We've had a bit of a breakdown

Hello,

We’ve been quieter than usual for the past few weeks. Here’s why: a couple of months ago, I had a breakdown in Waterstones. If you’re not familiar, it is a UK-based bookstore chain, the kind of place that normally excites me and brings me peace. For some reason that day it was overwhelming.

I got home, and for the first time in the five years since I started, I did a pros and cons list of keeping WIFP going. Except that like all pros and cons list, it was widely unbalanced. On the pros side, you have the women we’ve helped get their next job in foreign policy, and the opportunities it’s brought our team and me (including meeting the Queen!). On the cons, you have the fact that I am exhausted and it is costing me money.

This breakdown was brought on by a few things. I went freelance in January and building my representative branding and digital marketing business has been full-on. In addition, I have been working on the European Parliament elections and if you’ve been involved in a political campaign - you’ll know it’s relentless. Because of this, I wasn’t able to overview putting out the great content our dedicated team of volunteers put together, AND also work on the funding, which is the main way to take WIFP forward.

So I was at a crossroad. I could keep WIFP going as we were, which is working-ish but not growing, or I could close it down, which has always been my last resort. Instead, I came up with a third option: hibernation, at least an outward facing one. Over the next three months, we won’t put out new content or events as we regroup and plan for September 2019.

It wasn’t an easy decision to reach, but I concluded that it was the best way to keep serving our community and for me not to completely burn out.

We are grateful for your ongoing readership and support and the existing content isn’t going anywhere. You can take advantage of the next term to read from our 200+ interviews, listen to our podcasts and follow us on social, where we will be publishing relevant industry info as and when.

As always, I welcome your thoughts and feedback. See you again in your inbox or IRL in September!

Lucie
Women in Foreign Policy founder and CEO