A READING mum is adding a new string to her bow. 

Alongside her existing business and job, Michelle Bennett is a ‘Tribe Boss’ and has launched the Reading branch of a booming female networking organisation.

Girl Tribe Gang (GTG) is a members-only collective for women who work for themselves or aspire to, founded by an ex NHS Strategist, turned female-only psychotherapist and mum-of-four in Yorkshire last year.

Since its beginning, GTG has seen phenomenal growth right across the UK, with the most recent tribe opening in Reading. 

Michelle is inviting others to join her at her meet up on Wednesday (Feb 21) at Thames Lido, to connect with other local businesswomen.

Michelle is on a mission to inspire other women to set up their own businesses, and to help reduce some of th eisolation women who work for themselves experience.

Anyone interested can register to attend the meet up via www.girltribegang.co.uk 

Reading Chronicle:

Girl Tribe Gang advertises providing an alternative to traditional corporate networking with ‘no suits, no hotels, no corporate nonsense, no breakfast meetings, no sticky name labels, no eating in front of strangers, no board tables, no awkward introductions, no men and no death by power point presentations’.

Michelle said: “This is a really exciting venture for me and one I’m honoured to be involved in. I’m looking forward to finding like-minded women in my community, women who are working from their kitchen table or home office doing work that works for them and their family - and bringing everyone together. It’s all about creating a community of like-minded women, a level playing field and an eco-system of support and encouragement amongst women who totally get what it feels like to be on your own in business.”

Catherine Asta Labbett, founder of the Girl Tribe Gang network, said: “Girl Tribe Gang is enjoying roaring success and is growing at a pheonomenal rate across the country with tribes already established in Yorkshire, North West, Buckinghamshire, Sur-rey, London, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex and the South West. Our tribe has brought together many women who were at the height of their corporate careers, but who craved more freedom and flexibility and wanted to quit the 9-5. I’ve found so many women out there who have achieved so much and have so much experience to share, but who felt they needed support when going along.

"On our team we have an ex retail head buyer, a corporate accountant, director of communications, probation officer, HR director, foreign office execuitive, to name just a few, and I was a strategist at a senior level in the NHS– we have all quit the corporate world to set up our own business.

"We share knowledge, skills and support each other and it’s a network that we all hugely value. I’m sure there are lots of female entrepreneurs in Berkshire who would benefit from the same thing, and I’m so excited to see who Jo (name of tribe leader) discovers!”

Catherine added: “There is a whole generation of women who are taking risks and following their dreams and we are a hidden workforce. We are a workforce that connects predominantly on social media, but we need more ‘real life’ connection and to be connecting with the right people who are going through similar things.”

Catherine, 38, started her own business – Bringing Sparkle Back - whilst she was working as a Strategist in the NHS. After discovering the downsides of working independently ‘Girl Tribe Gang’ was born last December when Catherine was heavily pregnant with her daughter Kristina.

Through Catherine’s experience with the women she sees in her clinic, she says that she’s “found that even the most successful business women have confidence issues, suffer from imposter syndrome and generally lack self-belief. So, we’ve stripped back all the things that create unnecessary barriers to networking."

Catherine is now looking for women nationwide to help her grow the organisation even further by becoming Tribe Bosses in their local regions.