When Marie, Tara and I – a group of three female founders and web-shop owners decided to cooperate, it was important to us not to simply bring soul (and meaningless advertising) into the world. We wanted to give our customers something beautiful and meaningful to hold in their hands. After all, it's about more than just advertising. It's about women supporting each other. It's about appreciation, solidarity and empowerment. It's about lifting each other up instead of struggling alone or seeing other women as competition. 

A view I didn't hold in my heart at all a few years ago. 

Women Supporting Women

‘I just get along better with men.’ As uncomfortable as it is for me to admit today, this statement came from me - more specifically, from my younger self. As a teenager and even into my mid-20s, I often couldn't relate to women of my own age. They seemed so different from me and with my interests and hobbies, I felt like I didn't belong.

I decided I didn't want to be like a ‘typical’ woman as I perceived it to be. Today, I know what was really behind that thought process; I simply didn't want to be treated the way a woman is typically treated.

Of course, I subconsciously blamed women first.

Another prejudice that had taken root in my young mind was the subconscious idea that success and ambition are difficult to combine with femininity. Don't you have to be as ‘tough’ as possible? Hard and determined? Contrary to my inner attitude, I was not only hard on myself for this reason, but also on others, and ended up slipping further and further into a cynical world-view full of contradictions until I finally started to address my prejudices and toxic beliefs.

Now in my mid-thirties, a decade later, my views surrounding women have radically changed. I've made good friends, I've experienced how wonderful and empowering female friendships can be, and I've seen how much strength there is in us when we cheer each other on and support each other. I was able to learn that success and compassion are not mutually exclusive and that ambition and femininity go wonderfully together.

Finally, A Founder Emerges

Maybe that's why it took me so long to finally found my own company? I had dreams of starting my own business at 19, but it took me until 32 where I finally gathered enough courage to take the first step and founded Dual Defiance, a step I took with my female friend and co-founder Virginia - because as we all know, when you're two, you feel less alone.

Founding a company is hard work and I have developed huge respect for the process! Every day you face new hurdles; from paperwork, tax issues, administration related to running a web-shop, new product designs, advertising, social media maintenance, to customer support and shipping processing - the list of challenges is long. With such a mountain of tasks and stumbling blocks, it's easy to lose heart (especially when your co-founder lives in Australia and the time difference is over ten hours!).

Appreciation for each other and with each other

As it has become clear to me that I prefer to work with women and enjoy exchanging ideas with like-minded people, I signed up for a business network for women even before Dual Defiance opened (partly so my friends and family were spared the endless chatter about it!). 

The support of other women founders has been and continues to be invaluable. They know the challenges of the start-up process, running a business and offer practical advice. They understand my concerns, take me seriously and motivate me. There's no competitiveness or resentment. How refreshing this is!

In dealing with so many inspiring people, it was only a matter of time before I met women who shared not only the role of company founder, but also shared my values and goals which are very important to me. 

Marie of Maries Kartengarten and Tara of Casual Magic are two such women. Marie sells high-quality stationery products with hand-drawn motifs and Tara offers lovingly designed spiritual self-care kits and gifts. Of course, neither store is necessarily close to the stocking stuffer business thematically, but we share important values: All three of us sell high-quality products that are lovingly packaged to bring joy and appreciation to our customers. In addition, a large part of our target group is women, so we decided to co-operate and advertise collaboratively.

The Mini Poster and Its Message

Together we developed a mini poster in postcard format. The front bears the inspiring quote;

"There is no limit to what we as women can accomplish." 
(Michelle Obama)

The back introduces our three stores with links and offers new customers a discount code for their first order, valid at all three stores. It's more than just advertising, it symbolizes female solidarity and support. We include this mini-poster with every order in our stores. In principle, it is a classic flyer - but just prettier. As the front side is completely neutral and does not show any type of graphic, you can use the insert as a mini poster - for the office, the bulletin board, the fridge or your journal.

It was important to us that our co-operation is not only potentially useful for us as founders, but also offers our customers added value instead of separate, annoying advertising. In the end, a co-operative advertising campaign has turned into an appreciative gesture - for us and for everyone who shops with us.

...what we as women can accomplish

Founding Dual Defiance is an ongoing challenge - but it also shows me again and again how much I can accomplish and how much being surrounded by the right people can move you forward. Today, more than ever, I am convinced that we can achieve a lot together as women. I look forward to continuing our journey with Dual Defiance, working with inspiring women like Marie and Tara, and the many other people we will meet along the way.

Through our story, we hope to encourage and inspire other women to pursue their own dreams and unleash the power that each of us has within us. Because together we can achieve an incredible amount!