Meet GES Delegate: Zara Apetrei Huseynova

Organization Website: wowoman.org/en

Instagram: @zara.a.h

Country of Origin: Azerbaijan

Organization Name: WoWoman

Brief Description of Organization:

WoWoman is a women empowerment platform, which creates the space and tools for woman to be able to follow the coolest, craziest and the most “impossible” dreams they have, live up to their full potential and Enjoy the process itself, by having special events / programs / projects / online platform to Dream, Dare, Inspire, Grow, Connect.

What inspired you to start this organization?

At 18 I became Local Committee President in AIESEC (the biggest student-run organization in the world) and because I had been performing in dresses from childhood (10 years of professional ballroom dancing, 5 times National champion and representing on world & european championships) I started ALZA, a wedding & evening dresses boutique with 200$ budget on Facebook. Now, with only re-investing profits, ALZA has 2 showrooms, each with 2 floors in the center of the city.

When starting up people said that “it’s impossible”, because I didn’t have experience, money, support, or someone backing me — and because I am a girl.

This is when I decided to create the space and tools for women to achieve the coolest, craziest and the most “impossible” dreams they have. This is exactly what WoWoman is about.

What is the next big step you hope to help your organization reach?

In the last one year, the more I travelled and shared my story, the more I heard from women I met that they want WoWoman in their cities too, that they want to get My WoWoman planner and so on. So next step will be to scale internationally with a global network of ambassadors, which will be creating space and tools in their countries to empower women, with our Signature programs, Community / Network support and Unique products.

What has been your biggest obstacle as an entrepreneur?

Thinking that I am not ENOUGH, which was coming from society pressure to follow the “norms” and be a “good girl”.

What advice would you give other emerging entrepreneurs?

Stop just thinking and talking, start acting. Dream, Dare, Inspire, Grow and Connect. Nothing is impossible — even the word says I’mPossible!