“Strength, Confidence, La Forte: How One Girl is Redefining Sportswear for Women”
Hi, I’m Eliana Saad, 12 years old, and one of the founders of La Forte.
With the help of my sister Hannah and my parents, I launched La Forte, a brand created with one mission: to help every girl and woman feel strong, confident, and empowered in their activewear. When you put on La Forte, the only thing you should focus on is your own strength not anyone else’s gaze.
I’ve always loved sports, so I know how important it is to wear clothing that feels good and gives you confidence. We officially started in January 2024, experimenting with samples and designs. Our first attempts didn’t turn out as planned, but I learned something important: you don’t get everything right the first time. Every setback is a step toward improvement.
La Forte is more than clothes – it’s a movement. What makes us unique is that we focus on comfort and empowerment, not just the hype. We want every girl and woman to feel unstoppable in whatever they do.
In the coming years, I hope La Forte inspires women everywhere to embrace their strength and becomes the go-to activewear brand across Australia and maybe even beyond.
One lesson I’ve learned is simple: just go for it. Even if things don’t go as expected, you can always try again. My hope is that when you wear La Forte, you feel amazing and together, we can build a movement where everyone feels strong, confident, and proud of who they are.
Built for movement. Styled for impact. Eliana and Hannah in their La Forte element.
Book Club: “Strong Ground,” by Dr. Brené Brown
What an honour to receive a personally signed copy of Dr. Brené Brown’s new book, "Strong Ground."
"Strong Ground" builds on the research of "Dare To Lead" with a focus on "The Lessons of Daring Leadership," "The Tenacity of Paradox" and "The Wisdom of the Human Spirit." You can find an excerpt of “Strong Ground,” read by Brené, here.
This book went straight to the top of my reading pile! A few key messages include:
- People are the strong ground on which transformation happens.
- Holding ourselves and others to account is an act of care (in conversation with Ginny Clarke).
- When exploring a project/action/strategy that has gone off track, the initial “facts” that individual team members share are rarely the whole truth, but nor are they a lie.
To coincide with the launch of "Strong Ground", I will be facilitating a virtual Book Club on Wednesday, November 12th, 2025, 2:30pm – 3:30pm AEDT. This will be free of charge; the only cost to you is sharing your learning and perspectives.
For those of you who have read the book, I’m curious to learn of key messages that you have taken away and to amplify our learning together. If you haven't had a chance to read it, please come along anyway and join in on the discussion.
Please get in touch with me to register your interest and I’ll provide you with more details. For now, be sure to diarise the date and time.
Looking forward to seeing you online!
Exploring
What we’re exploring:
- “Rebel Ideas: The Power of Thinking Differently”, by Matthew Syed. The first chapter had my curiosity piqued, particularly in today’s world. How many books do they say you should read every year? 12? 50? Whatever that "magic number" is, perhaps this is one to include? Let me know what you think … we might have quite diverse thoughts and could engage in very diverse conversation …This might also be good reading for debate within your teams; I have some ideas around this if you’d like to discuss.
- Visual Synopsis is a great resource for, as their website says, “Capturing inspiring content. Transforming complex content into simple, memorable and beautiful visuals.” I’ve recently used and recommended the following to clients as summaries of specific books that have inspired our programme design and content:
- The Four Agreements. If you haven’t already read this book by Don Miguel Ruiz, it is definitely worth reading, as is his follow-up book, “The Fifth Agreement.”
- Atlas of the Heart: a visual synopsis of Dr. Brené Brown’s book which explores the importance and impact of emotional literacy; and the nuances between 87 human emotions and experiences.
Final Thoughts
Three final thoughts for you:
- If you’d like to share your story of courage, I’d be honoured to share it with all of us. When I say this of people, their response often is, “But I’m not very courageous.” From my work in this space, I can confidently say, “We all have courage within. We just need a light shone on it.” I know that if you stop and think, and are kind to yourself, you’ll find that you have demonstrated courage on many occasions. Please consider this and, perhaps, get in touch.
- Remember (not that I think you need reminding), we are passionate about building courageous individuals, leaders, teams and workplaces. Our offerings – programmes, including coaching – continue to grow in this area, built on the validated research of a number of scholars and practitioners, including Dr. Brené Brown, Susan David PhD, Dr. Ben Palmer, Simon Sinek, Dr. Todd Kashdan and others. If you’d like to know more, please get in touch … I can talk your ears off … ;)
- Finally, remember to breathe. When you feel that you’re being pulled from pillar to post; when you’re about to engage in a courageous conversation; when you’re about to do that “thing” that causes you stress … breathe. If you have an Instagram account, would like to learn a “new” breathing technique, and if you’d like to smile, click here.
I'm always keen to connect!
Photo of Cuzco is property of We Rate Dogs
Dina
(@couragechick)
#exploring #entrepreneur #courage #inspire #sport #confident #workplace #leadership #strong #brand #girl #women #diverse #think #visual #summary #keepdaring #wellbeing #breathe #bodytype #justgoforit #stronground #daretolead
