Women up: A refreshing outlet
REFRESHING is the first word that comes to mind after watching the first episode in the YouTubetalk show seriesWomen Up.
A kingdom talk show series with a sisterhood vibe, it features interviews, women discussing issues, and some fun thrown in-between.
The brainchild of CEO and founder of Women Grow Global Keniesha Dunbar-Welsh, she told
All Woman that the concept was downloaded into her spirit by the Lord.
Highlighting the journey from concept to screen, Dunbar-Welsh shared that it didn’t come without its challenges, as she first got the vision for a website, Women Grow Global.
It was while celebrating her birthday with a three-night stay at a resort that she got a ‘download’ from the Lord on March 8 (International Women’s Day).
So intense was it, that even with no writing implement, she just grabbed her phone and started making notes.
“The manifesto I got was downloaded in just like two minutes. I’m a planner, so when I came home, I just got to work and built my website from scratch,” she said of the venture she started in April 2021. She started off with encouraging posts, but after six months, she herself needed encouragement when she lost the website.
The bank she was with at the time flagged the payment to the hosts, and alerted her to verify the transaction via an e-mail address she no longer used. She missed the e-mail, and lost the website as a result.
“I was wounded; it took me sleepless nights to build that website. I was so discouraged that I did not do anything else; I just stopped posting,” she shared on her heartbreak.
Her friends, however, kept asking about its resumption, but she always came up with an excuse or changed the subject.
Last August, after going to the Dominican Republic to celebrate her first anniversary, her husband asked her the same question. Another incident there confirmed she should resume the vision.
“While I was there, this young lady came to me and she started sharing and sharing, and I was pouring into her. There were moments of tears and laughter, and I felt like I went there for my anniversary, but I probably went there for her and vice-versa,” Dunbar-Welsh revealed.
After sharing, she related the vision of Women Grow Global with the woman, and it was then that she got a renewed conviction that she should restart as it was about ministry and how she could connect and help one woman at a time.
“I have my blind spots, little flaws and stuff, but I have been disciplined and I hold on to the kingdom principles and strategies in the
Bible that help us to be better women daily,” she noted, adding that although she is far from perfect, she can share areas of her life that she has passed and carry another woman along with her too.
Stressing the tagline for Women Grow Global, ‘Women supporting women for REAL’, she said there are a lot of things out there that are not necessarily helping, in the real sense.
Speaking of supporters, Dunbar-Welsh hails her mother as one of her biggest inspirations.
“My mother is a strong woman. I had my rebellious years, but mother has always been this force in my life. She is my role model. I really pull from my mom and she is really an amazing individual to me,” she noted even as she acknowledged support given by her husband and other family members in carrying out the vision.
After returning from the Dominican Republic, Dunbar-Welsh went back to work and hit the ground running. Following a session with her coach, Krystal Tomlinson, she started charting her path.
It was while rebuilding the website that she got another download from the Lord — she needed a
Women Up talk show.
Confessing that she has never watched
The Real, an American syndicated talk show that ran from 2013 to 2022, she said she was led to it.
However, unlike the secular show, Dunbar-Welsh said
Women Up is not a show for the world but comes from a kingdom perspective where there are insights, fun, and games — nothing stiff-necked.
Upcoming episodes will focus on topics like ‘From Heartbreak to Wholeness’, ‘Balancing Work and Family’ and ‘Life after Rape’.
