Becky Sleath | CBRE
Becky joined CBRE in 2013 on the graduate scheme, undertaking rotations within the Capital Advisors department, Shopping Centre Investment and a secondment as a retail analyst at British Land.
Having become a chartered surveyor in 2015, she joined the Investor Office Leasing team in Central London, advising clients on office leasing transactions across a range of exciting development schemes and repositioning strategies.
Becky is particularly passionate about wellbeing and the cultural shift in the work place towards prioritising physical and mental health. She is heavily involved in CBRE's own programme 'Workwell' that promotes an open, flexible and trusting culture around wellbeing and productivity.
Candy Hollingum | CBRE
Aged 33, I am currently an Operations Director at CBRE, leading the delivery of workplace services to a key customer across 15 countries in EMEA.
What does this mean? Well to me, personally it means balancing a huge sense of responsibility with an undeniable sense of satisfaction, knowing that the work that our teams deliver means that the 10,000+ people who occupy the buildings we run can focus on their core business and go home safely each day because of the work we do.
I came in to the Workplace/FM sector after graduating from Kings College with a degree in Modern Foreign Languages in 2010.
Graduating just after a recession meant I struggled to find work. Something that had never been the case before. I had been working since I was 15 – when (at already 6 foot tall) I concealed my age to get a job as an English teacher while living in Rio.
So, in August 2010 I accepted a job offer in Access Control working for a large FM company and the rest really is history. I have now been in the sector for 9 years, having spent the first half of my career doing every job going in FM from building security & access control, then front of house, moving through helpdesk, procurement, finance, waste and environmental management &training before I became a Workplace Manager.
It is the variety that hooked me back then and why I still enjoy what I do so much now.
It fascinates me how much work goes on behind the scenes to ensure spaces function seamlessly in the way they’re designed to be. I can never again walk in to any environment – be it an airport, restaurant, shop or even a church without noticing a light out or involuntarily ‘auditing’ their cleaning standards but above all how an environment makes me feel.
Who knew that an industry that I’d never heard about could’ve gotten under my skin like this?
I am now an active advocate of our sector and am passionate about making FM a career of choice. I try to share what I’ve learnt so far by mentoring and sponsoring a number of people in my field, as well as working with internal and external groups to increase diversity and encourage social mobility in our industry. Both areas that I am hugely passionate about.
All this in a sector that nobody has ever heard about, although I’m not quite sure how when it’s worth c.£120billion a year!
Emma Sagar | British Army
Originally from Yorkshire; I joined the Army in 1998, where I have specialised as a Counter Intelligence and Security practitioner, seeing active service throughout the world.
I am currently the Deputy Security and Vetting Officer for the Joint Intelligence Training Group. In my spare time, I am studying BSc (Hons) Risk & Security Management at Portsmouth University.
I am married to a fellow serving soldier. We have a three-year-old daughter, Seren. Our first child, Matthew, was born in 2010. He was a real blessing, but tragically when he was 18 months old, he was diagnosed with a rare neurological illness; Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 7. Due to the degenerative nature of Matthew’s illness, he required round the clock medical care and intervention. This put a tremendous amount of strain on me mentally and physically as I tried to strike a balance between the needs of the Army, (I was an instructor at the time), my terminally ill son and my husband.
Thankfully, the Army allowed me to take leave for 7 months to care for Matthew during the palliative care stages. This allowed me to ensure he had the best care possible whilst enhancing his quality of life, despite the limitations of his illness. In May 2013, Matthew peacefully passed away in my arms, just after his third birthday. During our time of nursing Matthew, we found a lack of timely support in several areas; from housing adaptations and the procurement of specialist medical equipment to palliative nursing care within the home environment. This inspired me to try and make a difference to other families in the same situation. By the 1st anniversary of Matthew’s death, I had launched the Matthew Seren Trust, in his memory. The primary aim of the trust is to support children and their families with life limiting or life changing illnesses and disabilities. We are a small family-run unregistered charity and we pride ourselves on the personal, bespoke and timely interaction we have with our benefactors. We understand that sometimes tomorrow is simply too far away. To date we have supported over 25 families; ranging from one off grants to the provision of a versatile made to measure wheelchair. We are currently working on a project in collaboration with the Liam Fairhurst Foundation to create a safe place in a garden for a four-year-old little girl with complex medical needs to play and have fun.
I am extremely passionate about ensuring that families that receive the diagnosis of a life limiting or life changing illness or disability are provided with the support they need in the early days following diagnosis. I actively seek out families,be it military or civilian, that have family members with life limiting or life changing illnesses or disabilities and either provide direct support through the Matthew Seren Trust or by sign posting them to the relevant charities or agencies that are best placed to support them.
I am living proof that you can have a demanding full-time career in the British Army, whilst being married to a serving soldier and being inspired to help others through the devasting loss of a child.
I subsequently underwent the gruelling regime of IVF/PGD to be blessed with our daughter Seren in 2015. My aim is to inspire women across defence to remain serving, despite the many curveballs life may throw at us, whilst raising a family in the armed forces.
I have recently been voted onto the executive board of the Chronic conditions and Disabilities in Defence (CanDiD) network as the Carers and Families Advocate. The network has been established to connect and support Service Personnel, dependants and veterans with, or caring for persons diagnosed with a life-changing or life limiting condition, impairment or disability. Supported by the Armed Forces Disability Champion, CanDiD will endeavour to meet the needs of member, dependants, the chain of command and management, whilst driving inclusive and positive cultural change in the work place. I feel immensely proud to be part of this ground-breaking initiative.
When I’m not studying or working or helping with the trust I am a keen equestrian woman and can often be found on horseback with my daughter Seren!
Roshni Marathe | Marks & Spencer
I am Roshni associated with Marks and Spencer for last 5 years, I had achieved a lot during the course of time.
I joined in 2012 to support financially to my family, i am having 2 Sisters & apart from my father i was the only one who started earning. Initially it was challenging to adjust in new culture but later on I started loving my job. The whole thought that we (Sales Advisor or Fashion Consultant) are always part of making moments special by suggesting right outfit to customer for a specific occasion always worked as fuel. I not only enjoy my job but also feel proud of the fact that i am helping customers to go with a smile on the face with right outfit.
Now I am married & having a child, I feel more responsible than ever because I not only look after my joint family at home but also working as Team Leader & delivering maximum Business of Lingerie Pan India for Marks and Spencer.
Today I feel happy to groom new girls/freshers & share my experience with them. I had few achievements also in last 5 years like winning Employee of the Month 3 times, Value Champion 4 times, Spotlight Champion 2 times but still I consider Customers Feedback & Zero Attrition in my team for last 14 months as biggest achievement.
Pavitra Chalam | CurleyStreet Media
Pavitra Chalam was a national-champion roller skater and athlete for over a decade before embarking on her journey as a filmmaker.
Pavitra represented India as a Peace Ambassador to Pakistan in 2003. As part of the Youth Initiative for Peace in Pakistan, she directed her first film ‘Bus’, a statement of peace between both countries. Pavitra traveled across Europe in 2004 as an Ambassador for a U.N project on social change and used film as a medium to ignite the minds of young people in France, Spain, Germany, UK. In Ireland she was recognized as a front-runner for film and sustainability.
She followed up these experiences with a formal Masters degree in film-making at the New York Film Academy. Her thesis ‘Anamika – Her Glorious Past’ was selected for the sixth IAAC Film Festival, 2006 in New York, received critical acclaim at the Indian Film Festival, Los Angeles, 2007 and had a special screening in Washington at the World Bank.
Pavitra founded CurleyStreet Media (CSM) in 2012, an award-winning film production house focused on candid and emotional storytelling. Over the years Pavitra has chosen to tell stories about the under-represented, the uncomfortable, the awkward and the complex nature of being human.
Virali Modi | Enable Travel
Miss Wheelchair India runner up 2014, Quora's Top Writer 2013-2017, Winner of Women's Achievement Award 2017 by DCW, Wheelchair bound disability rights activist, motivational speaker, model, actress.
Shalu Varadkar | Mommies World For U & Me
Shalu RV, Founder of Mommies World For U & Me owns an parenting forum which is connected across globe with mothers. She comes from a business class family and have her own business of Event Management & HR, based out of Mumbai.
Shalu RV, is working for women empowerment and kids development and growth through her both channels. She is sole person to handle things on both platforms. Passionate into her business and loving mom to her 3 year old kid.
She has been acknowledged by number of articles/blogs and won an award recently by FirstCry.com as most engaging community for Mommies World For U & Me.
She not only channels her parenting forum beautifully but meet less fortunate kids to help them with community often.
Sonal Singh | Squats
Sonal is Indian-born but grew up in Canada, and studied and worked in London. She has worked as a management consultant at Deloitte in London and is now a Director at SQUATS focusing on Corporate Wellness & Women's Health. She is also a coach and mentor building confidence and communication skills, particularly for women. Through her role as a Director at SQUATS, she continually emphasises the importance for women to prioritise their health and wellness above all else. She was selected to be part of the Indian Wonder Women network, a group committed to creating awareness and solutions to end violence against women.
Sonal won the title of Ms. Asia Universe 2016 in India. She then competed at the Mrs. Universe competition in China in August where she was awarded the title of Ms. Universe-Beautiful 2016. She has used her title as a platform to raise awareness about inequalities and violence affecting women in India.
She is the recipient of the REX karmaveer chakra global fellowship award (awarded previously to honourable president Dr. APJ Abdul kalam) for raising awareness on domestic violence in the community and workshops she conducted for low-income women in partnership w NGO Udayan Care.
She is a graduate from the London School of Economics, is fluent in French and has lived and worked in several countries. She published an article with the director of the UNDP in Brazil, worked with the ministry of health in London UK and lived in rural Gujarat improving women's access to healthcare with the Aga Khan Foundation.
An avid writer, Sonal uses her blog to write on wellness and highlight key issues facing women today within India.
Elsa Marie D'Silva | Red Dot Foundation (Safecity)
ElsaMarie D’Silva is the Founder & CEO of Red Dot Foundation (Safecity) which is a platform that crowdsources personal experiences of gender based violence and abuse in public spaces. Since Safecity started in Dec 2012, it has become the largest crowd map on the issue in India, Kenya, Cameroon and Nepal.
ElsaMarie is an alumni of the Stanford Draper Hills Summer School, the US State Department’s Fortune Program and the Commonwealth Leadership Program. She is also a fellow with Rotary Peace, Aspen New Voices, Vital Voices and a BMW Foundation Responsible Leader. She is listed as one of BBC Hindi’s 100 Women and has won Female Entrepreneur of the Year Award by Dusan Stojanovic (European Angel Investor of the Year 2013), Government of India Niti Aayog’s #WomenTransformingIndia award and The Digital Woman Award in Social Impact by SheThePeople. Recently she was awarded the Global Leadership Award by Vital Voices in the presence of Secretary Hillary Clinton.
Prior to Safecity, she was in the aviation industry for 20 years where she worked with Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines. Her last portfolio was Vice President Network Planning & Charters where she oversaw the planning and implementation of 500 daily flights.
Vandita Morarka | Safecity (Red Dot Foundation)
Vandita Morarka is a development policy consultant, legal researcher and gender rights facilitator. Her areas of interest are gender justice, legal reform and youth capacity building. She has worked extensively with organisations, philanthropists, government bodies and politicians towards building development based action plans. She has intensively trained over 500 young persons in varied aspects of social leadership and has been instrumental in creating awareness of laws and violence amongst over 7000+ persons. She is currently engaged at Safecity as their Policy, Legal and United Nations Liaison Officer, India, where her policy led projects have been covered by Sweden TV and have been referred for action by the Railway Minister of India.
She also works at Strategic Advocacy for Human Rights and Red Elephant Foundation as a Legal Researcher towards expanding rights of women in South Asia and writes for various platforms on aspects of gender and mental health. She has won several awards for her commitment towards social service and is setting up her independent venture, One Future Foundation, which aims to create a better future by building up values of human compassion at the intersection of gender, mental health, legal reform and development policy through youth social leadership.