Lalita Devi Purbhoo Junggee | Nineteen Fifty Design & Print Co Ltd
My name is Lalita Purbhoo-Junggee. I am 28 years old, married and the mother of two kids. I am the co-founder of 1950 Design & Print Co Ltd, which is located in Pailles, Mauritius.
I started my career as a trainee reporter at sixteen. Following high-school, I began work at a top newspaper in Mauritius. After eight years of working full-time, I decided to take on the adventure of becoming an entrepreneur.
Together with my husband, we started a large format printing and advertising company. Step by step, we have expanded our operations, while sticking to our core values and principles. Our major goal is to have the biggest positive impact we can on the environment. Living in an island nation, we see first hand how much of an impact man made climate change is having on the island. From severe droughts to extreme heat.
My biggest personal strengths are my focus and followthrough, my ability to commit to a task and see it through to completion. I am a very intuitive and curious person who loves to learn, problem-solve and find innovative solutions for everyday problems. I am very open-minded, optimistic, hard working and these traits are very beneficial in a career oriented around creativity and design.
Tanya Dennis | Eventsuncut
Alongside her six years of International conference and exhibition management experience (in-house), working within a variety of sectors including Interior Design, Aviation, Finance, Technology and Health Care; at 28, Tanya is also Founder of Event Tech start up Eventsuncut.
Tanya had the vision for the event promotion and directory business www.eventsuncut.com when she struggled to identify reputable event suppliers for the entertainment events she project manages in her spare time. Over the 5 years since its initial launch, Eventsuncut has evolved into an event finder for young people in London to easily locate events that interest them, from Coding workshops to club nights. Living in London should mean that there is never a shortage of places to go, but quite often people don’t know where to find out about these events! Tanya would also like to see Eventsuncut become a trusted review and news site, and an app.
Outside of her day job, Tanya often joins charity projects as an event or venue manager; most recently Oxjam Brixton which raised £6800.
In 2015 Tanya was accepted as an inaugural mentee in Fay Sharpe’s FastForward15 mentoring scheme which aims to inspire, encourage and empower women in the events, hospitality and related industry to be the best they can be: http://www.fastforward15.co.uk
Chayya Syal | Avid Scribbler
Chayya is an award winning Broadcast Journalist with seven years' experience working across print, digital, broadcast, video and radio from London, UK.
She currently works on a live news programme at the BBC, is a Schools Speaker for Amnesty International, is a Huffington Post blogger and goes to schools and colleges across London to discuss careers, responsible journalism and tech.
She is also the creator and founder of her blog Avid Scribbler which she started in 2012. Here Chayya discusses the complexities behind constructions of ethnic identity in a post 9/11 world for women of South Asian origin and the challenges, opportunities and experiences that they continue to face.
Since the blog's beginnings, she now has an international readership of 10,000 which is still increasing, has been featured in a documentary by the Media Trust, won in the Media category at the Women of the Future Awards ceremony in November 2016 and more recently has been listed in Forbes 30 under 30 Europe 2017 in the Media category.
Jenny Garrett | Reflexion Associates
I am an award winning Executive Career Coach, Author, 2 x TEDx Speaker, Leadership Trainer. Commentator. Women & Teen Advocate and Entrepreneur.
I have been running my business, Reflexion Associates Limited, which is a Leadership Consultancy for 11 years, Before that I held senior marketing roles in organisations, such as Schroder Leasing and Hamptons International.
4 years ago I wrote my Amazon best selling book Rocking Your Role, on the taboo subject of female breadwinners and this led to my work evolving to support working women and the broader diversity agenda.
My mission is to transform the world for everyone, one empowered woman at a time. I work with women entrepreneurs and business executive to helping them come to terms with, appreciate and thrive on the varied challenges they face in their demanding lives. I use my years of experience in coaching and leadership to inspire and motivate people, working with them to deliver career and life changing results beyond expectation.
I have reached an audience of over 30,000 through my speaking engagements, including, and coached individuals all over the globe from Australia, to Botswana, the US, Mexico, Spain and the UK, with over 3000 coaching hours under my belt.
I am a Mentor for the Cherie Blair Foundation and have mentored women in Botswana and South Africa and am an informal mentor to women I meet.
I am regularly asked to contribute on news stories relating to women and the workplace, most recently on Sky News, BBC Radio 5 and LBC Radio.
My most recent clients include MasterCard, EY and Mace Macro.
A client recently described me as a ‘yoga stretch for the career!
Cynthia Davis | BAME Recruitment
I am a passionate female entrepreneur who is determined to make a difference for people from under represented backgrounds within the workforce. I have worked within the recruitment industry for over 18 years and worked for a number of organisations including BT, Carphone Warehouse, Talk Talk and at ITV for Creative Access. Throughout my career, no matter what organisation I worked in, there were never many people who looked like me working in similar positions. I faced barriers in my career and when I wanted to move up the ladder, the only way for me was to move out due to the lack of opportunity to progress.
I found that it wasn’t just myself. A lot of people who came from a similar background to me from ethnic minority, or from other under-represented backgrounds had similar issues. I started to look at organisations more closely and started delving into the data. It soon became clear that a lot of organisations were not as diverse as they thought they were. Whilst there were lots of people who looked like me at a certain level, at the hierarchy the numbers significantely reduced. I’m a great believer in being part of the change that you want to see in the world and so armed with this, I decided to set up my own business. I felt that my recruitment experience, excellent market knowledge and work within the diversity networks could enable me to make a difference.
Bryony Thomas | Watertight Marketing
To quote one reviewer on Amazon, Bryony Thomas is the author of “the book on marketing that makes sense of the rest”. Watertight Marketing (Panoma Press) brings together her extensive experience and many perspectives on marketing.
- She was managing telephone fundraising campaigns for the likes of Mind and Help the Aged at age 19.
- She was designing and running pan-European campaigns for Dell and Microsoft by age 24.
- She secured a role as divisional director of marketing in FTSE 100, Experian, by age 28.
As a self-funding student she took the role of telephone fundraising with ActionAid, within 3 months – aged just 19 – she was co-managing telephone fundraising campaigns for UK’s best-loved charities, alongside her ‘full time’ studies. By age 24 she was heading up the largest account at leading technology marketing agency Mason Zimbler – running integrated campaigns across Europe for the likes of IBM and Dell. If you ask nicely, she’ll tell you about the yellow trainers. Aged just 28, and with a CIM Diploma and an award-winning MBA under her belt, she secured the role of divisional director of marketing for FTSE 100 company, Experian.
In 2008, she started her journey to what is today the Watertight Marketing Methodology. First, building a six-figure marketing consultancy where she designed and delivered the 12-month marketing transformation programmes that she has now captured in her best-selling book and mentoring programmes – Watertight Marketing.
Bryony is also the founder of the UK's only network of quality-assured independent marketing consultants.
Dr Ava Eagle Brown | Ava Eagle Brown
Multi-award winning International Speaker, Author and Transformation mindset coach, Dr Ava Eagle Brown is in a class by herself. She is the author of her memoir The Mango Girl soon to be a feature film. Ava has moved from incest, rape, failed marriages and being homeless to a household name globally. She has shared stage with the likes of Eric Thomas, Lisa Nichols, Nick Vujicic, Andy Harrington, Hollywood -Sheryl Lee Ralph, Paul O’Mahony, Darren Winters, Mac Attram, Reena Marla, Simon Coulson, Paul Preston , Joseph McClendon 3rd among others of influential and status in this space.
She has been featured in the Financial Times, Guardian just to name a few of the press that has sought to have words from this great country girl turned corporate queen.
Out of her journey, Ava has created Awakening Your Lifes Purpose, Purpose Walk and the Get Your Book Out of Your Gut Programmes with the view of helping others maximise their truest potential and claim their BEST LIFE.
She has helped over 28 individuals rewrite their stories in less than a year, some of these authors of having gone on to being featured in media globally and have started their journey of transforming others.
Ava operates on an ethos of transformation through mindset mastery. She seeks to empower others to understand that the word IMPOSSIBLE means I”M POSSIBLE – thus helping them claim the lives they were meant to live, a life of abundance, joy, peace and success.
The love, desire, and passion Ava has to see others come out of the RUT and claim their best self, stands at the CORE of her WHY. Her style of being truly transparent, authentic, enthusiastic and welcoming are all part of her success. She has often referred the UK’s answer to Lisa Nichols Oprah Winfrey.
Contact : www.avaeaglebrown.com
@avabrown24 twitter
dr.avabrown24 Instagram
Claudia Lambeth | Luna Mae London
At the age of just twenty-two, Claudia Lambeth founded the British Bespoke lingerie brand, Luna Mae London. After discovering a gap in the market, the brand was established as a personal and private service for women wanting to experience the ultimate luxury in British lingerie and loungewear. With exclusive Bespoke fittings offered around the world by appointment-only, emphasis is placed on empowering women through unrivalled quality and attention to detail, confidence in accurate fit, and accompanied by a dedicated service.
Claudia has sustained international press coverage in The Times, How To Spend It, Vogue, W, Tatler, and on an NBC and CNBC TV episode where Luna Mae London was credited as “The world’s most exclusive lingerie”. After securing Angel investor backing in 2016, Claudia introduced Luna Mae London’s debut Ready-to-Wear collection securing stockists such as Fortnum & Mason and other prestigious boutiques worldwide. The brand will be opening its first flagship store in Belgravia during the Summer of 2017.
Claudia is also a public speaker, passionate mentor, and an avid supporter of charities such as Breast Cancer Now, Breast Cancer Campaign, and Lady Garden.
Nina Hinton | Open Awards
Nina is the Development and Marketing Manager at Open Awards, an awarding body and charity whose vision is to change lives through learning. With a background in supporting young people with disabilities and/or learning difficulties to gain meaningful paid employment and live independent lives in their communities, Nina is a values-driven individual who believes that everybody should have the opportunity to achieve their aspirations.
Her role at Open Awards includes the development of meaningful qualifications across vocational sectors and Nina works closely with education providers, learners and employers across England to develop curriculum that meets the individual needs of learners and support progression and achievement of aspirations.
Nina offers support to education providers across England to review and improve curriculum, keeping learner outcomes at the heart of everything she does. This includes Further Education Colleges, schools, private training providers, offender learning providers and the third sector. With a strong passion for the third sector and the important role it plays locally and nationally, Nina leads on funding applications and program developments with partner organist ions to implement the delivery of high-quality education programs that support Open Awards’ vision of changing lives through learning.
Nina also runs a disability social club for young people aged 16-25 with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. The social club aims to promote independence and choices, and offers and informal and safe environment for young people to learn new skills, improve their confidence in their abilities and to have fun. Nina volunteers her time for other charities, including supporting the management of an SEN Parents Group and providing support with job applications and interview coaching for long-term unemployed adults.
Laura Kirsop | FutureLearn
Laura Kirsop is a former teacher and teacher educator who is now a Senior Product Manager at FutureLearn. Her main passion lies in increasing opportunities for young people in STEM.
For seven years she worked as a primary school teacher, coordinated ICT and mentored trainee teachers. She led a number of initiatives to improve digital skills, including getting students blogging and coding.
This work led to her getting involved in Code Club, a nationwide network of volunteer-led after school coding clubs. In her role as Head of Code Club UK she oversaw curriculum design, evaluation, partnerships and community management. She worked closely with funders such as Google, Nesta and Samsung on a number of high-profile projects.
She then moved on to become a Senior Product Manager at FutureLearn, a social learning network that has over 5 million users worldwide. Here she leads the Learner Experience team - an interdisciplinary team focussed on increasing learner participation and improving pedagogical tools.
In her spare time she trains teachers to deliver the new Computing curriculum and produces and co-hosts an edtech podcast called Book Smart. She also volunteers for charities that improve the digital skills of young people.