10 Years of GLOW NI

GLOW (Giving Life Opportunities to Women) is a fantastic local charity that operates in communities in North and West Belfast.

They were first established in 2011 by Chara Clarke and focus of the empowerment of women and girls, by running programmes that increase confidence and self-esteem. 

They also make the merchandise for The Homeless Period Belfast (and kindly gifted me a T-Shirt for my Beauty with a Purpose Campaign last summer) so I was delighted to attend their 10th Anniversary Celebration this weekend with The HPB team!

The celebration was held at the gorgeous Hilton Hotel and was hosted by the fabulous nurse and Cool FM presenter (and former Miss Northern Ireland), Katharine Walker.

I didn’t finish up at work until 18:00 and the drinks reception started at 19:00, so I got changed in the office loos and touched up my makeup in the car park before I headed down.

It was a beautifully well put-together event, with a fabulous prize raffle drawn by Katharine and Miss Universe Ireland, Nadia Sayers.

I also ran into a couple of the other Miss NI Finalists from this year, Abbie Parkinson and Sarah Maguire, which was a really nice surprise and it was great to catch up on what all they'd been up to since I'd last seen them!

There were speeches the GLOW team, and also video clips played showcasing the work they do, and it was inspiring to hear directly from the women and girls who’ve gone from strength to strength after their involvement with the charity.

There was a delicious buffet dinner and DJ Ryan Annett & Saxophonist Holly Sax were the perfect entertainment for the evening.

Having driven myself from work, I was a good (boring) girl and called it a night early, thank you so much to Glow NI and Team Homeless Period Belfast for having me down, and here’s to 10 more years of GLOW!