At AllBright, we believe in the power of partnership. With the launch of our Sisterhood Matching programme making it even simpler to connect with smart-minded women, hear two member’s story of how friendship and future collaboration sparked within our community.

When Jane Visram, a full-time lawyer and founder of a luxury ice cream brand, met Madeleine Martin, founder of multiple art advisories and a mother of three, through an introduction from AllBright, neither of them knew that a simple connection would lead to such great collaboration - both professionally and personally. Fast forward to now, and after supporting each other through 2020, the pair are teaming up on a creative project for the new year, despite not yet having the chance to meet! We spoke to them both to hear their story so far…

Why AllBright?

Jane: Hi, I’m Jane, I’m founder of Mama Dolce; a luxury free-from ice cream brand. Separately from that, I’m a full-time lawyer working in asset management.

Madeleine: And I’m Madeleine. Just before I met Jane, I started up an art advisory in Norway called Ytre-Eide & Martin, to work alongside my UK based advisory. I’m also a mum of three children.

Jane: I met Madeleine when I became a member at the beginning of the first UK lockdown. We were matched by the AllBright team, exchanged emails and then quite quickly met over Zoom!

Madeleine: Similarly for me, I was always in meetings in London and wanted a shared space that I could go to work - so joining AllBright as a club member made sense. And then lockdown happened! So, since then, I have been experiencing life as a digital member. Usually in my line of work, I’m attending art fairs and travelling a lot. But now I’m mostly working alone at home, which can be very isolating, so I’ve really benefited from having the ability to meet women like Jane through the digital network.

The Perfect Match

Jane: When we were first matched by the AllBright team, we both thought “We’re in really different industries! How can this work?” The fact that we were both starting new businesses was common ground, so we started having regular calls to keep each other accountable. Once we spoke more about our businesses and lives outside of them, we found areas of synergy in which we connected further. We are now working on a big project that we’re hoping will come into fruition in the new year.

Madeleine: Agreed! Initially, we were both thinking “how can we blend ice cream with art!?” But once we spoke more, we found that we were really aligned.

Jane: The odds of us finding each other outside of this network would have been almost impossible. I don’t think our paths would have ever crossed and now we’ve got a really amazing project in the pipeline that we would never have been able to work on had we not met through this network. It’s been an amazing experience.

Wellbeing

Madeleine: For me personally, meeting Jane has been extremely important. I had COVID-19 very early on in the pandemic, with continued long-COVID symptoms, so I struggled to be my usual hard working and proactive self. Add into the mix having three children at home, with the additional pressure of home-schooling, and it was a complete lifesaver to meet Jane. She is without a doubt the most important person I’ve had by my side through the lockdown period, on a personal and business level.

Jane: As Madeleine said, connecting has been essential on a personal level, too. When there’s lots going on, sometimes you end up burning the candle at both ends. So, it’s been important for me to have Madeleine, as she’s one of the only people that says, “Jane, you need to have a lie down, you look tired!”

Sisterhood

Madeleine: At the beginning of lockdown, I had more time to be part of the wider community and attended lots of AllBright digital events. But alongside juggling everything else in life and trying to limit my screen time, I found that my individual catch ups with Jane provided my desired style of communication. I’m SO looking forward to getting into the club and doing more within the sisterhood, especially getting involved in live events.  

Jane: For me, the Zoom fatigue set in quickly! But you have a degree of flexibility when you’re dealing with just one person, which is then quite fulfilling because you come away from that call, whether it’s 15 minutes or an hour, knowing that you’ve had a really great conversation with one individual.

Madeleine: In times like these, you need more personal connection. I don’t think any other club out there is offering this personalised service centered around women, which is really special. It’s one of the reasons I signed up to AllBright in the first place

Jane: What AllBright has bought to the table is like nothing I’ve received elsewhere in terms of networking around sisterhood. Being able to collaborate with other like-minded women that are just excelling in life generally has been very motivating.

Networking

Jane: Networking with women has always been something that’s very important to me, especially since my day job is within an extremely male-dominated environment. Having AllBright and this platform where we can communicate and be ourselves, connect and talk about shared experiences, is a massive benefit on both a personal and professional level.

Madeleine: As well as AllBright, I’m a founding member of a networking club for women in art, which started a few years ago. Throughout my career, we never really had access to networks that were set up specifically for women, and I would have benefited from having that safety net of other females in my industry.  It’s especially important for young women starting up.

Jane: If you have women in the same industry that have more experience than you, you’re able to learn from them and see yourself within them, so you gain confidence in what you’re doing and feel credible. To have a sisterhood network where you can see the highs and the lows, and know that everyone’s human, is so important.

Future Friendship

Jane: We speak to each other regularly, so we’ll make sure that we keep doing that. Like I mentioned, we have an exciting collaborative project coming up, and we hope to continue to find natural areas of synergy. You never know what the future holds, so it’s great for us to work together. And hopefully we can meet in person soon – we’ve struck up a great friendship online, so I think that will be even more beneficial once we can get together in real life!

Madeleine: Agreed - our friendship hits the spot on both the business and personal side of things.

If Jane and Madeleine's story has left you looking for your perfect match in friendship and business, you're going to love AllBright's new Sisterhood Matching programme. Designed to give you tailored suggestions to help you build a network of meaningful connections, there's no better time to start than today! Your new business partner, mentor or industry ally could be waiting...