Here’s the co-story of Tina and Patrycja—two women passionate about self-development, life-long learning, and DEI enablement. Tina Vaphiadis from OLUVME invited Patrycja Pielaszek from WeCoCo to an Instagram Live interview. Find out what their #RealTalk was all about.
Following WeCoCo’s Instagram account for a while, Tina was intrigued by the community’s mission of connection and collaboration. This is why she reached out to us to invite our founder Patrycja to an interview about diversity, equality, and inclusion, but also about growth.
The inspiration behind WeCoCo
In 2018, Patrycja started sharing content on Instagram which was disruptive, encouraging, and inspiring with the tag name @women_connect_collaborate—this is how it all started. Even in her wildest dreams, she could not imagine how many like-minded people felt understood and included in those short stories of female change-makers.
Her very first IG post was on January 28th, 2018
Because together we can! 💪🏻💪🏼💪🏽💪🏾💪🏿 Let’s connect, let’s network,
and let’s empower and inspire each other!
The followership on Instagram grew organically and fast. Today, almost four years and around 800 posts later, there are nearly 13K followers from all over the world. The content is carefully curated and clearly reflects the diversity, from different angles—color, age, culture, gender, and more. Soon, the community was asking for more channels and in-person meet-ups. This is how the platform WeCoCo.io was born.
Obviously, there were a few backlashes and strong comments from discriminators as well. After discussing them in the closer community circle, they agreed to not delete these kind of comments in order to truly embrace diversity. The most important thing that really counts is how you react to aggression and how you ignore negative vibes and re-focus on something positive.
Still fitting in or already belonging?
The paragraph above shows how powerful a community is that always has your back—no matter what life throws at you.
“Fitting is changing yourself in order to be part of a group whereas belonging is that moment when you know you are where you meant to be, you are accepted for who you are.”
—Brené Brown
That is exactly what WeCoCo strives for. It cannot be controlled if someone finds this sense of belonging. It can only be enabled. That’s what WeCoCo is for: to enable a feeling of belonging. When you have this feeling of belonging, that’s when you can achieve those small miracles that happen every day, that grow into this powerful experience of deep connection.
Why communities are important
It is an imperative for everyone that their voice is heard. Communities are the place where everyone can lean on someone and be able to speak and know that someone is listening. This is why communities are so important. Strong communities are critical because they're often an important source of social connection. Participating in a community bonded by attitudes, values, and goals is an essential ingredient to enjoying a fulfilling life.
Tune in and watch the full #RealTalk of Tina and Patrycja here:
Or watch it on Instagram and leave a comment with your thoughts 🙏
Together, powered by collaboration, we achieve more!
About the #RealTalk partners
Tina Vaphiadis, @oluvme, based in Athens/Greece, is a LifeSkills-, Mindset-, Academic-Coach empowering adults, teens, and children.
Patrycja Pielaszek, @patrycjapie, based in Zürich/Switzerland, is the founder of WeCoCo.
WeCoCo—A community to speak out loud
WeCoCo is an open space for everyone to speak their ideas and thoughts out loud and to inspire others to start co-creating. One tool to do so is giving a voice to more inspiring Co-Stories. Connecting people and collaborating to make an impact is what drives community members at WeCoCo.
Wondering what kind of collaboration story to share?—Well, we want it all!
All the good and the not-so-good, all the positive surprises, the hard work, the road bumps. Tell the community the whole story from start to end how you connected and what your collaboration is all about! Sharing is caring!
Don’t be shy and share your co-story via this form 🔗
Or would you also like to get involved in the WeCoCo Community?—Check out the opportunities on our website and don’t forget to sign up to our news.