From the President
Dear EO Melbourne,
Apocalypse!
If you tuned into our End-of-Year Gala celebration a month ago, you would have heard me start my welcome speech with this bizarre word. In all honesty, I knew I had a tough job on my hands to grab your attention as the celebration was held virtually for the first time in EO Melbourne history. I hoped it worked.
The point I wanted to get across was that, yes, 2020 has been a challenging year for many of us. Every month that goes by feels as though we’ve graduated to the next level of Jumanji.
The usual problems that get thrown our way have morphed into something we never imagined we would ever have to deal with.
This is where the magic of EO presents itself. As a global community, we have the power at our fingertips to connect with another member and resources to figure out how to overcome them. We can also take some solace in knowing that we are not alone in this.
It’s been one hell of a rollercoaster, and as we are now in our second lockdown, what the future holds continues to be clear as mud. But in times of adversity, we all know that this is the time that we, as entrepreneurs, need to demonstrate resilience and rise to lead our teams forward.
We need to remind ourselves that our businesses were founded on hope. We all started with a seedling of an idea, and it was through our optimism, hard work, creativity and hope that it was able to grow into something bigger than ourselves.
On that note, I leave you with our theme for the year, Lead with Hope.
It is with great honour and privilege that I serve as President for EO Melbourne 2020/21. Standing alongside my fellow Board Members, I’m excited about the ideas that we’re working on to make the EO year ahead into a memorable one - for the right reasons! Our chapter is strong, the engagement (the only giant WhatsApp group I have unmuted) and solidarity are out of this world.
Reach out to any of us on the Board at any time, we’re here for you.
Warmest regards,
Sheryl Thai
President 2020/2021