ISABELLA IS SUPPORTING REFUGE
I believe that women are often born vulnerable, fearful and they grow up with insecurities, so we are always looking over our shoulders. Motherhood can be beautiful, but it can also be very unkind.
Yet despite these shortcomings, it is where we - as women - can find our strength and discover our values and self-worth.
I am Joan Power, the founder of Isabella Power, and our skincare products have been created to help maintain the health of your skin and shine the light on your value and self-worth. Our support for the Refuge charity is our commitment to our brand, aiming to help women to be the best of themselves and - on a personal level - I am the woman that I am today because I grew up without my mother from an early age.
In Jamaica, at the age of 2, my abusive father and my mother separated; this was after she had already had 3 children from a previous relationship, and she had to leave my 6-month-old baby brother with my father. Back home with her mother - my grandmother Isabella - life was hard for her. She was heartbroken and saw no value in her life. Her children were crying from hunger and she was living under the shadow of two broken relationships and 6 children; in those days, being a single mother was considered shameful. She was determined to look after her children, and I was left with my grandmother when I was 2. When I was 6, my mother came back for me; I was told that she had visited before this time, but I cannot remember. We lived happily, just the two of us, until one day 3 years later, she left me and went to the UK. It would have been a great move for her had history not been repeated.
From my first memorable encounter with my mother I knew something was wrong but only recently I finally figured out what it was. She didn’t value who she was as a woman, even though she knew she was beautiful.
Luckily for me my grandmother Isabella stepped up to the challenge of looking after me when my mother couldn’t. She knew her values and her worth and she lived up to them. My grandmother Isabella will always live in my heart and I know that I could never repay her, even if I lived a thousand lives. I am proud to be her granddaughter.
I could not allow my beautiful mother's life to be defined by three broken relationships and 8 children because she did not know her value or her worth. So, I have learnt from her mismanagement of herself and become the woman she was fearful of being.
Even today, many women are often still being told that falling in love and getting married is the primary purpose in their lives. This can undermine a woman’s values and self-worth.
What I have come to realise is that FEAR is the most powerful emotion that can - and often - cripples a woman emotionally: the fear of a woman bringing up children on her own; the lack of strength physically; and how society sees a woman who might find herself looking after her children on her own. The impact on her and her children - should they find themselves in a vulnerable position - can be unbearable.
Refuge supports women and children escape violence and abuse, giving them a chance and hope for a better, safer future. This is why we are donating £1 from every sale to the charity.
A woman’s beauty is in her values and self-worth.
The little time I spent with my mother was heart-breaking, I could see her beauty, but she had no idea of her values and worth. I carry the scars and the pain, but now I must use them in a positive way to bring awareness, hence the birth of Isabella Power.
Love yourself first, know your values and believe in your worth. I believe that only then can you truly be of service in the most awesome and fulfilling way.
My gratitude goes to charities such as Refugeand if Isabella Power can help one child not to be separated from their mother because she did not know her value or worth, then all my being is worthy.
Thank you for your support.