We were lucky to catch up with Alison Weihe recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alison, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
For sixty long years I battled the barking dog inside my head. The cacophony of “not good enoughness” – always worrying what others thought of me.
Even though I was an the award-winning entrepreneur on the surface, inside I battled severe confidence, emotional eating, extreme yo- yo dieting and constant anxiety.
From political activist in the anti -apartheid struggle to founder and entrepreneur, I had lived a rollercoaster life. But I kept my journey hidden. I never realized my story mattered.
Six years ago I attended a global summit. Global storytellers on the Mindvalley stage made me realize the power of words to change lives from a stage.
It entirely changed the trajectory of my life. Now, as a vulnerable storyteller, I finally feel whole. Congruent.
I have banished the barking dog. At 65 I look and feel younger than I did at 52. And I have not weighed myself for seven years!
It is my mission to give you permission to step into the power of who you were truly meant to be. Because I don’t want you to wait sixty years to start loving yourself. I am living proof it is never too late to create a new identity. I have changed not just the shape of my body but the shape of my soul.
From worrier to warrior.
Don’t wait sixty years!
That is my message and my mission.
Alison, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Our manufacturing company, The Creative Stone Company, has evolved over the past 25 years. We have won many awards and have been featured on television, radio and in entrepreneurial magazines. This is a testament to many things. All the teams that got us there, the visionary leadership team who have been taking the company forward. But above all it is a testament to our passion for design excellence and service.
When I transitioned into the speaking and writing space, I took these lessons with me. To live a life of service, to be branded by excellence, to employ financial discipline and strategic structure in everything I embark on.
Above all to collaborate with great mentors who have guided my journey in this new era.
As The Mindset Development Institute, we focus on building frameworks of thinking for individuals and organisations, to help them reach their goals. Mindset development is both a scientific and artistic process that we use to build frameworks of thinking. These transformative programmes are specially developed in line with individual and organisational needs. Our summits have been ground-breaking and we were recently recognized as one of South Africa’s top empowered companies. We have a passion to build entrepreneurship in our country, to develop young leadership and to build the voices of change.
As Alison Weihe of Soul Speaking, I focus on speaking on what I call Identity Intelligence, Entrepreneur Mindsets, on the power of storytelling, Personal Branding and First Impressions as well as integrative health, both physical and mental.
As someone who has undergone a massive personal transformation, from battling emotional eating and extreme yo-yo dieting, I am now an athletic ambassador for living a dietless life. I used to be tormented by the anguish of a scale for decades. Now I have not weighed myself for seven years. I am no longer defined by a number on the scale nor my age.
I used to dread going to the gym. I was a sedentary, stressed and bloated workaholic. Now I live an active, sensual layered life. I used to be so disconnected from my body, I literally lived in my head, constantly worrying about what others thought, never feeling good enough.
Now I live a transcendant life. I live in my body, in my faith and in my purpose. I have an entirely different identity. Even my husband says he can no longer recognise his “first” wife!
I live in Legacy and my message to the world is:
“Don’t wait sixty years to start loving yourself.
Don’t wait sixty years to start believing in yourself.
Don’t wait sixty years to tame your barking dog.
Don’t wait sixty years to claim your freedom to be
unashamedly, unapologetically yourself.
You came here for a reason.
Don’t wait sixty years to own YOUR story.
YOUR story could change someone else’s life!”
Have you ever had to pivot?
After being a Founder and an award – winning entrepreneur in the construction industry for twenty years, I found myself at a crossroads at sixty years old. I felt like I wanted to do more, to be more. I transitioned into doing what I call Legacy work. I had been a political activist in my youth within the Anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa. Following that I became an entrepreneur – more by default than design – to support my husband’s dreams. I did not realise how much it would grow me, challenge me and shape me. I became the public face of the company , while he was the technical and product visionary. It was a lonely journey at times. There were times when I was on my knees, at other times victorious and winning awards. This journey shaped me for what was to unfold.
At age sixty, I focused on becoming a leadership coach, then a speaker and a writer. Becoming a vulnerable storyteller over the past five years made sense of my whole life. All the buses I had boarded, all the journeys I had taken began to sculpt my legacy work.
I became a serial entrepreneur in the speaking and writing space, building up my own speaking company, Soul Speaking, as well as becoming an Executive Partner in the Mindset Development Institute. The Institute recently won an award as one of South Africa’s Top Empowered Companies. It is a great tribute to my business partner and founder Jabulani Zwane and our team who have worked tirelessly over the past three years to build true empowerment on the ground.
Having undergone a dramatic personal health transformation over the past ten years I became passionate about the field of personal development and transformation.
At 65 I look and feel younger than I did at 60. Legacy makes me active. It keeps me intellectually challenged, constantly creating models of understanding. Building a movement of Belonging has become my mantra and my mission.
In an excerpt from my newly released book “Belonging, Finding Tribes of Meaning”, I write about this transition.
“When I was a trade union activist, I wanted to change the world, but I wanted to be invisible. When I became an award-winning entrepreneur, I felt moments of being more confident, but I still battled impostor syndrome. It was only when I became a vulnerable storyteller, I finally felt congruence. I became a writer that speaks and a speaker that writes.”
This pivot has been my greatest gift and my greatest joy. The work we are doing now with our team as part of The Mindset Development Institute in South Africa is groundbreaking. We develop coaching programmes, host entrepreneurial events, women’s summits, youth summits and leadership containers. We have a mission to tell the untold stories of hope and healing in our challenged land.
I wake up every day to make a difference. I live a life of contribution and purpose.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
I think the story of how I met my business partner, Jabulani Zwane, is beautifully captured in the prologue of my book below:
Excerpt from my newly released book “Belonging, Finding Tribes of Meaning”.
“It was a balmy Thursday evening at the end of 2020, a small window at the end of a year of lockdown – a year that had changed us all. I had arranged a small gathering of speaker friends at our home – friends who had become my inner tribe and a source of inspiration during that momentous year. I spoke about how much their camaraderie and courage had grown me. I remember saying, “I am not really a speaker”, although I was already on the committee of the Johannesburg Chapter of The Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa (PSASA). At the end of the evening an amazing man called Jabulani called me to the side of the room. He had been deep in conversation with my husband Friedel, for most of the evening. I had seldom seen my husband open up to a total stranger like that. He had a mysterious presence about him. I have been following Jabu for some time. His posts were always profoundly resonant. He was the Founder of a global Mindset Institute based in South Africa. That night, Jabu looked into my eyes and said “Alison, what is this thing about you not being a speaker? I’ve heard you speak. Where does that voice come from?”
We started a conversation that has never ended. And so, I found the final piece of the puzzle. I found my voice.”
In this journey I have had to let go of the voices of self-doubt and impostor syndrome, to truly step into the power of who I was truly meant to be. When I was recently nominated for the Woman In Stature Awards in the Coaching and Mentoring Category, it felt like an affirmation of this new voice, this new era. For probably the first time in my life, I felt true con-fidence. I used to think confidence was a mask, it was a “con”, a mask you wore to appear as if you had it “all sewn up”. But now I realise true confidence is a dance of confiding with one’s audience and confiding with one’s readers. Now I mentor others on how to let go of that voice, the voice of the Barking Dog inside, so that they can be inspired to live a life of congruence and contribution.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.alisonweihe.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alison_weihe/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alison.weihe
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-weihe/
- Other: The Creative Stone Company – https://creativestone.co.za
The Mindset Development Institute – https://www.mindsetdevelopmentinstitute.com
Image Credits
Hush Naidoo ( 7 pictures)
Emotional Studios ( 1 Picture – profile photo)