We want you to be the first to join She Skills in 2016.  We are offering early bird prices to raise the funds needed to secure a dedicated creative space for 6 months to run technical workshops and purchase tools and materials.   

In 2015, She Skills ran a successful pilot program of timber construction and power tool skills workshops in Brisbane.  The feedback was overwhelmingly positive and now we want to reach more women.  We’ve had a great amount of interest from women all over Australia who tell us that they are ready to step outside their comfort zone and pick up the tools.  

We are building a community of confident and capable women.

We’ve got big plans to expand our offering of workshops and locations to include basic plumbing, painting, landscaping, home renovation, project management, pallet furniture making, welding, car maintenance, robotics, 3D printing and more.  If you want to learn it, we’ll find someone to teach it!!

Pledge today to secure your place in a She Skills workshop in 2016.

Check out our awesome range of rewards including:

• $10 and under – Virtual high fives, hugs and entry into the She Skills Prize pack
• $40-50 – World exclusive She Skills T-shirts
• $99 – EARLY BIRD PRICE.  Secure  a place in a 2016 She Skills Workshop in Brisbane.
• $190 – One workshop for you and one for a friend.  Save even more.
• $1000 – Book a private workshop or sponsor a group of women from the community to attend

Introducing She Skills

She Skills is dedicated to empoweringwomen by providing opportunities to gain the skills and confidence to imagine, design and create anything.

Our mission is to increase the life skills of women, enabling them to be independent and self-sufficient.  We want women to give building and fixing a go, rather than standing back and waiting for someone else to do it for them; whether you are fixing a gate, putting up shelves for your child’s treasured trinkets, or building a table to share meals with your family.  

Even the most successful women, established in professional careers confess that they feel dis-empowered when they are forced to call in their dad, brother or neighbour to fix simple things around their homes. There are others who find themselves as single mothers or widows (like my own mum) who are overwhelmed by a host of new jobs they are suddenly responsible for.  We can and will change that.  

We have secured a fantastic facility in Salisbury (just 12km from Brisbane CBD) in partnership with Construction Skills Training Centre and we can’t wait to get started in early 2016.  Our instructors are skilled and qualified and we are excited to have a fantastic line up of talented craftswomen and professionals to join us as guest instructors.  

We have a very strong focus on safety and conduct risk assessments before every class and teach you how to apply these concepts to keep yourself and your family safe when you are tackling projects at home. We’ve got tips and tricks to save you time and money.  Best of all, you get to demonstrate your new found skills to your daughters, nieces and friends to give them the confidence to give it a go too.

Our Story

I’m Meg Solly, founder of She Skills.  I grew up on a farm in country Queensland where riding horses, fixing fences, mustering cattle, baling hay, picking pumpkins and driving tractors is just part of everyday life. While I loved the farm, I was always destined for a more creative life.  I taught ballet and ballroom dance from a young age, and when I was 21 I was fortunate enough to secure a lead singer and dancer role in a theme park show overseas, where I met my husband and partner of 16 years.  Clint was a national gymnast who just happened to get a trade as a cabinet maker.  You know, just in case the professional acrobat thing didn’t work out.  In the years after this, Clint carved out a career in his trade (pardon the pun) building everything from solid timber furniture, to high-spec kitchens, to sets for major theatrical productions around the country.  

After a stint entertaining kids in the USA with a little company called Disney, we returned to Australia and headed west, to the gold country of Kalgoorlie.  I got myself a job in the mines recruiting tradies and engineers.  I helped build a start-up electrical contractor into a multi-million dollar business which was subsequently sold to one of the biggest construction firms in Australia. I worked fly-in-fly-out on some of the biggest projects in Australia and counted some of the biggest companies of mining and oil and gas as my employers and clients.  

I had an experience recently that left me feeling like it wasn’t “my place” to be working in what was essentially a man’s world.  In addition to that, when I went looking for a truly inclusive organization in Brisbane to teach me technical skills, and I found that such a place didn’t exist. So I decided that I would build my own place and I’m inviting you all to join me.  

Being A Maker

There is something deeply satisfying about creating something with your own two hands.  Making stuff out of raw materials is a really pleasurable activity.  The moment when someone says “That’s a lovely table/chair/thing” and you say “Thank you, I made it myself” is incredibly rewarding.  We want women to re-discover the art of making and share the experience.  Power tools can seem dangerous and intimidating, but all you need is someone to teach you how to use them properly and the sky’s the limit to what you can create!!

We Need Your Help!!

We’ve got the skilled instructors.  We’ve got lots of tools.  We’ve locked in an awesome venue.  We’ve certainly got the passion and the experience to make it work, but we need a little help in securing the capital to get us started.  Starting a business like this is not cheap and it’s not without risk.  

We are aiming to raise $5000 through pre-sales to secure our creative space for 6 months to run weekly classes for 12 people.  

How About the Rewards?

Check out our range of rewards to see how you can be involved in the She Skills revolution.  

Everyone who contributes will have their name on the She Skills Thank You Wall on our website and receive a shout out on our social media accounts because we are truly grateful for your support.  

For all contributions of $10 and under, you will go in the draw to win an awesome She Skills prize pack valued at over $500 consisting of hand and power tools, women’s work wear and some amazing artisan products hand crafted by our community of talented craftswomen.

Workshops

First and foremost, we are pre-selling our classes at the early bird price of $99 to kick start our business and we want you to get in first (prices will increase after our initial campaign).  Workshops will be run at Salisbury in a professional training facility and are 3 hours in duration.  You will take build and take home your own timber project to show off to your friends and family. Most of all you take home some new skills and confidence to carry on with your own projects.  Want to buy something for the woman who has everything this Christmas?  We think that a voucher to one of our classes would make the perfect gift.

Not local to Brisbane?

We’ve got big plans to build a nationwide community of sisters who can imagine, create and design anything. Don’t live in Brisbane, but want to support us?  We’ve got you covered too.  We’ve got She Skills merchandise or perhaps you’d like to sponsor a woman to attend one of our workshops. 

We believe that She Skills will do more than just teach skills.  She Skills is about building confidence and daring women to believe that they can create great things, on whatever scale they choose.  

How Else Can Supporters Help?

We’d love you to help share the She Skills message via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.  Best of all TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS!!  We think that She Skills workshops are best shared with your friends, but we guarantee you’ll make new ones too.

We are also looking to partner with businesses that share our passion and are particularly interested in speaking with tool, workwear, PPE and hardware suppliers that are keen to increase their reach to a female audience. Feel free to get in touch!!

There Will Be Challenges

Starting a business is easy. Building a successful and sustainable business is not easy. That’s why we have sought out some industry experts to guide us on the journey. We have been fortunate enough to work for some pretty savvy business people and since we’re not in the habit of burning bridges, we have been able to turn to them for support in developing a sustainable business plan. We have partnered with an established training organisation and a risk management specialist to ensure that we are on the right track to deliver top quality service in the safest possible manner.

Our number one priority is the safety of our students and employees. We take this responsibility very seriously, and you will find our safety philosophy is embedded in our processes from the minute you walk through the door.

Next challenge: Finding qualified female tradespeople to teach classes. Unfortunately female tradies are few and far between, but we are seeking them out!! We will do our absolute best to run every class with at least one female instructor and at least one qualified trades person (male or female). Do you know someone? Send them our way.

Creativity challenge: Coming up with new and innovative projects week after week. Actually this one isn’t too much of a challenge. After all, “you can’t use up creativity. The more you use it, the more you have.” (Maya Angelou). We expect to have “She Skillers” sending us project ideas on a daily basis, as well as our own. Failing that, Instagram and Pinterest are our best friend!!

Thanks for dropping by and reading our story.

We are really excited to bring She Skills to the women of Australia and hope to see you in a workshop in 2016.  

Meg and Clint