot of laughter. Who said entrepreneurs are always serious !!

Since then I tell everybody who wants to hear it how rewarding it is to take life in both hands and as a consequence of that I occasionally receive emails of inspired women but never a handwritten postcard until now...