From left to right: **Cleo Simon-Hart, Steve Flory, Sarah Cave, Andrew Laws, Sam Parnell, Ashea Aphane, Sarah Teick, Hannah Page, Christina Reeves, Alison Beech**, and finally our fantastic keynote speaker, **Jenna Ackerley**. IMAGE CREDIT Warren Page of Pagepix Ltd

There are moments when you bring people together and you’re not entirely sure what will happen and then there are moments where everything just lands. Our recent EMPOWERUS event was very much the latter.

It was genuinely brilliant to hear Jenna Ackerley’s story. If you haven’t already, do take a look at her business, Events Under Canvas. What Jenna has built is impressive, but more than that, it was the way she spoke about her journey honestly, openly, and with real clarity, that made such an impact.

Watching the room while she was speaking was quite moving. You could see people connecting the dots in real time. That shift from “that’s interesting” to “I can see how that could be me”.

There’s no doubt that hearing from someone who has done it properly done it helps people visualise what’s possible for themselves. And that matters.

Check out the photos from the day below, because the energy in the room is worth capturing.

What This Means for EMPOWERUS

This event felt like the beginning of something.

EMPOWERUS has always been about creating spaces where people can come together, share knowledge, and learn from each other in a way that feels practical and real. Not overcomplicated, not overproduced just people, experience, and useful insight in the same room.

At its core, this is what we’re building Small, meaningful moments where people share what they know, what they’ve learned, and what’s worked for them.

Those moments might feel fleeting — a conversation, a talk, a question asked at the right time but they’re not insignificant. They’re often the things that spark action, change direction, or build confidence.

And that’s what we’re leaning into.

What Happens Next

We’re now starting to shape what this looks like going forward.

That includes:

Bringing in more expert talks and Pro Talks
Building out short, practical “nuggets” of knowledge
Creating a space where people can access expertise as and when they need it
Continuing to bring people together around topics that genuinely matter

If you haven’t already, take some time to explore the website further. We’re building this in real time, and there’s more coming.

If you’re interested in:

Attending future events
Contributing your own expertise
Or supporting what we’re doing

there are clear ways to get involved.

Thank You!

A huge thank you to everyone who came along, contributed, supported, and helped shape the day.

These things don’t happen without people showing up — and the quality of the room made all the difference.

This is just the beginning.

A special thank you to Ipswich Thrive for supporting the event. Thrive is a brilliant local initiative focused on bringing energy, opportunity and connection into Ipswich — supporting people, businesses and ideas that contribute to a stronger local community. It was an honour for Empower Us to be part of it this year, and we very much hope this is the start of an ongoing relationship and that we’ll be back again next year.