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‘Stick With It’
I went this week to the Human Trafficking Foundation’s Anti-Slavery Day awards in Westminster. I represented our business Holos Kombucha, and provided some of our drinks for the event. It was a chance to recognise the hard work of all the organisations fighting modern day slavery across the UK today - from politicians, to international NGO’s, lawyers, social workers, the media, the police, business networks, and most importantly, many people with lived experience of exploitation, now leading communities and movements.
It’s been six years since I last went, with a different hat on back then as CEO of the Sophie Hayes Foundation. Two kids, a global pandemic and co-founding Holos in between. To be honest, I felt pretty nervous going back in… swapping casual wear for suits, start-up feels to institution and tradition, factory basics to Westminster decor. Even though Holos works with survivors of exploitation too, it’s so easy to disqualify ourselves when we feel out of place.
But what surprised and inspired me was just how many familiar, and warm, faces I saw, many that I couldn’t place but knew we’d worked together one day, back then. People who have quite literally devoted their lives to the fight against slavery. Conversations flowed with the shared focus on one cause, uniting everyone in the room. And the message it left me was - ‘stick with it’.
When there is a sense of call - any big, audacious goal - it’s not the beginning that’s the hard bit, it’s the middle. The beginning of anything can feel fresh, exciting and different. It’s naturally energising to learn new things and have the novelty factor. But can we stick to it, keep believing, when we’re in deep - but we still haven’t fully seen it through to the end? When we have to trust that our daily efforts will eventually make a difference. When it becomes a game of managing our thoughts and fighting negativity, despair and hopelessness that can easily knock at our door in that sticky middle spot. ‘Give up. Be smaller. Make yourself less. Pull back’. Sometimes that’s the voice of wisdom…but often it’s fear masking as this.
Honestly, we’ve had a rollercoaster at Holos this year. The financial climate is tough. We’re trying to make the right and ethical choices, which often costs more money and takes more time (just being honest here). We have big opportunities - and big challenges. It’s the middle.
But connecting with others fighting slavery lifted my eyes to the possibilities again. The fact that we’re not the only ones in the middle of it - and that there is camaraderie and a sense of strength that comes from finding others in that same trench. Sticking at it - especially when it’s hard - makes the journey oh so much more meaningful. Overcoming the middle is where the growth, the innovation and the fresh thinking really happens. The battles of the middle become the scars that tell the story of who we are and where we’ve come. They give us credibility and character for the future.
No-one shows me this more than the women we work with who have been exploited - who have overcome horrors beyond what many of us could comprehend, and are rebuilding their lives with great courage - out the middle, to the end and a new beginning.
If they can do it, I can too.
So if you needed to hear this today, sitting in that messy middle - you are not alone, keep going. I will too, and our future selves, and anyone we’re doing this for, will thank us for it.
Happy Anti-Slavery Day from all of us at Holos.
Naomi, Co-Founder, Holos Kombucha.