This morning, I attended an annual breakfast with some of the most amazing women alive, let alone on Nantucket.  I so enjoy this opportunity each summer–it beyond stimulating hearing about all the incredible projects and life achievements that these extraordinary ladies share.  The one drawback of attending the event is that I have to say something about myself.  Even if it wasn’t about myself, I am sure I would stumble, but talking about ones “achievements” in this company is so humbling I could throw up.

The very first guest mentioned that she had just published another book on soldiers with head injuries and was starting her own TV network.  Not TV show, but TV network.  wow.  The second guest has made some major motion pictures and written a few off-Broadway shows.  Down the line we went, including many authors of many books, others in film and TV, and a few involved in curing cancer…and I say this all without the slightest exaggeration.

And so it came to be my turn.  And instead of seizing the moment and sharing about my store, currentVintage, and the vision behind it, and what makes it special, and how much we do for nonprofits on a weekly basis, and so on, I think I merely muttered that I had a store in town somewhere and then passed the baton to the next wonder woman…thanks goodness the hostess likes me or I surely would not be invited back.

Instead, however, of going on about my feelings of inadequacy, I will now move on to the point of this experience:  women are wonderful.

Our hostess opened by declaring, “I love women” and I concur.  Women can be so supportive and what’s more important than support?!  Words of encouragement and consolation?  A vote of confidence?  One story shared was of a moment in one woman’s life when she called a friend for advice, and, in that moment, she could have been tamped down or encouraged.  That friend chose to encourage her in her aspiration and that led to a new career in her 40s in which she excelled—as a comedian.

There were recurring themes of support and motivation, courage and parenting.  There was the heartbreaking–and warming–intimacy of one who had lost her husband last year;  she said that without the strength and love of the women in her life she would never have gotten through it, and it was clear by the intensity of her emotion that she meant it.

I ran a marathon a few years ago, which was a pretty big deal to me, since I wasn’t much of a runner.  I never would have gone through with it if wasn’t for the unanimously positive encouragement I received from every single woman I consulted.  I asked a dozen or more if they thought I could do it, and they all answered (without even knowing me very well) emphatically yes.  I later understood they just wanted me to have the same experience of running a marathon that they did.  The power of a support group cannot be overrated.

I wish I was a better public speaker and so I will work on it.  I’m pretty good at social media–I write a dynamic newsletter each week, I get our message out on facebook, I tweet, I blog.  For now, I just take pride in the fact that I showed up, because only by showing up do you get to have the experience.

Anyway,  what I REALLY Meant to say to the girls was that my store is a big part of my life and through it, hopefully, we affect a lot of people & organizations in many small, personal and sometimes meaningful ways…

Click here:  Elisabeth English talks about currentVintage on Plum TV