Hello there!

Thanks for stopping by.

My name is Ashley Lewis, the founder and Director of WOW. I would like to take this opportunity to personally welcome you to our community, and to share with you a little background history on how WOW came to be.

It was clear from an early age that helping people was my passion. It was therefore no surprise to those who knew me best, when I pursued a career in social work. While I enjoyed this immensely, my curiosity for finding faster, more effective ways of helping people cope with their constantly changing worlds became a mission which took me from counseling, into the world of personal development. And my career as a coach was born.

It was in the capacity, of a professional coach, that I first began to notice an increase in the number of women who would confide in me that they often felt alone and disconnected from other women. Sometimes this was a result of a change in life circumstance; relocation, end of a relationship, or friends moving out of the area.

Other times it was a professional isolation that came as a result of working in an environment that made it difficult to build and maintain friendships with other women outside of that particular setting; the self employed working in isolation or women in senior positions who had to maintain professional boundaries with staff. And lets not forget of course the high number of women working in male dominated fields, which can make it difficult for women to form those closer bonds of friendships than can naturally occur in other work places.

Regardless of the root cause, feeling isolated and disconnected from others, has a significant impact a woman's self esteem and overall happiness. It quickly became apparent to me just how important the role of great friends and positive connections are for women, and the cost to our lives when these connections are missing. A fact recently confirmed by a study out of UCLA and Duke University on Women and friendship. The study found that women who are isolated or without a good network of friends can reduce their life expectancy by up to 9 years. Loneliness has the same impact on a woman's health as smoking, obesity or high blood pressure.

In a bid to address the needs of women in this situation, I created and operated non-profit community programs, here in the USA and Australia, to make it easier for women to connect with like minded others. Over the years I have lost count of the hundreds of women that have successfully found new friends and other wonderful connections through our service, and was thrilled when our T4M club was the winner of the "Making a Difference to Women" Award, by Soroptomist International, in 2005.

Running a community program like the T4M Club was immensely satisfying, but also very time consuming. Being the owner of Trans4mations, (a Life Coaching company), takes up a significant amount of my time. I knew I had to find more efficient ways to ensure that regardless of location, time zone or circumstance, women who wanted to connect, had the ability to do so quickly and easily, with or without my personal intervention.

Being a life and business coach I also know that having a network to tap into is the fastest way to reach goals and having a mentor who is willing to share vital information can significantly reduce the learning curve. The vision behind WOW is to help women connect for friendship and have the ability to find the right person at the right time, for every area of their life. The combination of Friendship, Networking and Mentoring are the foundation on which WOW, World of Women has been built.

The 'birth' of WOW has been exciting and I feel incredibly blessed to be surrounded by friends and family who have supported me with this vision, from it's first conception.

Those who know me well, (and even those who don't), know I am passionate about helping women connect. Perhaps this stems from my own unique experiences in life, which have given me enormous insights into the struggles that women can face during major life transitions such as relocation, divorce, or starting a new career path.

Moving over 20 times (spanning 3 continents) has given me an empathy and compassion for women facing change and transition. I know first hand just how much courage it can take to step out into the unknown, try new things & meet new people. My intention with WOW is to make this process easier. To create an environment which emulates one of my favorite sayings. There are no strangers here, only friends you've yet to meet.

We have some wonderful new additions coming to WOW in 2007, so keep your eyes open for our newsletter updates and event info.

If you have questions or suggestions or would simply like to say hello, I would love to hear from you. I can be reached directly at Ashley@wowtoday.net

In friendship

Ashley  : )