I’ve met and heard from many incredible, inspirational women over the years.
But being in the room listening to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe felt different.
Like so many people, I had followed her story from afar. I’d watched Prisoner 951. I’d followed her husband Richard’s relentless campaign to bring her home.
But there is something very different about sitting in a room and hearing a woman tell her own story, in her own words.
Nazanin spoke about the grief of missing so much of her daughter’s childhood while she was detained in Iran.
Those are years she can never get back.
She spoke about the difficulty of returning home too — something we perhaps hear much less about. Freedom didn’t suddenly mean everything went back to normal. There was the process of readjusting to everyday life and reconnecting with a world that had carried on while hers had been interrupted.
She also spoke about how differently she now sees freedom.
Freedom isn’t only about whether a door is physically locked.
It is found in the smallest things.
The freedom to go home.
To hug your children.
To pick up a book.
To make plans.
To change your mind.
To simply walk out of a door.
So many things most of us do every day without giving them a second thought.
But there was another part of Nazanin’s story that really stayed with me.
The power of women supporting women
Nazanin spoke about the women she was imprisoned alongside.
Women supporting women through circumstances most of us can barely imagine.
They looked after one another. They supported one another. They found strength in one another.
Those women helped get her through some of the darkest years of her life.
And, of course, that spoke to me.
Because for the last seven years, my work through Asian Women Mean Business (AWMB) has been built around one fundamental belief:
There is incredible power when women come together.
The circumstances couldn’t be more different, but the principle is something I have witnessed again and again.
Women carry women.
Sometimes through friendship.
Sometimes through encouragement.
Sometimes by opening a door or making an introduction.
Sometimes by recommending another woman when she isn’t in the room.
Sometimes by encouraging a woman to apply for the job, start the business, ask for the promotion, become more visible or finally do the thing she has spent years talking herself out of.
And sometimes it is simply sitting beside another woman when life is really bloody hard.
Why community matters for South Asian women
Community has always been at the heart of Asian Women Mean Business.
As a South Asian woman in business myself, I know there can be experiences, expectations and challenges that aren’t always understood in traditional business or professional spaces.
Our careers and businesses don’t exist separately from our culture, families, identities and responsibilities.
That’s why creating spaces specifically for South Asian women to connect, learn and grow matters.
Over the years, I have watched women within the AWMB community build businesses, progress their careers, collaborate, make introductions, find clients, become more visible and form genuine friendships.
That is more than networking.
Networking can be about who you know. Community is about knowing you belong.
South Asian women in business need more than networking
When women come together in the right environment, something shifts.
You realise you aren’t the only person questioning yourself.
You see another woman doing something you hadn’t believed was possible for you.
Someone shares an opportunity you would never have known existed.
Another woman says your name in a room you’re not in.
And sometimes someone simply says:
Go on. You can do this.
Those moments matter.
For South Asian female entrepreneurs and professional women, having access to networks and communities can create opportunities that extend far beyond a single event or conversation.
It’s why I remain such a believer in bringing women together — both online and, increasingly importantly, in person.
Human connection still matters
We live in a world where technology can connect us instantly.
AI is changing how we work and how we run our businesses.
I love technology and everything it enables us to do.
But I don’t believe anything replaces human connection.
Sometimes you need to be in the room.
Sometimes you need another woman to look you in the eye and remind you what you’re capable of.
Sometimes you need to hear somebody else’s story to realise you’re not alone in your own.
And sometimes you simply need someone beside you while you work out what comes next.
Women carry women
I left the evening thinking about freedom and how much of it we take for granted.
But I also left thinking about the women who have carried me at different points in my own life — and the women I hope I have carried too.
None of us achieves anything entirely alone.
Behind so many successful women are other women who encouraged them, challenged them, introduced them, recommended them, opened doors for them or sat beside them through the difficult bits.
That is the power of women supporting women.
And it is why building communities for South Asian women in business continues to matter so much to me.
Women carry women.
And sometimes, that can change everything.
About Asian Women Mean Business
Asian Women Mean Business is a community supporting South Asian women to grow their confidence, careers, businesses, networks and visibility. Founded by Rupinder Kaur, AWMB brings women together through community, events, development opportunities and the Inspire Club.
Want to be part of it? Explore Asian Women Mean Business and join a community of ambitious South Asian women who believe we don’t have to do it alone.