Meet Inez Barberio

We were lucky to catch up with Inez Barberio recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Inez, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?

For most of my adult life I was an extremely shy introvert. It was a lonely feeling knowing how much I had to offer to the world. To combat this, I decided to learn how to face my fear of being in the spotlight. I took an acting course in college, enrolled in public speaking courses, took a course on how to be a stand-up comedian (though this was totally by accident) and eventually got certified in Emotional Intelligence and became a speaker on the topic for many years,

Mind you, this took well over a decade for me to develop my confidence as it was an ongoing battle of healing from childhood traumas – thus the lack of self-esteem.

By consistently learning how to face my fears of speaking and putting myself out into the world, I gained my confidence and self-esteem. I continued various practices to strengthen my confidence by putting myself in rooms with high achievers, people who are supportive, staying away from toxic media, reading inspirational books, practicing my faith, and taking care of my health. All of these factors contributed to the confident woman that I am today.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Four years ago, I started “CORE Women’s Network” as a way to give to my community of female entrepreneurs and leaders. I noticed that many of my friends were business owners and I wanted to find a way to bring them all together to have the opportunity to collectively connect and collaborate.

Through a decade of experience in event planning through my volunteer work with various non-profit organizations, I learned how to create events that were fun, informative, and a safe environment for women to be themselves.

As of January 2024, I officially made “CORE Women’s Network” into a business so that I can expand my reach. Each year I host the PINK Networking Event which has proven to be the event of the year! This past April, Bart Blatstein, owner of “Island Water Park, Atlantic City” at the Showboat Hotel reached out to me and offered to sponsor my entire event. We hosted 150 women in a sea of pink, with a panel of esteemed female entrepreneurs sharing their entrepreneurial journey and and special performance by New York Tenor, Christopher Macchio. It was a spectacular event!

In addition to my PINK event, six times a year I host intimate networking luncheons for up to 20 women where we have the opportunity to cultivate deeper friendships/relationships. In addition, each luncheon there is a guest speaker from topics ranging from mental health, to how to build a successful business. Personally I have found the smaller events to be much needed for women as the larger female networking events can be intimidating and difficult to connect with others. Thus why I like to serve both the smaller and larger groups to offer something for everyone.

It’s important to note that I find it important to highlight female business owners and community leaders that are not mainstream celebrities. We as women must see that “everyday” women are doing extraordinary things! We are mothers, teachers, mentors, career women and more and we all have something special to offer.

Any event of “CORE Women’s Network” gives that space of being yourself and no egos are allowed. While I am located in Southern New Jersey, I have had women from all over the country attend my events including California, Arizona, Texas, Rhode Island, Florida, New York, Maine and Pennsylvania. I am so proud of the community we have created together.

My next PINK event will be in late spring of 2025. I am currently scouting locations for it.

In addition, “CORE Women’s Network” is a membership free community and you only pay for the events that you are interested on attending.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

There are actually four important qualities that have been impactful in my journey and they are in my CORE.

C – communication. Learning how to communicate effectively with others. Listening to understand and being open to different perspectives.

O – optimizing oneself. Taking care of your mental and physical health. Meditate, practicing your faith, drinking water, exercise, eating healthy foods, living alcohol free.

R – relationship building. Networking goes beyond attending events. One must follow-up and build meaningful relationships. First step is being a giver and filling someone else’s cup without expectations.

E – empathy. Learning the ability to understand and feel the feelings of others.

What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?

My biggest area of growth and improvement the last year is not being afraid to ask for help.

Being a giver my entire life, it was always uncomfortable for me to ask for assistance in anything that I do which eventually led me to burnout or resentment.

As I mentioned, I started “CORE Women’s Network” four years ago with the first three years of doing everything and funding my events all on my own.

I have learned that I have filled many cups over the years and I as transitioned “CORE” into a business, I had to be able to ask for help, advice, sponsorships and be comfortable with selling tickets to truly make it into a profitable business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.InezBarberio.com
• Instagram: @Inez_Barberio and @corewomensnetwork

Image Credits

Headshot – Jessielyn Palumbo Kennedy

Additional Photos – Anthony Flores