This magazine is for the woman who strives to thrive. It is for the woman who has dreams and desires to pursue them. It is for the woman who wants to be inspired to live a stellar life – A 360 Stellar LIFE. It is for the woman who is ready to conquer her limiting beliefs and stop playing small.
I grew up not knowing that dreams are important. I did not know that these inner desires should be kept safe, nurtured, and watered to ensure that they have a chance of seeing the light. These are not the dreams you have whilst asleep; these are the dreams that make you stay awake! I had wishes or at least I called them so. Things that I talked about but did not mean anything for example, I may have had a desire for a particular expensive dress or to go somewhere or even be a fashion designer. Often such wishes evaporated quickly, displaced by the THOUGHT that I could not have them. You may be familiar with this experience.
As a woman what is your dream? Are you limited to what many women have traditionally done like marriage or to what your parents or guardians thought would be suitable for you say teaching and nursing? Of course, these are the most critical roles, and I am not trying to diminish their importance. I am trying to ensure that this role you’re playing is one that you deeply desire. Our dreams can also be limited by our perspective, which is influenced by our belief system, which belief system is created by the thinking of those before and around us. If you cannot envision it, then you cannot see it. Many of us, women, do not see beyond the belief system that we grew up in. We do not want to waste time talking about dreams, that we think we are not able to achieve. Quoting Les Brown “The graveyard is the richest place on earth, because it is here that you will find all the hopes and dreams that were never fulfilled….”. How true for many women!
Stellar Woman Magazine is a dream come true for me! It has always been my dream but like many of us, I always discarded it and eventually had lots of excuses why it couldn’t happen like time, money and knowledge. Amidst the pandemic, the idea was created and today this dream gets to see the light. I am thrilled that I get to be in this position where I meet many empowering driven women ready to share their dreams and journeys and help other women to see, think and act differently. Issue 1 is focused on bringing you stories of women who have dreamt big and pursued their dreams no matter the obstacles in their way – women who have set intentions and acted upon them.
Every woman has within her a ‘Stellar Woman.’ She is healthy, in thriving relationships, has a thriving career based on her deep-seated aspirations in life. What does your ideal ‘Stellar Woman’ do? Where does she live, what does eat, how does she start her day? Who does she relate with? How does she end her day? Where does she go on holiday? Who does she spend time with? These are questions you can start with to move towards creating her.
As I write, I am thinking about all those giants of women who came before us and on whose shoulders we stand. The women, who have inspired this new discussion that has made many of us understand that we are all called to greatness. The women that dreamt, the women who thought differently, the women who have pursued their dreams – like Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou, Anna Frank, and many others…We can follow suit: “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world”-Ann Frank.
This year’s international women’s day theme was ‘choose to challenge’ – Stellar Woman magazine is intended to challenge our thinking, beliefs, and actions by sharing the stories of others. It is the voices of women like Oprah that have awakened me and I am happy to join in harmony as I sing my own song. Stellar Woman magazine offers a platform to share women’s achievements and to change conversations to be more empowering. This year was the very first ever all female cruise ship crew on a ground braking cruise ship that sailed from Florida to mark International Women’s day with the first American cruise ship captain, Kate McCue. Captain Kate dreamt to be a ship captain and she became one. For as a man or woman thinketh in his or her heart so is he or she. One woman’s thinking has changed our reality.
Stellar Woman magazine supplements or promotes the objectives of IWAW CLUB. IWAW is acronym for Inspiring Women for Aspiring Women. IWAW Club aims to bring women to the awareness that they can be more and that they can uplift others so that the world can have more empowered women. It is a space for networking with like-minded women, having empowering conversations, trainings and workshops, laughter, and inspirational talks.
Whilst there are various invaluable magazines in circulation today, Stellar Woman will provide content differently. It is intended to be your best friend, to uplift you with great content, knowledge and experience shared from other women’s hearts. It aims to empower you into action no matter what area you’re interested in. Welcome aboard and please enjoy your first issue of Stellar Woman Magazine. We are here to succeed and thrive for the long haul!
In this issue, we share the journeys of various women in achieving their dreams. They offer insights into what they do and the kind of actions they took or are taking and what they have done to get to where they are. They are women with big hearts, big minds, and spirit. All the interviews, featured stories and articles are very inspiring! I am particularly touched by Michaela Deprince’s achievement. An orphan from an orphanage in Sierra Leone becoming a leading international ballerina, having been inspired by a magazine cover image of a ballerina! This demonstrates that we are limitless and can be anything we desire. The only thing that stands between YOU and the future unlimited person you can become is your belief about YOU.
All the interviews of the women covered in Stellar Woman Magazine, Issue 1, demonstrate progress, intelligence, brilliance, focus, determination, self-confidence, resilience, relentlessness, perseverance and courage, care for others and the need to stay around like-minded people. Claudia Taboada shares how she progressed from 10-minute walks with her son’s dog to running international marathons. Atiti Izogie, Josephine Zhane, Kim Vopna and Divya Parekh interviews have a shared theme for mind, body and spirit and how these improve your quality of life and progress. Ann Justi and Dr Shelley Kaplar’s articles address mental health. Monica Bradley’s interview highlights the key dimension to growth: self-confidence. These and more stories have made me realise that the world is changing and we must all rise up to this new notion and support one another.
It is with great pleasure to bring you these stories. To share with you what these inspirational women from all over the globe have done so that you too can learn one or two things and implement them.
I am so excited that you are here and wish you a good read and please continue to come back for more Stellar Woman stories in the Issues to follow. We will initially start with an Issue every quarter.
PS: We are all about women empowerment and how far women have come. We love that our cover woman Kamala Harris dreams big and is becoming that.
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Stella Olivia Kikoyo
Publisher/ Editor-in-chief
Stella Olivia Kikoyo is a Chartered Marketer and Fellow of Higher Education UK. A Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Chartered Marketing professional tutor and Strategic Intervention life and business coach and Business Trainer and a director and consultant at 360Stellar Coaching, Training & Consultancy and also founder of Inspiring Women Aspiring Women (IWAW Club).
I love the idea of ambitious women. Women go through a lot but when they push on and on miracles happen within their families. Thanks Stella for that encouragement we shall not stop until we achieve our goals despite the age. Keep inspiring us it gives us power to aim higher.
I really enjoy reading stellar women magazine. It is packed full of inspiration and positivity for women. I specially find useful the articles in mind and body during a pandemic. I have taken up daily walking inspired by the article by Ann Justi. It does wonders for your wellbeing. The Fashion ideas are fabulous, practical and trendy. Must read for all women. Insightful, engaging and inspirational!
I enjoyed reading thru this issue and seeing how far women of different generations, backgrounds and ethnicity are thriving. This is a positive move and very empowering. I mostly enjoyed reading about how you overcame fear . I find that its one of the biggest barriers holding us back to achieve our dreams.