Behind the Business: Women Inspiring Women
Written by Ilana Pearce
In the wake of @WomenEd's amazing first global, online unconference, 2nd to 4th October, it is important to recognise those who continuously fight for equality and diversity in education. Lift Lessons co-founder, Andrea Silani, discusses the women who inspire her and her team.
What are some of the challenges you face?
AS: “Starting this business is definitely the toughest thing that I’ve ever done professionally. Many of the entrepreneurial skills required to make this transition were so new to us, and we had to learn all about startups and investment.
We also had to build a vision for our business without losing sight of our core values of social justice and collaboration. These ideals stem from the education community and I think they’re in our nature as teachers. People become teachers because they’re passionate about helping students, and that social purpose has always driven us in the classroom and in starting Lift Lessons.
Ideally, we’d love to be able to give all our resources away for free to everyone. We are dedicated as a company to ensuring we provide free access to familes and schools who would not otherwise afford the cost and many of our resources are completely free."
How did you overcome these challenges?
AS: “The support of incredible mentors was crucial in overcoming the challenges we face. We’ve been incredibly lucky to work with some experienced advisors across a range of areas, from business and technology to speech and language therapy. Our advisors from WomenEd, Jules Daulby and Bukky Yusuf, are two of the most extraordinary women I’ve ever met. They’re such an inspiration for us."
How did you first come across the work that WomenEd do?
AS: “We were absolutely blown away by what WomenEd are doing. When we first came across them on Twitter, we’d never seen anything like it. Their global grassroots movement, which is changing the world and empowering a diverse leadership in education, is making such a positive impact on society.
The Bett Conference in January 2019 was the first EdTech conference Caroline and I had ever attended. We saw a WomenEd_Tech presentation, and it was after watching their panel that we decided to take this idea we had and turn it into a company. When we went to talk to the panel, they were so welcoming and generous with their time and advice, and they’ve been like that throughout. We’ve been so lucky to have their advice and input from the earliest stages of Lift Lessons, and there’s not enough words to say how huge an inspiration they are and how helpful they’ve been. Their knowledge and their ideas have shaped our resources and we’re so grateful.
"Their movement is changing the world and empowering a diverse leadership in education." - Andrea Silani
What does WomenEd’s motto 10% Braver mean to you?
AS: “We read the book, 10% Braver: Inspiring Women to Lead Education, as soon as it came out. Reading it really helped to develop our leadership style. Their ethos and the online community that they’ve built have formed the foundation of our approach. The #10%braver motto that we borrowed from their book was transformative and it has stayed with us since. There have been so many times that Caroline and I have repeated ‘let’s be 10% braver’ to each other. At times when we were nervous to take the next step it’s carried us through the process.”
WomenEd have a new book due to be published December 15th, 2020, Being 10% Braver.
Why is it important that we encourage more women to engage with science and education?
AS: “This is something that we’ve been so fortunate to learn from so many amazing mentors along the way. Diverse teams lead to the most innovation, write the best code, and show the best leadership skills at all levels. There is so much power in diversity at any table. Having the voices of women and the culture of collaboration that women create is such an important part in shaping education. This is something that came through really clearly at the WomenEd unconference this month. It’s especially important in science and technology because that’s where our future lies."
"Diverse teams lead to the most innovation. There is so much power in diversity at any table." - Andrea Silani
Do you have high hopes that the next generation will make progress towards diversity?
AS: ”One hundred percent! In the classroom, I was always so inspired by my students. I believe that the generations to follow will create those diverse teams that we need to see. I’ve seen children recognise the importance of social justice at such a young age, so with the generation of leaders coming up I think the future of our society looks bright."
Is it rewarding to see the impact that Lift Lessons has made?
AS: ”It’s been incredibly rewarding to see the impact that it’s had and to get some feedback from families that are using the resources to support students at such a challenging time. It’s allowing students to work independently so that parents can continue with essential work. Following the launch of our resources, it moved me so much to see the positive feedback. That’s what drives us. We will always put students, teachers and families at the heart of every decision we make.
We’re so grateful to our team. Lift Lessons is built on collaboration. Our resources were made possible by people like those in WomenEd, and we couldn’t have done it without them."