Relight Project

🎙️ As part of the ReLight project, we interview migrant women who turn challenges into opportunities.
Real stories that inspire—like Maye’s, a woman from Colombia who moved to Spain, and built a parapharmacy focused on skincare with her sister in Albacete, proving that entrepreneurship is also about resilience and transformation.🇨🇴💪🏽

Learn more at migrant-women-lead.eu

Three sessions, countless stories.
In this Women’s Circle at KlemkaCoLAB, immigrant women came together to share, connect, and heal.
From emotional well-being workshops to storytelling and mental health tools, each gathering was a step toward self-confidence, inner strength, and community resilience.
Together, we created a safe space for growth✨

👋🏽 Meet Dorita

Originally from Paraguay, Dorita is the proud owner of Kuki Coffee Shop in Albacete, Spain. Her story is one of perseverance, courage, and quiet determination.

As part of our project on self-leadership and self-employability among migrant women, we had the honor of interviewing her and learning about her journey. From putting up handwritten ads in hospital corridors offering care services, to finally opening her dream café—Dorita shows us what it means to believe in your dream and take the first step, even when everything seems uncertain.

Let her story inspire you to start where you are, with what you have. ✨

At RELIGHT, we believe self-leadership starts with support, courage, and community.
Watch this inspiring TEDx talk by Marie Price on how education and mentorship empower women to rise and lift others with them.
👉🏻Watch here: https://youtu.be/s2onyTROQWA

We prepared and tested the training that each partner would then carry out in their own country in Italy. On the occasion of World Volunteer Day, Relight training activities were hosted and interacted with those proposed by Cellnex for its employees in the spirit of synergy between projects.

That morning, Irene and I left early to reach the headquarters and prepare the material for the laboratory. There was an air of expectation that accompanied us as we carefully arranged everything. We were focused on welcoming those 40 people who, for the first time or almost, would find themselves faced with a new, creative experience, far from the routine of their daily work.

Among the participants were Cellnex employees and 20 people from the Erasmus Relight project, gathered for a day of volunteering. It was surprising to observe them and read in their eyes curiosity, confusion, but also a timid enthusiasm. They wondered: "What use will all this have?"

The Mandala: A Circle of Emotions

We explained that they would create a mandala (a word that means circle). In many cultures, the mandala is a meditative act, a representation of one's internal structure: vibrations, colors, cyclicity. With background music and an invitation to listen internally, everyone began to create, focusing on their own creative process.

At first it might have seemed like a simple game: hands experimenting with shapes, colors, textures. But soon, something changed. Some became emotional while creating, almost surprised by what emerged inside them. The questions came spontaneously, as if they were discovering a deeper meaning.

Once the mandalas were completed, we asked everyone to give a title to their work and, if they wanted, to share their feelings and emotions. They were amazed to realize how an apparently simple activity had aroused such intense reactions in them.

In the second phase, the mandalas were placed on the floor, divided into two groups. In a circle, we observed the whole and asked: "Do you want to change something? Add, move, connect?"

We proposed something unexpected and stimulating: contamination, "Take some material and use it to unite the mandalas."
The two groups created two collective mandalas, each with its own story. We asked them what it meant to them to overcome their own boundaries, to let others intervene in their creation. Some spoke of difficulties, of feeling "invaded", others saw the mandala as a metaphor for the moment they were experiencing.

Finally, the final challenge: "Find a way to unite the two mandalas into one."
Even for us organizers it was surprising to see how the group reacted. One person spontaneously offered to be a "bridge" between the two circles, a gesture that colleagues recognized as symbolic even in their daily work.

That workshop was more than an activity: it was a journey within oneself and towards others. An experience that showed how, sometimes, a carefully drawn circle, a shared gesture, is enough to discover unexpected connections.

And in the end, while we were looking at the one large mandala created by everyone, we understood that the true synergy was there: in the shared emotions, in the barriers overcome, in the beauty of a journey made together.

This activity proposed and conducted by the FacilitAscolto Association is perfectly in line with self-leadership skills, usable on any occasion and also at work to promote coexistence, cooperation and integration.

Each member of the partnership carried out local training in their own territory and community, the result of what was tested in the pilot training in Rome, Italy: internationality and intersectional discrimination, self-leadership and development of an entrepreneurial mindset.

After a training meeting, women's circles were held to share stories, experiences and workshops, creating a space for exchange and sisterhood between local and migrant women.

As part of the Relight project (Erasmus+), in collaboration with European partners, we dedicated the day to storytelling and sharing, exploring Joseph Campbell's "Hero's Journey" to strengthen self-esteem and leadership.

We experimented, borrowing the tale of Little Red Riding Hood as a metaphor, with the aim of recognizing ourselves in the various steps and ultimately bringing out qualities and peculiarities to be seen and recognized and finally flourish.

To give further strength to all that has emerged, each woman has created her own flower that reminds them who they are: each petal, a recognized talent.

All this is nothing other than self-leadership: knowing your own resources to be able to use when needed, also for young migrant women of the Relight project within the European Erasmus+ program:

emotional management and entrepreneurship, promoting inclusion and reducing marginalization with the aim of creating a safe network of mutual support, where personal stories become bridges for a more united community.

We hosted an empowering Women’s Circle as part of the Relight Project, which aims to empower young immigrant women through gender-sensitive entrepreneurial training and self-leadership skills. Ten incredible women came together to share experiences, support each other, and gain confidence in navigating the job market.🌟
During the session, we focused on practical skills such as understanding our strengths, refining CVs and job applications, exploring job opportunities in Greece, and practicing interview techniques. Each discussion was designed to help women feel more prepared and confident in their career journeys. 💼
The energy and support in the room were truly inspiring, reminding us of the power of community and collaboration. 🤝

🥳Feeling lonely and need a confidence boost? Don’t know where to start?

👱‍♀️Here is a success story from women entrepreneurs to get you inspired.

💪With strong will, patience, and never giving up, you can do it too!

A sweet success for women migrants The CEB, in collaboration with Spain’s MicroBank, empowers women migrants by providing microfinance, enabling them to establish successful microbusinesses and integrate into Spanish society.

👏🧕It’s important that in order to become an entrepreneur, you must first think like one!

🤔👩‍🦰Interested in finding out how to do that?

⬇️Make sure to check out Bill Roche’s TED Talk video below and learn how to think like an entrepreneur, ensuring that you thrive!

The Power of an Entrepreneurial Mindset | Bill Roche | TEDxLangleyED When we help youth to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, we empower them to be successful in our rapidly changing world. Whether they own a business or work...