THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR WOMEN
NOV | DEC 2020 #7
REACHING FURTHER SUPPORTING THE FEMALE ECONOMY
BALANCING FEMALE LEADERSHIP
BLISS YOGA PART TWO OF THE SERIES
GIRL TORQUE REVIEW OF THE AUDI SQ7
THE BIG STORY
THE TOP TEN LIST
FEMALE BILLIONAIRES
Businesses local to Gatwick are 50% more likely to export than the national average
Gatwick brings global trade opportunities closer
We’re more than just an airport
cont ent s 8
FEMALE BILLIONAIRES
8 THE RISE OF THE FEMALE BILLIONAIRE 12 WHY DO WE STILL LINK ABILITY WITH LOOKS? 14 BALANCING FEMININE LEADERSHIP FOR THE FUTURE 18 THE MOMENTS THAT MATTER 20 WORDS OF INSPIRATION 22 TWO CHICKS WAS THE FIRST EGG WHITE TO LAUNCH IN THE UK
14 24 REACHING FURTHER SUPPORTING THE FEMALE ECONOMY 29 NATWEST ACCELERATOR ENTREPRENEUR OF THE MONTH 30 THE YOGA SERIES 32 POD WELLNESS 34 AUDI SQ7
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REACHING FURTHER
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MEET THE STEERING COMMITTEE
Our illustrious steering committee guide the editorial tone of the magazine
JULIE KAPSALIS CEO Chichester / Crawley College Group
EMMA LANE Director Allied Irish Bank
VICTORIA KERTON ROSEMARY FRENCH OBE Regional Director Executive Director NatWest Gatwick Diamond Initiative
FAIZA SHAFEEK CEO Carrot Events
ALISON ADDY Community Officer Gatwick Airport
LOUISE PUNTER CEO Surrey Chambers of Commerce
LESLEY ALCOCK Commercial Director The Platinum Group
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ABIGAIL OWEN Corporate Partner DMH Stallard
FIONA SHAFER CEO MD HUB
MAXINE REID Partner Quantuma
MAARTEN HOFFMANN CEO/Publisher The Platinum Group
ANA CHRISTIE CEO Sussex Chamber of Commerce
ALISON JONES Partner Kreston Reeves
ZOE RUDLING Partner RSM
FIONA GRAVES Events Director The Platinum Group
welc ome FROM ROSEMARY FRENCH OBE Chair of the Dynamic Steering Committee ROSEMARY’S OBE WAS AWARDED FOR SERVICES TO WOMEN IN BUSINESS I was pleased a few weeks ago to join a group of businesswomen in a video meeting with senior women at NatWest. They were sharing their experiences in supporting and delivering transformational initiatives in their Reaching Further programme to champion female staff with the potential to lead. I was so impressed with NatWest’s proactive drive to pick out these women and give them that direct support which would help them on their way up. Much more about the programme inside this edition of Dynamic.
Regrettably, I am not one of the female billionaires mentioned in another article but, rest assured, I am still trying to get there and not giving up! There should be no financial, board or political ceiling for any woman and these billionaires are showing us the way. I am missing the women-inbusiness get togethers that I have so enjoyed throughout my career before the pandemic. Talking online will never be the same as starting and finishing such meetings with chats over a cup of tea and cake,
where learnings, tips, advice, and support were freely shared. I dared to meet a female business friend recently for afternoon tea and we overran our parking time. We discussed how much business women are losing out during this ghastly time and whether we can do anything to influence the powers that be to recognise that the UK is at risk of losing a tranche of creative, innovative and inspirational women who are being laid off or whose own businesses have been destroyed.
Contacts PUBLISHER: maarten@platinumpublishing.co.uk COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR: lesley@platinumpublishing.co.uk EVENTS DIRECTOR: fiona@platinumpublishing.co.uk EVENTS EXECUTIVE: lydia@platinumpublishing.co.uk HEAD OF DESIGN: michelle@platinumpublishing.co.uk
WWW.PLATINUMPUBLISHING.CO.UK DISCLAIMER All rights reserved. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher. The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions relating to advertising or editorial. The publisher reserves the right to change or amend any competitions or prizes offered. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior written consent from the publisher. No responsibility is taken for unsolicited materials or the return of these materials whilst in transit. Dynamic Magazine is owned and published by The Platinum Media Group.
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DAMES APPOINTED The Treasury has appointed two women to the Bank of England’s financial policy committee (FPC), the Chancellor announced last month. Dame Colette Bowe and Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia will become external members of the FPC which works to ensure the stability of the financial system. Three of thirteen members of the FPC will be women following the appointments. It comes after the central bank was criticised for allowing gender diversity to go into reverse at senior levels. The bank’s annual report revealed in July that the proportion of women in top positions fell from 30% to 29% a year earlier. Its latest gender pay gap figures show women are paid 24.2% less than men, a discrepancy the BoE said was down to fewer women in senior roles.
{up f r o n t } All the latest bulletins from the world of business
MAGIC CIRCLE Georgia Dawson has become the first woman to lead one of the City’s ’magic circle’ law firms after she was elected as Senior Partner of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. The election of Australian-born Ms Dawson, who studied at the University of Sydney and has a Masters Degree from Cambridge, comes amid concern that women are being shut out of partnerships at the top law practices. All five magic circle have fewer than 25% of female partners.
WOMEN LOST Stress caused by managing a company, children’s online education and housework is likely to cause millions of career women to leave the workforce, a survey of 40,000 people by McKinsey and Co reveals. After months of home working thanks to the pandemic, and the stress of everything else to be done at home is proving too much for many. While 72% of men surveyed said they shared the household chores, only 44% of women agreed. The report suggests that the discrepancy is partly due to a ‘false perception’ that mothers can’t be truly invested in both family and work but men can. An insult of gargantuan proportions.
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WALL STREET FIRST BOX TICKING UK companies have been accused of “ticking a box” and appointing women to senior executive positions for symbolic purposes by a report that analyses gender and ethnic diversity in the boardroom. Women serve shorter tenures than men — an average of 3.3 years on a board for a female executive director is about half that of their male counterparts — and are less likely to be promoted to senior roles, according to the annual study by Cranfield University’s School of Management.
Citigroup has named a woman to be its new Chief Executive in a first for a Wall Street bank. Briton Jane Fraser, its current President and Head of Global Consumer Division, is to become its new boss when current chief Michael Corbat retires in February. He is stepping down after 37 years at the bank, including eight as leader. It comes as the maledominated world of US finance faces pressure to diversify its ranks. Scotland-born Ms Fraser has worked at Citi for 16 years, serving in her current role since 2019. She oversees business in 19 countries and previously led its Latin America division.
Meanwhile, the number of women in chair roles across the FTSE 100 has decreased this year. Sue Vinnicombe, professor at Cranfield University and lead author of the report, said that there was mounting evidence that “some companies have simply been ticking a box” in spite of rapid progress towards meeting government-sponsored targets to have at least a third of roles in the boardroom held by women. Cranfield says that the relatively short tenure of women on boards raises “the question of if they are choosing to leave or being pushed off”.
NOBEL CHAMPIONS Two women have shared the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the very first time after being recognised for their creation of a gene-editing tool that holds out the promise of curing disease. Emmanuelle Charpentier (right), a French biochemist, and Jennifer Doudna, from the University of California, won the award for the discovery of ‘molecular scissors’ that can precisely snip out and replace genetic code.
GOOGLE GOES CO-ED Silicon Valley’s notorious boys club just went a little more co-ed. Google announced the hiring of Morgan Stanley Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat, who has been called “the most powerful woman on Wall Street” as the company’s new CFO. Porat replaces Patrick Pichette – he plans to retire to spend more time with his wife and travel. “We’re tremendously fortunate to have found such a creative, experienced and operationally strong executive,” said Google co-founder and CEO Larry Page in a news release. “I look forward to learning from Ruth as we continue to innovate in our core – from search and ads to Android, Chrome, and YouTube – as well as investing in a thoughtful, disciplined way in our next generation of big bets.” Porat started at Morgan Stanley in 1987 working in mergers and acquisitions and has held many roles at the company, including leading both the Equity Capital Markets technology business and the Global Technology Group. Before being appointed to CFO and executive vice president in 2010, she also served as the global head of the Financial Institutions Group.
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THE RISE OF
THE FEMALE BILLIONAIRE Although money is not the be-all and end-all, it is a marker of success within business. There are many women doing incredible jobs that will never make them rich, whether it be for the good of the community, charity work or research but here we take a look at the rise of the female billionaires.
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COV E R
It is recorded that there are 234 female billionaires in the world with half from the US, but Europe and China are well represented. Although it is mainly men that are impressed by such numbers, it is a stark reminder to them that women are just as capable in this area as men - given the chance. We throw the word billionaire around in a cavalier fashion these days but just think about that for a moment. It is a thousand million. A million is quite a large amount of money to have but a thousand of them is somewhat inconceivable to many, including me. And of course, the more you have the more you make as in normal times,
STORY
just sitting there it makes money for itself through investments. If it was left in the bank even at today’s ridiculous interest rates, it would earn £40m a year. Many of the ladies listed inherited their fortune but it will be what they do with it that will count. It affords them the opportunity to really make a difference and, one would hope, that they progress the advance of women’s rights and create opportunities for women to succeed outside of men.
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ALICE WALTON $54.4 billion
UNITED STATES SOURCE: RETAIL An heir to part of the Walmart fortune, she is worth £10 billion more than in 2019.
FRANCOISE BETTENCOURT $48.9 billion
FRANCE SOURCE: COSMETICS An heir to the L’Oreal fortune, after the death of her mother, Liliane Bettencourt.
2 SO HERE ARE THE RANKINGS OF THE WORLD’S TOP FEMALE BILLIONAIRES MACKENZIE BEZOS $36 billion
UNITED STATES SOURCE: AMAZON She gained the fortune upon her divorce from Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos.
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JULIA KOCH $38.2 billion
UNITED STATES SOURCE: PETROLEUM AND CHEMICALS Inherited her fortune in Koch Industries when her husband, David, died in 2019.
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JACQUELINE MARS $24.7 billion
UNITED STATES SOURCE: CONFECTIONERY Having worked at the company for 20 years, she inherited her fortune from making M&Ms and Milky Way bars.
COV E R
STORY
$20.3 billion
LAURENE POWELL JOBS
CHINA SOURCE: REAL ESTATE Yang sits on the board of a HK real-estate company and owns 57%.
UNITED STATES SOURCE: COMPUTERS The widow of Apple founder, Steve Jobs, Laurene is a philanthropist.
YANG HUIYAN
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$16.4 billion
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SUSANNE KLATTON
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$16.8 billion
GERMANY SOURCE: AUTO MANUFACTURING As heir to the BMW fortune, Susanne’s fortune has slumped by 24% since the pandemic started.
ZHONG HUIJUAN $14.8 billion
CHINA SOURCE: PHARMACEUTICALS Chair of Chinese drugmaker, Hansoh. Her husband is only 105 on the list.
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GINA RINEHART $13.1 billion
AUSTRALIA SOURCE: MINING Although her father was a geologist, he passed her no wealth and therefore she is self-made.
AND THE YOUNGEST... KYLIE JENNER $1 billion
The youngest female billionaire is celebrity Kylie Jenner reportedly now worth $1 billion. That makes her the youngest billionaire in history, and the youngest self-made billionaire ever. The fortune was made from her cosmetic line that, at the start, sold purely online, and from the fame built up around her family, the Kardashians.
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WHY DO WE STILL LINK
ABILITY WITH LOOKS?
By Rosemary French OBE 12
It is extraordinary that society still links one’s ability, skills, intelligence and even sociability with how we look. Our work culture has failed to eradicate this ‘lookism’. Indeed, it is showing little will to alter this ‘conscious’ bias. I could be talking here about the appalling discrimination towards the disabled, and men and women of colour, where some small steps have been made in terms of racial
and disability legislation. But no, I am talking about the women who are perceived to be less attractive (whatever that means) than our photo edited view of the ideal woman shown in the glossies and most effectively across social media. We have read stories where women have been instructed to wear high heels and avoid trousers at work. We grimaced when Hilary Clinton was
COM M E N T
Clearly the jacket was a better judge of my ability than the honours degree from a top university! pilloried for wearing trouser suits throughout her presidential campaign. She said she had chosen her trouser suits because they were more comfortable while spending hours on the long campaign road and to draw attention away from her being a female presidential candidate. The ugly reality was that America, as in the UK, is still unable to let go of their rigidly outdated definitions of femininity. In my own career I was twice subjected to lookism. In 1977 I was rejected for a graduate trainee buying role at a famous clothing retailer with the feedback saying, ‘she was not wearing a suit’. I was a poor student for heaven’s sake and was wearing one of their very own smart white blouses and skirt! No way could I afford the jacket to go with the skirt. Clearly the jacket was
a better judge of my ability than the honours degree from a top university! Then in 1983, when I had just completed my induction at another national retailer, I was told that my performance was excellent but that I really needed to do something about my makeup at work. Although I said that I wore both mascara and lipstick already, they meant I should cake my face with foundation and layer on eyeshadow. I nodded agreement but did not change other than to renew my lipstick more often and thicken the mascara. Judge me for my ability, not my face. Don’t get me wrong, I believe absolutely in dressing well for business because it portrays both professionalism and enables me to psychologically step into my business role. Our dress is a profound expression of our identity, but it does not characterise ability. Dressing well to do the job is a bit different to being told how to look and what to wear. Women in business do think carefully about what to wear because we do not have a business uniform to hide behind like men who have been wearing their
suit, shirt and tie outfits since the 1900s. How men look is rarely an issue. A man may have a visible facial scar, or a broken nose and he is considered rugged, a real man. Recruiters react to a woman with such imperfections as disfigurements. Would a bald man be told to wear a wig, asked to shave off a beard, to use cover up on his rugby scrum scar? I was dismayed when I read the recent survey results from law firm Slater and Gordon, saying that employers are asking female employees to dress ‘sexier’ and wear make-up during the video meetings, which have become endemic during the Covid-19 crisis. Over one third of the women polled said they had received inappropriate comments about their hair, asked to wear more makeup and to dress more provocatively. It struck me that these same women had probably sat down for the meeting after juggling the feeding of husbands, setting schoolwork for their children, and putting away the Ocado food delivery! I was pleased to note that the law firm said that such requests were both degrading and discriminatory. However, I strongly doubt whether any women would take this up with their employers fearing the loss of their job. What chance do young girls have, if the media and social media demonstrate that having a good job will depend on how they look? If they are bullied online for imperfections, if they are given nicknames, if their career worth depends on false eyelashes and painted nails? They do not want to be called pushy, intimidating, or aggressive. As long as confident women are portrayed as ‘bossy’ while men are ‘decisive’ it is will be just as much a form of abuse as being groped. We, older women can help with this injustice by mentoring younger women at the early stages of their careers to reassure them that ability does matter more than looks and they can breakthrough that glass ceiling in their comfortable yet fashionable court shoes, not teetering precariously to the other side on stiletto heels! And when we are in in positions of authority it is up to us to eradicate those perceptions in our work culture.
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BALANCING FEMININE LEADERSHIP FOR THE FUTURE Emma Ressler led high-performing sales teams and launched British brands in global markets for nearly two decades. In 2019 she made a permanent move to Canada, taking the opportunity to embark on new ventures. In 2021 she will walk John o’Groats to Land’s End, to highlight local businesses and individuals making positive change in their communities and beyond.
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COM M E N T
WHY AND HOW THE FUTURE CALLS FOR MORE FEMININE TRAITS IN LEADERSHIP
Historically the corporate world was run by men in a masculine manner. As women entered the corporate world, they adopted these masculine qualities, even down to how they dressed to gain acceptance and progression. Yet we have increasingly seen the benefits of feminine qualities in leadership and business. On a global stage, with the COVID pandemic, we saw New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern’s compassionate, feminine approach gain greater buy-in around the world. At the same time, Oprah Winfrey’s undeniable business success has flourished from the feminine trait of compassion. Successful executivecoach Tara Mullarkey created her business High Ticket Empress, having lived and succeeded in the masculine world of Wall Street before embarking on a journey to discover how embracing her femininity could elevate her career further and take other women on this journey with her.
THE MASCULINE AND THE FEMININE
Masculine and feminine qualities are different types of energy. Masculine energies include drive, strength, and assertiveness, while feminine energies are those such as compassion, creativity, and resilience. Effective leadership needs both of these, which is why the time to openly re-balance the perception and use of them in business is overdue. Since the early Greeks, men’s interpretations of women have been embedded into society’s subconscious, historically leading to an overwhelmingly adverse inference on women’s ability to perform in the workplace and degrading the strength of and need for femininity. Yet, feminine traits such as resilience, communication, flexibility, and relationship building are vital in leadership and increasingly viewed as critical for future success. Leading from a place of femininity is
what Tara Mullarkey is bringing to the fore. After leaving Wall Street, Tara travelled the globe and learned to embrace her femininity, leading to the creation of her incredibly successful coaching business, High Ticket Empress. One of Tara’s core beliefs is that ‘embodied wealthy women are the most potent force on the planet politically, globally, economically.’ Tara promotes this belief fervently through her business, elevating female coaches and executives to exceed their goals and expectations. Tara’s success comes from helping women leverage their future success by recognizing, reversing and healing these deeply embedded beliefs that masculine led society has imprinted on women.
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COM M E N T INVITING IN FEMININE DRESS CODES
LATENT TALENTS OF THE FEMALE BRAIN
Research by Markus Hausmann1 shows that women tend to use both the left and right sides of their brains more, providing evidence that women can be more flexible thinkers, which is a priceless skill in our fast-changing world. Simultaneously, research by Simon Baron-Cohen at Cambridge University 2 shows how the female brain can empathise more. Watching Jacinda Ardern and Dr. Bonnie Henry in British Columbia, Canada, respond to the pandemic further evidenced this ability for females to effectively handle crises and rapid change through listening, empathy, and compassionate communication.
Leaders often set the tone for attire, and their choices have subconscious impacts on organisational culture, with many new-starters adapting their personal style to fit in. If our sartorial choices are viewed as a physical manifestation of our leadership, what is the effect of women’s clothing choices in the workplace? Even today from The City to Silicon Valley workplace dress codes are primarily defined by masculine looks, with women often finding themselves uncertain on how to dress. Research by Adam and Galinsky 3 found that when asked to put on a lab coat, some subjects felt like ‘phonie’s,’ suggesting a disempowering aspect of dressing to someone else’s requirements. Also, while some studies, such as a 2014 study by the Journal of Experimental Psychology 4, indicate that formal versus casual dress can impact specific aspects
Women can be more flexible thinkers, which is a priceless skill in our fast changing world
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Stand out from the crowd A Harvard study introduced ‘The Red Sneakers Effect’ finding that nonconformist clothing could ‘lead to positive inferences of status and competence in the eyes of others’ thereby suggesting that standing out from the crowd can be a positive move.5 of work such as negotiations, there is nothing to suggest that masculine clothing is more business appropriate. Nonetheless, at this time, with more male leads than females, male dress choice still sets the parameters for work attire. Research, however, suggests that the most effective approach is to dress true to who you are and vary between a casual and formal version of that style according to the task.
THE FUTURE OF FEMININE LEADERSHIP
It is crucial to re-enforce that masculine attributes remain essential even for female leaders. There will always be times when positive masculine energies such as assertiveness, order and objectivity are required. Yet, there is a significant need for more empathy, diversity, open-mindedness, and trustworthiness in leadership. What is needed is a positive balance of the two types of energy, adapted appropriately to each situation. While this article focused on women and their feminine leadership qualities, men can and should equally adopt more of these feminine qualities to expand their leadership potential. I believe that the global pandemic of 2020 has highlighted the need for and strength of feminine led leadership and organisations need to allow for and encourage more of this to flourish. With leadership traits such as approachability and trustworthiness essential for business growth and if our attire is the first impression of our leadership, it is worth considering whether a move to more feminine dress alone could bring positive change in leadership?
Tara Mullarkey is releasing her first book later this year called ‘7 Figure Femme’, which embodies her teachings on how to become a high worth female 1. WHY SEX HORMONES MATTER FOR NEUROSCIENCE: A VERY SHORT REVIEW ON SEX, SEX HORMONES, AND FUNCTIONAL BRAIN AYSMETTRIES by Markus Hausmann in the Journals of Neuroscience Research, published November 7th, 2016 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ jnr.23857 2. THE ESSENTIAL DIFFERENCE: THE TRUTH ABOUT THE MALE AND FEMALE BRAIN by Simon Baron-Cohen, University of Cambridge, published January 2003 www.researchgate.net/publication/ 232430614_The_Essential_Difference_The_ Truth_About_The_Male_And_Female_Brain
3. ENCLOTHED COGNITION by Hajo Adam & Adam Galinsky published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology July 2012 www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/ abs/pii/S0022103112000200 4. SARTORIAL SYMBOLS OF SOCIAL CLASS ELICIT CLASSCONSISTENT BEHAVIOUR AND PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES: A DYADIC APPROACH by Michale W Kraus & Wendy Berry Mendes, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2014 https://psycnet.apa.org/ record/2014-38364-001
5. THE RED SNEAKERS EFFECT: INFERRING STATUS AND COMPETENCE FROM SIGNALS OF NONCONFORMITY by Sylvia Bellezza, Francesca Gino and Anat Keinan, published 2013 by The Journal of Consumer Research www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/ The%20Red%20Sneakers%20Effect%20 2014_4657b733-84f0-4ed6-a441d401bbbac19d.pdf
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PROMOT IONA L
FE AT U R E
THE MOMENTS THAT MATTER The key life events that can leave women at a financial disadvantage, and the steps you can take to become more financially independent ‘We’re all in this together’. It might be a phrase we’ve heard quite a lot recently, nevertheless, it’s still an apt opening to a game-changing report by Insuring Women’s Futures. More and more organisations are championing change when it comes to women’s financial security – and this report, ‘Securing the financial future of the next generation’ is a call to action for every woman and girl to take steps to secure her financial future. Money can still be a taboo subject for many women, despite us facing a number of challenges when it comes to building up a comfortable amount of retirement savings. The gender pay gap, pensions gap and any time taken away from work to look after family all have an impact.
The programme identified six key moments in life that disproportionately impact women when compared to men generally
The programme identified six key moments in life that disproportionately impact women when compared to men generally. Identifying these pivotal life events presents an opportunity for women to
6 ‘Moments that Matter’ in the lives of young British women
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Growing up, studying an re-qulifying
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Relationships: making up and breaking up
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Later life, planning and entering retirement
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Entering and re-entering the workplace
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Motherhood and becoming a carer
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LIll health, infirmity and dying
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make a real difference to their financial security, by strengthening their financial resilience at those times. I would strongly recommend that you read the report, and use the information to help you plan the financial future you desire: www.insuringwomensfutures. co.uk/resources
STARTING THE CONVERSATION
The Insuring Women’s Futures programme encourages girls and women to engage in their own financial
life journey – to start making shortterm decisions, to create a future plan, and to arm themselves with knowledge. Most importantly, it’s up to women to feel empowered to discuss their finances. A professional financial adviser can help equip you with the information you need to make informed decisions that will impact your short- and long-term financial independence and resilience. As an adviser with Wellesley Wealth Advisory, a practice with over
The value of an investment with St. James’s Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds you select and the value can therefore go down as well as up. You may get back less than you invested. An investment in equities does not provide the security of capital associated with a deposit account with a bank or building society. Wellesley Wealth Advisory is an Appointed Representative of and represents only St. James’s Place Wealth Management plc (which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority) for the purpose of advising solely on the Groups wealth management products and services, more details of which are set out on the Groups website www.sjp.co.uk/products. Wellesley Wealth Advisory is a trading name of Wellesley Investment Management Ltd.
£600 million funds under management, I am here to help you plan for the future, while taking into account key life events, such as those six ‘Moments that Matter’ – and beyond. I will also provide the emotional discipline required to ensure plans are acted upon, by offering guidance, support and stability to help you stay on course to reach your financial goals.
◗ Samantha Kaye Chartered Financial Planner & Adviser Wellesley Wealth Advisory Wellesley House, 50 Victoria Road, Burgess Hill, West Sussex RH15 9LH 01444 849809 samantha.kaye@sjpp.co.uk www.wellesleywa.co.uk
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People will say to me, ‘You’ve played so many strong women’ and I’ll say, ‘Have you ever said to a man, ‘You’ve played so many strong men?’ No! Because the expectation is men are varied. Why can’t we have that expectation about women? MERYL STREEP
I’m the successful entrepreneur my Dad wanted me to marry LISA BILYEU, FOUNDER, QUEST NUTRITION
WOR DS OF INSPIR ATION Inspiring quotes from inspiring women
“I’m speaking” KAMALA HARRIS
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I NSPI R I NG
WOM E N
Men don’t age better than women, they’re just allowed to age CARRIE FISHER
I always wondered why someone didnt do something about that Then I realised I am someone
LILY TOMLIN
One of the criticisms I’ve faced over the years is that I’m not aggressive enough or assertive enough, or maybe somehow, because I’m empathetic, it means I’m weak. I totally rebel against that. I refuse to believe that you cannot be both compassionate and strong JACINDA ARDERN
I have Asperger’s syndrome and that means I’m sometimes a bit different from the norm. And - given the right circumstances being different is a superpower GRETA THUNBERG
Those commenting on Greta Thunberg would do well to remember that Joan of Arc led an army, Jane Austen wrote her first work, Sojourner Truth escaped slavery, Anne Frank kept her journal, and Malala won the Nobel Prize at the same age
I know as a woman I’m supposed to be afraid of getting older but I love this shit so much. Every year I sink deeper into this bath of unapologetic realness and it’s amazing BUNMI LADITAN
DIANA BUTLER-BASS
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TWO CHICKS WAS THE FIRST EGG WHITE TO LAUNCH IN THE UK Good friends Anna and Alla began their business, Two Chicks, from scratch more than 14 years ago to bring the first ready-separated egg whites to UK consumers, after spotting a gap in the market for a fat and cholesterol free, lower calorie alternative to whole eggs. Two Chicks has now grown to embrace a range of innovative, convenient egg-based products, including an organic and free range liquid egg white and a fresh ready-touse pancake mix. Two Chicks is stocked in leading retailers across the UK, as well as internationally.
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WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE A SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEUR AND HOW DO YOU THINK YOU CAN INSPIRE OTHERS?
Part of our success was down to never taking no for an answer and just persevering with what we believed in. When we were first starting out, there was an assumption that two women with just an idea and no experience in business or food could ever make a success of it. Thankfully we didn’t listen, but there were times when it was very challenging and we had to really get creative. We had a big job on our hands; not
only did we have to convince the buyers to list the product, but we had to actually explain to them what it was and why anyone would want to buy it, as they were all totally unfamiliar with the concept of egg whites packaged alone. We were introducing an entirely new product category and it was a whole educational process. Then there was the question of in-store positioning and which buyer to approach – in America the eggs are kept in the fridge but in the UK they are not, so there was no obvious place for our product to sit.
DY NA M IC
STARTING OUR BUSINESS ON SUCH A LOW BUDGET MEANT THAT WE HAD TO BE EXTREMELY PERSISTENT AND INNOVATIVE IN ORDER TO GET INTO AND REMAIN IN THE MARKETPLACE.
It was a question of always thinking outside the box and pushing boundaries – ducking under the red tape at food shows to hand samples to celebrities on stage. When we first got listings in the multiples, we would drive around the country leafleting outside the stores. We couldn’t afford the in-store marketing options so we would go into supermarkets and place our own point-of-sale on the shelves. But this activity came to an end once we were removed by security from a major supermarket chain and got a call from the buyer! In 2016 we won the Entrepreneurial Spirit Award at the Variety Catherine Awards, set up to celebrate inspirational women in business. And one year after our launch, we made the national finals of the HSBC Start-Up Stars Awards, the UK’s premier competition for young businesses. So the challenges paid off!
JOU R N E Y
Part of our success was down to never taking no for an answer and just persevering with what we believed in WHAT’S NEXT FOR TWO CHICKS?
As female entrepreneurs, creating our own fund to support girls and young women has been a long-held ambition of ours. This idea has been further accelerated this year because of the setbacks for schools in 2020 owing to the pandemic. We feel that now has never been a better time for our business to make a positive difference, which is why we have decided to launch The Two Chicks Empowerment Fund. We wish to align ourselves with women’s causes. Our Fund is being set up to help disadvantaged girls and young women develop self-confidence through mentoring enterprise schemes and engagement in sports and the arts.
Over time we hope to grow the reach of the Two Chicks Empowerment Fund to support, inspire and nurture as many young women as possible and to equip them with the self-belief, confidence, and skills so that they can achieve their full potential, regardless of their backgrounds.
◗ Find out more at www.twochicks.co.uk Twitter @2chicksproducts Instagram @twochicksproducts
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REACHING FURTHER
SUPPORTING THE FEMALE ECONOMY
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FEM A LE EMPOW ER MENT
Victoria Cleverley NatWest
I am Chief of Staff in the Markets division. My role is to partner with the Markets’ CEO and to be a trusted and respected advisor. I am driven by helping others succeed and am thrilled when this value is realised – my role really does succeed when others succeed. There is no one trait or function that describes what I do – which is why we often hear the role being called ‘a catch all’. My role is to ensure the division is effective, efficient and most importantly, creating long-term sustainable value for all our customers and communities when they need us most. As Chief of Staff I am in a critical position to help leadership navigate - I connect the dots between the work that we do and the impact that it has on the firm and importantly, the economies and society in which we operate.
WHY REACHING FURTHER?
Our aim is to use the power of transformational connections to enable both personal and business development. By bringing and sharing insight, providing access to role models and encouraging a one bank approach, we are supporting senior women to thrive and creating the conditions for sustainable growth.
WHAT IS IT?
Reaching Further is an initiative involving about 100 senior women with influence from across the bank, each nominated by their business area. Reaching Further has already begun to leverage the banks resources, tackle mutual challenges, and take action to better serve our customers and communities and grow the business. Reaching Further is specifically targeted at senior women who have influence for the simple reason that to go further in achieving greater diversity balance internally, and rising female economic empowerment externally, we need to be targeted. We firmly believe that we can support the female economy, through the power of transformational connections. Bringing senior women with influence together we can create the platform to enable them to collaborate to make a
Laila Page NatWest
I am responsible for embedding purpose across NatWest, following our new CEO setting out her strategy to become a purpose led bank earlier this year. Our purpose is to champion potential, and help people, families and businesses to thrive – I firmly believe that as a bank we have a genuine role to play in creating value for society. We’re just at the beginning of our journey to become truly purpose led and my job is to create the environment within the bank for this to take hold and really thrive, which involves listening, building capability and also highlighting the great role modelling that I see every day by my colleagues.
We are supporting senior women to thrive through the power of transformational connections to drive sustainable business development difference. Not only does this support and motivate us collectively, it drives business development and better still, more creative decision making. There are many brilliant initiatives and employee-led networks already in NatWest for learning, development and connecting, and we are privileged to work for an organisation with phenomenal women in many leadership roles, from CEO and CFO downwards.
SO WHY CREATE REACHING FURTHER?
We all know there is a material opportunity for banks to drive longterm organisational performance by increasing both the attraction and retention of women and providing more opportunities for those women to progress into senior roles. McKinsey’s research on diversity showed that companies with more diverse gender, culture and ethnicity outperform companies that don’t support diversity. The research found that companies in the top quartile for gender
diversity experience out perform by 21%. For ethnic and cultural diversity, there was a 33% likelihood of out performance. Whilst we can see improvements in tackling gender balance, there is some way to go to genuinely empower the female economy. The opportunity is clear from two recent research reports. The Women in Financial Services 2020 report by Oliver Wyman outlined a potential missed revenue opportunity amounting to $700 billion from better serving women as customers. The 2019 Rose Review identified a £250 billion opportunity for the UK economy if women started and scaled up businesses at the same rate as men. With targeted interventions focused on both outcomes of personal and business development, we genuinely believe that Reaching Further not only can and does have an incredible impact on the women that it supports, but will also help drive sustainable business development. It stretches thinking, sparks imaginations and creates something quite different.
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FEM A LE EMPOW ER MENT
OUR PLAN IS BUILT AROUND 3 PILLARS FIRSTLY “CONNECTING” Building transformational connections
Encouraging connectivity between businesses and teams to collaborate on delivering a business agenda that supports our growth and the female economy. These include improving the awareness of existing initiatives and the exchange of information, such as broadening our understanding of our customer segments with the purpose of better serving our customers on their own journeys. ◗ encourage mentoring opportunities ◗ informal sponsorship ◗ progression and career mobility across the bank.
SECONDLY “INSIGHTS” Bringing inspiration to accelerate the movement
We fuel this group’s hearts and minds with fresh insights and perspectives that keep us close to the bank’s priorities while challenging us on what we can do, individually and collectively, to support the plan. We maximise opportunities through our partners, thought leaders and entrepreneurs, as well as from within our group. ◗ to bring in new insights and encourage those internally to share their own stories ◗ inspiring us to take bold action to further improve diversity of thought, knowledge sharing and innovation ◗ encouraging new ways of learning and reflection, which has proved even more important with current circumstances.
NEXT “DEVELOPMENT”
Creating and collaborating around opportunities, which we think is what distinguishes this from other networks – it’s a group with a clear business purpose. An outcome we have prioritised for 2020 and will in 2021, is connecting to develop business opportunities for the NatWest Group. Our purpose, as a bank, is to champion potential and help people, families and businesses to thrive and this group of senior and influential business leaders can really make a difference – something as simple as building better connections can have a huge impact on the service we can offer to our customers. Transformational connections and insights focussed on client outcomes will maximise our collective impact, customer-centric agenda and reputation.
Feedback from the cohort says that Reaching Further is having an impact, they are passionate for its existence with over 85% saying it is invaluable
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THE QUESTION WE ASK OURSELVES IS WHAT NEXT – WHERE ARE OUR ASPIRATIONS FOR 2021 AND BEYOND?
CROSS-POLLINATE LEADER CREATION AND 1ACROSS EXPERTISE AND EXPERIENCE 2 ROLE MODELLING THE BUSINESS We have helped develop meaningful connections across NatWest, allowing us to truly operate with a one bank mind-set. During 2021, we plan to build on these strong foundations and leverage them to deliver sustainable business development. By working better together and empowering each other, we can be more creative, efficient and find new opportunities to succeed for our customers and colleagues. As a result, this group of connected, energetic and influential business women will champion potential and help people, families and businesses to thrive.
The business case for diversity and inclusion is clear. We need more purpose-driven, vulnerable and empathetic leaders. We have a material role to play in encouraging diversity of thought, through challenge and provocation, and as role models, paying it forward to inspire and support future leaders, who likely look different to the leaders of today. In the PWC pay gap reporting, 95% of companies surveyed had not analysed their ethnicity pay gap and perhaps more striking… 75% did not have the data to do this. While Reaching Further initially focused on gender diversity, through this platform we have the opportunity and responsibility to promote and tackle ethnic and cultural diversity.
CREATING THE FUTURE 3 AND MANAGING THE PRESENT
We have learnt an enormous amount about ourselves and how we operate as a result of the pandemic. Megatrends and megathemes have been exacerbated and exposed and we are living in a re-purposed society where individuals have re-assessed values and the relationships they have with their firms. As these themes strengthen and behaviours change, we recognise the urgent need to industrialise new ways of working, adapt how we lead our teams and re-assess customers values, in order to be fit for a different future that is emerging. There is a huge area of exploration and opportunity – the untapped talent, perspectives and role models needed to build the future of tomorrow.
◗ Sources: Women in Financial Services Report 2020, Oliver Wyman, 2020 Delivering Through Diversity, McKinsey 2018 The Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship, 2019
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X X X X X X X
NATWEST ACCELERATOR ENTREPRENEUR OF THE MONTH
JOIN THE HIPE Having won a top prize for her revolutionary idea, the founder of HiPe Kids tells us of her journey. By Carmina Catena
Half French, half English and educated to a Masters in Applied linguistics, I always knew that I wanted to work in Languages. After a couple of years at Uni in France doing Philosophy, I decided to continue my studies in the UK and moved to Bristol where I did European Studies and Languages. As my son was born during the second year, I finished my course via Open University, took a CELTA and started teaching in Brighton which has been one of my homes for the past 19 years. When my son was 11 I wanted him to become truly bilingual and moved back to France. I took this opportunity to start my first business: teaching English to French executives. Unfortunately my son really missed England. He went back to the UK and I started my incredible new life: one week in France and one in England. In order to fit my work around my lifestyle, I moved all my clients online, teaching via Skype.
While in France I also started working for Cambridge English as a consultant, and going to school to speak to teachers and parents, it became very apparent that the need for learning English was not for adults but children. In 2018 I did a Hackathon and presented my idea: teaching French children online through a communicative and multi-sensory approach using only English native teachers. I won the prize for “most innovative idea” and in August that year, Mehdi, my associate, and I, founded Hipe kids: we had no logo; no business cards, no website! Today we have all of these and 150 clients. We have just finished a small crowdfunding campaign, and we want to start our first round of fundraising. The biggest challenges for me? I’m not sure. Sometimes I get very nervous about my business. I look at others and think: should I not be making hundreds of thousands by now? Shouldn’t my
business be bigger by now? but then the support that I have around me is fantastic. Natwest Entrepreneur has been great (Josh my coach has been fantastic), and the other entrepreneurs are always ready to help. I strongly believe that the key element to a growing business is a positive entourage. I’ve been extremely lucky to have a strong network around me, in the UK and in France. Friends and family are super important, but the business people you surround yourself with, for me, is what makes or breaks the entrepreneur. If I had two pieces of advice to give: start on your pitch deck as soon as possible and perfect your one-minute elevator pitch. Having a clear vision for your business and being able to talk about it is FUNDAMENTAL.
◗ For more information contact Carmina.catena@hipekids.com UK: 07 850 590 181 / FR: 07 70 18 22 73 hipekids.com
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THE YOGA SERIES
A guide to mastering the poses of Sun Salutation by Tess De Klerk from Bliss Yoga In the second edition of The Yoga Series we move from our steady Mountain into my favourite transitional move, the Swan Dive, to find ourselves in Uttanasana or Standing Forward Fold. More than any other group of postures, forward bends require surrender and patience. Flexibility cannot be achieved by force, only with patient persistence. The physical aim of a forward bend is to stretch out any tightness in the tissues along the entire back surface of the body, from the connective tissue on the soles of the feet, to the back and up over your head to meet your eyebrows. That is a lot of blissful stretch and release! In doing so they reduce headaches and aid in deep, restful sleep.
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Forward bends are also inversions with traction force drawing the vertebrae apart. This cycle of compression and decompression is what keeps the intervertebral discs lubricated and healthy and as such, Uttanasana helps to nourish the discs and is valuable to prevent disc degeneration and is beneficial for anyone already suffering from it.
On an energetic and emotional level, Swan Dive and Uttanasana can aid in emotional release as they help to access our parasympathetic nervous system, bringing us into a calmer, more introspective rest and digest state of being.
Some yogis prefer transitioning into Uttanansana with hands in prayer position but I find that Swan Dive greatly assists in opening the heart space and bending from the hips.
H E A LT H
SWAN DIVE TO UTTANASANA ◗ From Mountain Pose breathe in and reach your arms overhead. Stretch the arms up as high as you can, palms facing each other while stretching and splaying the fingers and hands. ◗ While keeping arms stretched high, check in to make sure that your shoulders haven’t crunched up to the ears - consciously move the shoulder blades down your back to ensure your shoulders are relaxed. Feel the openness of the chest and take a couple of deep breaths to enjoy the lung space you have created.
◗ Draw your lower abdomen in and up as you fold all the way forward. ◗ Make sure that your weight is evenly distributed between your heels and your toes, as the tendency is to put more weight on your heels. If you feel uncertain about shifting your weight forward then keep a block in front of you for support.
◗ Stretch your feet and come to standing on your tiptoes, with arms still outstretched to the heavens. Tiptoeing around to find your balance is part of the fun and strengthens the ankles. ◗ Flatten your feet, tighten your abs, slightly bend the knees and sweep your arms to either side of your body while leading with the crown of the head into hinging forward from the hips. Hinge until you find your chest parallel to the floor. Be sure to hinge forward from the hips as opposed to folding from the waste. Abdominals must be engaged to protect the lumbar area. We aim for a flat, comfortable back – watch out for overarching! If you have very tight hamstrings or lumbar area take as much bend in your knees as you need to be able to hinge forward at the hips, as opposed to rounding forward from the mid-back.
◗ You should now find yourself in an approximate 90 degree angled bend, arms reaching to the side, gaze down to the ground. Check in on your neck. The back of the neck should be straight - do not compress the back of the neck by looking upwards! ◗ Now we look for that sweet spot - that feeling of the whole front torso simply hanging from the skeletal system, hanging from the spine, in this active yet partly passive move. ◗ Enjoy the hang and breathe. ◗ Now simply drop the arms and let them hang free.
◗ Allow the weight of the crown of your head to release to the ground to further release the whole back of your body. You can gently shake your head yes and no here to make sure you’re not holding unnecessary tension in your neck. ◗ Your arms can be placed with palms or fingers on the floor, on blocks, or it can also feel good to cross your arms beneath you. Whichever arm position you choose, keep a broadness to the collarbone and across the upper back. ◗ Slightly lift and lengthen your torso with each inhalation. Release deeper into the pose with each exhalation. Let your head hang. ◗ Hold the pose for up to one minute. To release, slowly roll upwards starting at the tailbone and moving upwards, vertebrae by vertebrae, stacking the vertebrae with the neck and head straightening last. Don’t rush this upward roll of the spine – take your time and enjoy the effects of your movements.
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H E A LT H
POD WELLNESS
By Tess de Klerk Walking into the lovely POD studio in Hannington Lane in Brighton, my whole body felt tense and knotted after months of being hunched over my computer. I desperately needed the sweet release that only a massage could bring but, I must admit, when first invited to try POD, I expected a souped-up version of the airport massage chair awkwardness - being poked and prodded in mostly the wrong places and leaving the chair feeling decidedly underwhelmed. Blissfully, I can now unequivocally state that the POD massage chair is in a completely different stratosphere as Alex, the founder of POD, rightly stated. I walked out of POD feeling relaxed, refreshed and rejuvenated. All that from a 20-minute session!
I walked out of POD feeling relaxed, refreshed and rejuvenated
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The studio is perfectly set up for social distancing and each Pod is positioned in its own private area. A choice of nine therapeutic programmes, ranging from gentle relaxation to invigorating Thai stretch massage, ensures a suitable programme for everyone. After much deliberation, I finally settled on Flex, a deep tissue back massage followed by gentle yet progressive stretching whilst fully reclining back in ‘zero gravity 2’ for greater relaxation. I was offered a heated eye mask (yes please!) and a choice of music and binaural beats to aid in achieving my desired state of mind. Whilst nestling into one of the sleek Pods, impressive cutting edge technology quickly scans the body to tailor and match to a person’s unique body contours. Soon I was settled in a superbly comfortable, perfectly fitted
massage cocoon. Over the next 20 minutes, I experienced a proper deep tissue massage and expert stretching! All programmes can be enjoyed with uninterrupted reflexology, whilst compression airbags in the arms, hips, legs and feet promote blood circulation. The infrared heated “human touch” double roller system massages the upper body and neck, while simultaneously massaging the lower lumbar, glutes and hamstrings, meaning 20-minutes really can achieve the equivalent of one hour of traditional therapy. Just 20 minutes transformed my tense and knotted self! Pod is impressive and uniquely suited to our current needs. I can imagine forward-thinking companies leasing one of these from POD for their office. Result – happy, relaxed and grateful staff. Massage therapy and relaxation are offered in a safe and socially distanced way and it is affordable, effective and walk-ins are welcome – just what I needed today. Lunch really is for wimps, lunch time at POD is the new way to go.
◗ Contact Alex Collinson, POD Founder and Director on 07544 839145 or email brighton@elevateyourday.co.uk
Thinkers Challengers Innovators Leaders DISCOVER THE SUS SE X MBA
FIND OUT MORE
www.sussexmba.com
AUDI SQ7 STATS
By Motoring Editor, Fiona Shafer, MD of MDHUB
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Price from: £75,300 | Combined MPG: 30.9 Speed: 0-62 - 4.1 seconds | Top speed: 155mph
Back in the Vroom... With a vengeance and what a car to return to reviewing at the end of a long hot summer. As we all know, first impressions count for most of us mere mortals and after after several months of lockdown and no cars to review, the Audi SQ7 certainly commanded my attention more than it might ordinarily have done. From the daily ZOOM to 0 – 62 mph of Vroom in 4.1 seconds, this car is a seriously impressive breath of highoctane fresh air, in the literal sense. Faster even than an Aston Martin DBX … who would have thought? I immediately felt like I was driving an Audi TT inside a flight simulator, with great panoramic visibility as I effortlessly glided across the motorways and roads of southern England. The Audi SQ7 is deceptive. You feel like you are in a very peaceful sports car
(a contradiction in terms I know) but with a huge amount of space behind and around you – all seven seats’ worth. Whilst it’s most comparable and historic competitors such as the Porsche Cayenne GTS are smaller and more agile, it does not have the feeling of weight of the BMW X7 M50i and consequently feels much lighter and handles very well for a large SUV. It could quite conceivably be the perfect cross-over car for the driving enthusiast. The one who loves putting their foot down but may have reached a point in their lives where they need to transport multi generation passengers without scaring the bejesus out of them. Put another way, the drive is so flawless that your passengers safely cocooned in the back will have no idea what is going on and will be safely transported from A to B whilst plugged into iPads, phones or simply snoozing.
MOTOR I NG
THE VERDICT NAY
YAY ◗ Absolutely awesome acceleration with no lag. ◗ The adjustable sports steering wheel feels fabulous in your hands, making you feel very much in control of the extraordinary engine power. ◗ A Telescopic speedometer – thank goodness for that otherwise you could get seriously carried away with this car. ◗ Gorgeous and beautifully made leather interior. ◗ The four-way lumber adjustment was very welcome.
◗ Super comfy headrests and lots of leg, head and elbow room. ◗ Lots of clever clips for hanging clothes up, netted baskets on the back of the seats to secure all of the paraphernalia we seem to all carry with us these days. ◗ Copious USB points. ◗ Great rear-view camera that I could understand for a change. ◗ Simply colossal boot space when all seats folded down.
◗ Tiniest indicator signs ever on a dashboard. ◗ Yet more overcomplicated but no doubt very clever technology (which seems to be a common feature of both Audi and Mercedes). The screens are not the easiest to operate whilst on the move and are quite distracting when you have to look down at the lower screen.
◗ Unless you enjoy using your precious time to sit and work out touch screen technology, you may want to outsource that responsibility to somebody else, who can then show you. ◗ Probably a first for a car review but you will need a good stash of anti-bac wipes, as the touch screens are huge and will need wiping.
9/10 Not dissimilar to the feeling you might get on a decent long-haul flight, but without the drinks trolley. Easier too with the Audi phone box that allows wireless charging, and two phones can be connected at the same time. Whereas other SUVs I have tested have on occasion felt slightly bulky, on first impression, I naturally found myself conscious of the size of the Audi SQ7 when at a complex four-lane roundabout on the North Circular and when first parking. My fears were unfounded. The Audi SQ7 seems to transcend all of these concerns and effortlessly soothed and guided me through those apprehensions, with the help of all wheel steering, four-wheel drive and cameras showing me every angle. I quickly felt very confident in this quite contrary car and therein lies much of its beauty.
The overall design is still a bit dated. I know this is my “bête noire“ with a lot of German car design thus far (with the exception of BMWs). I do think more innovative thought needs to be given to a far more contemporary design as it does not compliment the magnificence of the car. But it is still a whopping 9/10 on the speedometer from me.
DY N A M I C
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! u o y k n a h t to all our wonderful customers for your support over the past months... www.brightongin.com info@brightongin.com
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