I just spent a lovely afternoon chatting with another amazing woman – Francesca Pace, an awesome entrepreneur and talented designer and business woman. Her children’s clothing brand Gaia and Nina named after her two daughters is making a name all over the world. “I’m really excited Harrods contacted me too the other day” she tells me enthusiastically.
I asked her how this idea came about and she explains that it was due to a health scare she had a few years ago; “I felt the need to start doing something with my children, so I first started by creating an Instagram account and posting photos of me and my daughters’ daily lives”. Her Instagram page named after her daughters Gaia and Nina became an instant hit.
“Thankfully after a couple of years battling with my condition, I recovered and was ready to move on and needed to create something else. I wanted to leave my daughter’s a legacy, something they would remember me by and look back and say what fun we had with mummy” Francesca tells me. Gaia 6 and Nina 5 are her inspiration, her models and her muses.
I’m impressed when she tells me she does everything herself for her brand Gaia and Nina: the photos, the designs, the sourcing of fabrics, the marketing, everything.
She’s one inspirational busy woman and yet she still had time to come discuss with me about how she thinks we need to create more awareness and educational campaigns to promote gender equality, and the importance of women’s financial independence.
We joke together and discuss how we love our kids passionately, but we also need that time and space to nourish our own needs and use our energy to create something totally ours.
We talk about how we would go crazy if we didn’t have our other “babies” our jobs and our businesses. We compare and discuss husbands, how they are always there for us and the kids and how important it is to have a good relationship. How as women we need to stand our ground and make sure that our partners realise that we are just that; their partners, not their housekeepers, nannies, cleaners and cooks.
We discuss how our partners need to know that unless we have their help with bringing up the kids and running the household just like they have always had its almost impossible for women to create anything or to run a business.
We talk about women’s empowerment and how important it is for women to support and collaborate with other women and to work together and promote each other – just as men have always done.
We could chat for hours, but we are both busy and need to move on to our next appointments. I wish I had a little girl to buy lovely Gaia and Nina dresses for, but my baby is male and 22, alas they grow so fast!
If you have a lovely little girl who loves beautiful dresses made from the finest fabrics or she needs a dress for a special occasion visit Francesca’s website https://gaiaandnina.com/collections/gift-vouchers and follow Gaia and Nina on https://www.instagram.com/gaiaandnina/
Francesca Fenech Conti is passionate about social issues and has a BA in Social Policy. She is the Founder and creator of the women only facebook group Women for Women (Malta) and the Women for Women Foundation that works hand in hand with other NGOs and businesses to empower and support women, especially single mothers.
Francesca recently also launched Wham.com.mt to provide a much needed space on the local media scene to promote women’s voices and to provide women with a source of information regarding their general wellbeing.
Click here to check out Francesca’s full bio as well as a list of all her Wham published articles
