MTStyleClinic turned one year last month and this particular birthday was celebrated at the Excelsior Grand Hotel in Valletta. Invited to comment on their course Francesca and Nirvana, its creators, explained that it is a course “for women who want more out of life.” Nirvana comments: “Women tend to put their families, partners, children, cats, dogs and careers first and are often left with little or no time for their own interests.” Says Francesca: “We strongly believe that women should make time for themselves. So, we have created a course so that they can spend just two hours, once a week, doing something they enjoy while at the same time bonding with others. During one of our courses they can spend time with a group of other interesting women and learn from professionals about topics which are not taught in our schools.”
Says Nirvana: “Such subjects include skin care, wardrobe management, assertiveness training, personal appearance, hair care, make up, social and professional etiquette, deportment and body language, self awareness, health, fitness and nutrition, wine appreciation, first aid, general knowledge, culture and more.”
Francesca who is a well-known makeup expert and hair stylist, is also one of the lecturers. “There are others of course including Luke Engerer, Gloria Mizzi, Norma Saliba, Josef Bonello and Maria Ellul,” she explains.
Nirvana adds: “The aim is to provide an exciting, challenging and fresh way for women to learn how to make the best of themselves.”
These two young women are encouraged as the first course was a great success. They say in unison: “Last year 72 women from all walks of life attended and ‘graduated’ from our course. The feedback has been overwhelming. The women we met over the past year have been great, enthusiastic and eager to learn. We have also learnt a lot from our participants, and owe a lot of MT StyleClinic’s success to them” .
They continue: “The ladies who attend our course range from sales people to doctors. There are PAs, students, accountants, housewives, company managers, teachers and their ages range from 18 to over 60. They might not have much in common at first glance, but they all share at least one trait – a desire to improve themselves and their lives.”
Nirvana comments: “It is so heartening to see them bond over the weeks because of friendships made during the course. Of course graduation night is always a bitter sweet experience even if some friendships do go on after the course is over.”
Francesca comments that last year they also held a course specifically for staff from HSBC and the Excelsior Grand Hotel. “We are looking to develop this side of the business further. It is refreshing to see that the mentality towards continuing education is changing and that some companies are investing in alternative means of educating their staff and encouraging their personal development.”
As if this were not enough – they also have a young son apiece - these two busy young women also managed to organise a walkathon last year, against domestic violence, and raised the healthy sum of Euro 4,425.00. This event was organised in collaboration with APPOGG, and the money collected will be used to improve the living conditions of users at Ghabex during their stay. Ghabex, they explain, provides a safe refuge to women and their children who are victims of violence in intimate relationships, and who require emergency and temporary shelter in a safe environment. In addition, it provides professional support to women and their children leaving abusive relationships, by helping them deal with the effects of abuse while also working towards making healthy plans for the future.
The girls conclude: “We have learnt a lot over the past year, from each other, from the lecturers and from all our students. In fact, we are constantly learning and working to improve ourselves as well as the course. MtStyleClinic has provided us with a constant learning curve, and the funny thing is that the more you learn, the more you realise how much more there is to learn!”
The sessions are two hours long and there is only so much one can say in that short time on a given topic: “But,” says Nirvana, “we hope that this gives the students a push to follow up and learn more about any particular subject.”
Francesca explains that “students are provided with notes and a book list and find that more often than not, they do take an interest and read up more about the topics we cover in our course.”
Francesca and Nirvana are very happy with what was achieved last year. “We are really excited about the year ahead. We are working on a few new projects and will soon be launching MT StyleClinic Phase 2, following a request from MT StyleClinic graduates for a sequel to the first course,” Francesca explains.
Nirvana chips in: “Topics in Phase 2 will include DIY for women, womens’ health, legal issues, introduction to aromatherapy and time and stress management.” Sounds very promising.
The next course
The next MT StyleClinic course is starting on 27 February. For more information go to www.mtstyleclinic.com or call 21 221949.