There’s no clear-cut method for turning an idea into an event. Manifesting your vision looks different for everyone. And Rachel DesRochers will be the first to tell you that.
“If you need that rulebook, I'm not your girl,” she says. “If you need permission to step into your life, I'm your woman.”
Rachel has been gathering women for 20 years. She’s hosted an event series she called Grateful Gatherings, women’s circles, and a spiritual book club that once welcomed Marianne Williamson as a guest speaker. But being the ambitious dreamer and serial entrepreneur that she is, Rachel’s vision kept growing.
“I was craving more,” she says. “More women, more connection, more growth, more leadership, more understanding.”
Life—and the pandemic—put this vision on hold. But the idea kept simmering, and Rachel saw a real need and desire for something bigger designed for all women. Finally, in the fall of 2021, she launched Power to Pursue, a women’s empowerment movement that hosts an annual summit and smaller events throughout the year.
The first annual conference took place in the spring of 2022. Over 400 women attended.
“It reflected back into me that one, they were ready for a space,” Rachel says. “And two, that space was so different than what we have access to.”
Rachel—no one, really—can tell you exactly how to turn your idea for an event into a reality. But she does have the experience, passion, and a willingness to reflect on what got her from point A to point B. Here are some takeaways from Rachel’s Power to Pursue journey that may guide you as you work to build an impactful event.
Create something meaningful
“What makes an event great is when it means something to you,” Rachel says.
Rachel says she craved something like Power to Pursue before she could even fully envision it. The idea was simple and the mission became clear: “To create a safe space for women to be seen, heard, and loved in.”
There was nothing like it available to her, and she felt that absence, which gave her the inkling that others might be looking for it too. One summit and 400 attendees later, she saw that she was right.
Don’t fill the message with fluff
The quality of an event is dependent on the content and conversation within, so don’t water it down. Pick your main message and keep the focus clear.
In order to deliver something of substance to attendees, Rachel asks speakers to skip the sugar coating and speak directly to the point. At Power to Pursue, empowerment is about learning resilience more than it is about hyping each other up randomly.
“I don't need you to get on stage and tell us how great [life] is,” Rachel tells her speakers. “I need you to tell about the time you fell down and how the fuck you pulled yourself back up.”
Identify the common ground
Empathy is often biased which makes it difficult to connect with people who we perceive as different from us, whether by class, gender, background, profession, or otherwise. Identifying a broad common ground amongst your attendees and modeling inclusive culture helps promote mingling, curiosity, and deeper connections.
“When I look at the landscape of things that are for women, it's ‘women in tech,’ ‘women of the chamber,’ ‘women and food,’ ‘women in marketing,’ ‘stay at home mothers,’” Rachel explains.
“It's all very exclusive. There's never been anything that just says, ‘This is for you.’”
Rachel says that the 2023 Power to Pursue summit had an audience that was between 35-40% minority, with ages ranging from 15 to 82.
“You might actually feel safe with your permission to show up as fully as yourself, because we can meet you there,” Rachel says. “You don't have to pretend to be someone else.”
Build relationships
You can’t throw an event alone. The support that you need, from sponsors to co-organizers, has to be rooted in real connection in order to withstand.
“I do not want it to be transactional,” Rachel says. “I want it to be rooted in community and I want them to believe in me.”
Sometimes building relationships with an end-goal in mind can feel icky, like old-fashioned networking. But meeting people and sharing your vision doesn't have to be a shallow connection.
Get started
Don’t let the size of your vision overwhelm you and keep you from pushing forward. Ask yourself, what can I do today? Figure out your current capacity, make a list of everything you could do to get started, and pick a single item. It’s all about noticing and honoring your current state and working from there.
“My goal is to meet people where they're at, not where I want them to be,” Rachel says. “I also have to do that for myself, right?”
Nurture a gratitude practice
There’s research that shows how practicing gratitude can boost mental health, reduce stress, and improve your outlook on life. Planning an event—or taking on any big project, for that matter—can be hard work and a source of stress. Maintaining a gratitude practice throughout the work is essential, according to Rachel.
“It's all gratitude practice,” she says. “If anybody wants to start to do anything, that's the thing they need to start. Because that, to me, is like the path of freedom. It's the path of abundance. It's the path of actually realizing how incredible it is to be here right now.”
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