Sue Hedges and Angie Savchenko talk to us about their highly successful online Social Community for Women. Angie Savchenko and I were sitting in the pub having a good chat and a glass of wine when I told her about my idea for a website. "Loads of women have lonely lives, and can't get out for one reason or another - we should set up a website where they can meet".
This chance conversation, coupled with the name - www.moanaboutmen.com - purchased from simple beginnings after a friends husband forgot a wedding anniversary and my husband forgot to unload the dishwasher - such little things- led to the start of much bigger things for Angie and I. We are both working Mums - I work in a secondary school, Angie is a foster carer and also does some casual work in schools.
When the website went live - our lives went crazy! Suddenly we were doing radio interviews on the school playground and talking to reporters at the supermarket checkout!. It has been a brilliant experience for us. After having children, as when going through a divorce or separation, you can lose a lot of confidence but moanaboutmen has brought a lot of our confidence back. We are now asked to comment on radio programmes on different issues to do with women and have had a whole host of unique experiences including two slots on the Trisha Goddard Show and sitting on the sofa at GMTV with the lovely Ben Shephard! We have been in womens weeklies and monthly glossies and we have even had a book published!
The book based on the concept of our website. Moan About Men by Juliana Foster was published by Headline and is available on Amazon in hardback and paperback. It is a lovely, funny book. We are delighted with the way Juliana portrayed the information from the site and we hope it does well. Some people do frown at the name, but we like to think that most people will take a look at our aims and objectives before judging us. Our aim has always been to create a safe place for women to meet and chat online feeling comfortable and without any pressure and we are well on the way to achieving that goal. In August some women who first met on our chatrooms turned their virtual friendships into real ones when they spent a weekend away together.
They are from all walks of lives, different parts of the country- it was lovely to think that our website had brought them together. With a growing community of women, we hope this will happen more and more. Our tagline is - talking sense, not celebrity - real issues, real lives, real people. For women at home with children, for women in unhappy marriages, for women who feel like a chat after a long day at work -we provide a fun and friendly environment to have your say, get some support from other women or just to have a girlie chat! We think it is an inspiring story for men and women in all sorts of ways: 1)If you have an idea - you should go for it - you don't know where it may lead you - at least you will have tried - you could get some amazing experiences out of it. 2)You grow in confidence when following a dream - it takes your mind off the humdrum of every life and gives you a new focus.. 3) It is Fun!
