International Women’s Day leadership is an opportunity to reflect on how women are shaping the future through entrepreneurship, wellbeing, and innovation. As a female founder in the gardening industry, I have learned that some of the most powerful International Women’s Day leadership lessons come from growing things — and understanding that real growth cannot be forced, only cultivated.
There is something fitting about celebrating International Women’s Day in early March.
It is the moment when winter begins to loosen its grip.
When the days stretch longer.
When the soil, even if still cold, begins to wake up.
Nothing looks fully alive yet.
But everything is becoming possible.
For those of us who work in gardening — and for those of us building companies, families, and futures — this is familiar territory.
Leadership often looks like March.
Not finished.
Not obvious.
But full of intention.
International Women’s Day Leadership and the Power of Growing Things
Long before gardening became a hobby, it was survival.
Women grew food.
They saved seeds.
They nourished families and communities.
They understood something fundamental: you cannot force growth. You can only create the conditions for it.
That lesson is as relevant in leadership today as it was centuries ago.
Because building anything meaningful — a company, a culture, a movement, or a life — requires the same things a garden does:
Patience. Confidence. Care. Consistency.
And belief in something you cannot yet see.
Gardening, Wellbeing, and Women’s Leadership
Research continues to show that gardening improves mental health, reduces stress, and increases confidence — all critical traits for effective leadership. For women founders, entrepreneurs, and professionals navigating uncertainty, gardening provides something rare: a daily reminder that growth takes time.
In a world increasingly defined by speed, automation, and artificial intelligence, gardening reconnects us to something essential. It reminds us that not everything meaningful happens instantly. Some things still require care. Some things still require presence.
And some things still require us.
This is one of the reasons gardening has become such a powerful tool for wellbeing — and why so many women leaders are turning to it not just as a hobby, but as a practice.
Leadership Is Not About Control. It Is About Cultivation.
There is a misconception that leadership is about having all the answers.
Gardening teaches you something different.
Leadership is about tending.
You do not command a plant to grow.
You create an environment where growth becomes possible.
You pay attention.
You notice when something needs more light.
Or more time.
Or simply more space.
This is especially true for women founders and leaders, many of whom are building in environments where the path is not clearly defined.
There is no perfect blueprint.
Only the daily decision to keep showing up.
Growing Things Changes the Person Doing the Growing
Anyone who has ever cared for a plant understands this.
When you nurture something living, something shifts in you.
You begin to trust time again.
You begin to see progress differently.
You begin to understand that growth is happening — even when you cannot see it yet.
This is the quiet power of gardening.
It builds confidence.
It builds patience.
It builds belief.
The Future Needs More Women Who Grow Things
Today, women are growing more than gardens.
They are growing companies.
They are growing careers.
They are growing families.
They are growing communities.
They are growing new possibilities for the future.
Often, this work happens quietly. Without recognition. Without certainty.
Simply because they believe it matters.
Gardening makes that invisible work visible. It reminds us that every future begins with something small.
Something intentional. Something planted.
Growing Good Things Is an Act of Optimism
When you plant something, you are making a decision about the future.
You are choosing to believe there will be one.
You are choosing to participate in it.
This is why gardening is so powerful.
And why women’s leadership is so essential right now.
Because the future will not be built by people who wait.
It will be built by people who plant.
This International Women’s Day, Plant Something
Not because it is easy.
But because it is meaningful.
Plant something on your desk.
Plant something on your patio.
Plant something in your life that represents where you are going, not just where you have been.
This International Women’s Day, we celebrate the women who are growing businesses, growing families, growing communities, and growing new possibilities.
Gardening reminds us that leadership is not about control — it is about care.
Growth does not happen all at once.
It happens slowly.
Quietly.
Then suddenly.
Just like March.
Just like leadership.
Just like the future.
International Women’s Day leadership reminds us that the future belongs to those willing to plant, nurture, and believe in what comes next.