In my experience, women don't tend to read "about us" pages on websites to find out lots of technical bits about who owns the brand, or the product, or whatever. All of those details are in the Terms anyway. If you're here instead, you probably want to find out about the real person who lies behind the Internet technology.
Well, that person is me. My name is Alison Finch, and I am a Self-esteem Coach who has developed a number of techniques for addressing the causes of low self-esteem (things like jealousy, shyness, poor body-image, and so on) and who can offer practical and effective self-esteem building solutions for women. I have been coaching people around the world for about 14 years now, always with the aim of helping them to do well in life and feel good about themselves.
Over the years, I've coached, trained, managed and motivated hundreds of people within corporate environments in order to help them reach their full professional potential. Somewhere along the way, I realised something of critical importance: unless people had relatively high levels of self-esteem, it was almost impossible to coach them successfully to reach professional excellence. In some cases I encountered people who tried to convince those around them that they were doing a good job, but this strategy always failed because it was obvious that they all - deep down - lacked belief in themselves.
It became increasingly apparent to me that there were more women suffering from feelings of low self-esteem than men. Of course, I heard all the arguments about our living in a "man's world", but in the vast majority of cases it was a woman's lack of confidence in herself that was the major factor holding her back; not her working environment, the men she worked with, or the man that she was living with.
Although women have made massive strides forward in terms of their influence over the last 50 years, I think it's fair to say that somehow - in general terms at least - their self-esteem has not recognised their changed position in society. It's probably fair to say that men have retained more opportunity to shape their own destinies. I'm not in any way anti-men, but this imbalance doesn't feel like the best way to create social harmony. I want to try to redress the balance slightly, and Selfesteem4women.com is my way of doing this.
So that's what has driven me to create this self-esteem website and produce the range of Self-help Resources that we offer here. I want to share some of the useful things I've learned in my own life because I've been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with hundreds of women around the world. And I've also practised in my own life a lot of different ways of doing things and found out which work well and which do not.
None of us can reach our potential unless our self-esteem is supporting us as we try to do the right thing with every decision that we make. But self-esteem is a fragile thing, and there are many influences around us that can damage it and make us withdraw into ourselves.
I believe self-esteem is very important, and this site is dedicated to helping YOU to build yours.
Again, I don't think this is the place to talk about Company Registration Numbers and so on, so please look under the Terms on the Website if you want that!
Ibex is a small but passionate consulting company, based in the heart of middle-England but experienced in cultural-change assignments for many large companies operating all over the world.
In 1997, as a single mother of a two-year-old child, I left my "conventional" employment as a Human Resources Manager for a large multi-national food company and joined Ibex because I shared their values. In fact the company name was a contraction of their statement of belief that people with Integrity, who Believe in what they're doing, will achieve EXcellence in their personal and professional lives. I-B-EX - pretty corny I know, but it pushed my buttons!
I'd found some kindred spirits. Since 1997 we've worked together to empower people in Europe, North America, and Australasia - always with the same emphasis: to understand the truth about a situation, break it down into manageable parts, and help people to make the best possible decisions.
Ibex has opened up for me the most emotionally rewarding experiences of my life. Imagine the joy of working with colleagues whom you trust completely, who share your values, and who believe that making other people's lives more fulfilling is the best reason to leap out of bed in the morning and get to work.
At the beginning of 2001, I persuaded my colleagues that we should focus on helping WOMEN everywhere to build their self-esteem, rather than just the few hundreds of women we encountered each time we carried out conventional consulting assignments. I had a dream, and everyone working at Ibex helped me to turn that dream into the reality that has become Selfesteem4women.com
I firmly believe in delivering my promises, and I want to make three commitments to you:
The same, of course, goes for my colleagues at Ibex.
I spend a lot of time thinking about what it means to be a woman in today's modern world, and I listen carefully to what other women say to me about how THEY feel too. I've tried very hard to use collective experience to create this site in a way that delivers a snapshot of YOUR self-esteem and stress levels as they stand today and then make available to you a range of self-help resources and Coaching Programs that focus specifically on YOUR current issues. But only you can tell me if the site works for you. I'd love to hear your feedback, and I can be contacted through the links on the site or directly here.
With warm regards
Alison Finch
Founder and Creator of Selfesteem4women.com
Ibex Management Limited
July 2006
The Press are invited to seek more information by sending an email to press@ibexmanagement.com. All enquiries will be dealt with promptly.
