Charlotte Allen | Alexander Mann Solutions
Charlotte graduated in 2011 and has since worked in multiple roles within recruitment.
Since starting her career in agency, she soon moved into RPO, working with financial service clients including Deutsche Bank, Societe Generale, BlackRock, and most recently at Barclays. Charlotte soon discovered that she enjoyed sourcing for candidates, but mostly enjoyed the message that went to those candidates. Since joining Alexander Mann Solutions in 2015, Charlotte has been able to explore that, working with her client to ensure the message to candidates is the best it can be.
Outside of work, Charlotte does a number of different voluntary activities to support her passion for diversity. She helps young women to perfect their CV's as part of the Young Women's Trust, and mentors an female entrepreneur in India through Cherie Blair's Foundation for Women. As well as this, she has recently started as a helpline volunteer supporting women with cervical cancer or changes with Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust. Supporting the local community is a big part of Charlotte's life, and she volunteers at a local soup kitchen and supports local women's events and initiatives on an ongoing basis.
Farrah Ekeroth | EY
Farrah currently leads EY’s EMEIA Financial Services Employer Brand team, overseeing their talent attraction strategy across 18 countries.
Born in Canada but raised in the Philippines, Farrah obtained her bachelor’s degree in Sweden before moving to London in 2012 to pursue a career in marketing. In her current role, Farrah is responsible for attracting a broad range of talent into EY’s financial services business which comprises 15,000 people across 18 countries. Through storytelling, social networking and creative campaigns, she champions new ways to engage with recruitment audiences and raise awareness of the brand.
Raised by immigrant parents, Farrah has always been passionate about multicultural diversity and it was her global mindset that drew her to EY. More recently, she’s been helping to address the skills shortage in financial services through changing industry perceptions and attracting a broader, more diverse range of applicants from different social and academic backgrounds. This included launching the region’s first pan-EMEIA campaign to attract early female talent and those from non-traditional backgrounds into financial services, resulting in a 15% increase in applications, as well as a 30% increase in traffic to EY’s career portal and over 80,000 views of the campaign online. The project has also been shortlisted for external graduate recruitment awards in the UK.
Farrah has been actively involved in diversity and inclusion initiatives across the firm which has included leading on communications for EY’s disability and mental health network as well as participating in mentoring opportunities and facilitating marketing workshops for charity.
Farrah is a keen public speaker, regularly hosting internal events and speaking at external conferences to share best practice in the field of recruitment marketing, including the upcoming World Employer Branding Day, HR CoreLab and IHR Employer Branding Conference.
Prior to EY, Farrah worked in brand reputation for an energy company where she ran an educational programme for young people, facilitating educational experiences and workshops in schools across the country.
Anisa Aksar | 11:FS
An experienced Senior HR Business Partner, I've had the incredible opportunity to develop pre-boarding and on boarding strategies, performance enablement processes, developing intuitive people practices and launching wellbeing initiatives.
I currently spend my days building and nurturing purposeful teams at 11:FS (the hypergrowth startup on a mission to create truly digital ventures that customers love) by engaging, supporting, retaining and developing the best talent.
Laura Brunton | Amey
Laura currently leads the Early Careers team for Amey, a 17,000-employee business who is a leading supplier of consulting and infrastructure support services both in the UK and internationally.
A chartered HR professional, Laura has also worked in business improvement, project management and management consulting.
Laura is a highly experienced HR Business Partner and has worked in operational roles in the following sectors - Highways, Waste, Facilities Management, Group Functions and Consulting. Laura also has led teams in specialist HR roles in talent, OD, resourcing and HR helpdesk. This exposure to the business from many differing perspectives has allowed Laura to develop real depth and breadth as a credible and competent leader who specialises in people. Committed to working out of her comfort zone and keeping her business skills and commercial acumen sharp, Laura has recently returned from an international assignment in Sydney, Australia where she undertook a hybrid role of project management, client advisor and people & culture lead.
Laura instigated this role whilst on maternity leave with her second child and was over the moon to be able to pursue this once in a lifetime opportunity with her husband and children as a family. Her husband was highly supportive (if a little nervous about the huge change for the family at first!) and left his job in the UK to fully support Laura and their family in this great transition.
• Education: BA (Hons) Business; MSc Project Management; MCIPD; Dip Coaching and Mentoring (currently studying)
• Previously a Management Graduate at an International Manufacturing and Logistics Company – Assa Abloy
Charlotte Brierley | Fire Tech
People & HR Teams should live and breath innovation, every bit as much as much other departments do- why should Product & Tech teams have all the fun?
Since joining Fire Tech in 2016 as employee number 5, I've been in the lucky position of experiencing the startup-to-scaleup phase of the UK's leading Tech Education provider for 7-17 year old students.
At the point of joining Fire Tech, I didn't really know what coding was let alone ever think I would be able to do it myself- it always seemed to be something that mostly men did and learnt in their teenage years. However, through leading the People function at Fire Tech, I have had the privilege of meeting people from all walks of life who have inspired me and the thousands of students that we reach every year in the UK, to believe that tech is for everyone.
Every year we source, hire and train over 150+ STEM tutors and teachers across the country to deliver our courses on subjects like robotics, AI, Augmented & Virtual Reality, Coding, Electronics and the Creative Digital Arts for thousands of kids & teens in the UK and abroad. To do this as a one-woman-band for the first two years in our HR department, this was fair to say- a bit of an undertaking, but nevertheless an experience that I would do all over again in a heartbeat. I am proud that as well supporting our intense company growth with our people resourcing, I managed to lift our representation of women in our tutor/teacher cohort from 20% to 40% in that two year period.
With such low levels of women in Tech across most industries, it is a passion and a priority that we have adequate representation of women in our tutors and teachers as well as our core team. Fire Tech currently is represented by women at a minimum of 50% in senior and middle management, as well as our wider core team. I am extremely proud of our approach to Diversity & Inclusion in our hiring, as this enables all of our students to have the opportunity to see themselves in our team members, and feel empowered to achieve without barriers.
Now that we have a bigger People/HR team, my focus is to ensure that we provide all of our people with the best job that that have ever had/will have. We continuously look to innovate in how we do this and try to further imbed our learning culture. Everyone in our organisation, regardless of their job role, can now code. Just as we give our students the opportunity to learn the skills they need to thrive in this and the developing digital age, we also give our tutors and core team members the opportunities as well.
As a HR professional I truly feel that the best way that we can develop people is to not only focus on developing their skills required by their current role or department, but to also open up those opportunities outside of their field- that previously may have never felt possible. Regardless of our backgrounds, age, culture, gender and education-we can all learn, and this is the ethos that I will continue to proselytize as my short but sweet stint in HR continues.
Leah Bracha | RBS
I love working with people, so building my career in recruitment has been fantastic!
I am currently an Executive Researcher in RBS’ in-house search team. In this role, I help to ensure that the bank’s hiring into top leadership layers is diverse and sustainable, which is something that I feel very passionate about. I joined the team in 2018 after moving internally from my previous role as a Resourcing Consultant, where I supported hiring managers with the internal and external recruitment process, having started at RBS in 2015. I began my career as a Recruitment Consultant at Katie Bard Recruitment, after completing the graduate programme in 2013.
Outside of my day job I’ve become very involved with RBS Women, our internal employee network which works to attract, retain and develop women. I became involved after completing the network’s development programme for aspiring leaders in 2017, which I loved so much I have helped to organise it ever since! This included coaching a London team on last year’s programme, and I am thrilled to have been asked to co-lead this year’s programme for the region. I am also the lead for the network’s Communications & Marketing committee, which is responsible for promoting events and development initiatives to colleagues and members across the bank. I’m also very excited to be mentoring two individuals through the network’s mentoring scheme.
I’m passionate about inspiring and supporting young people from all walks of life. Before moving back home to London in 2017, I chaired BPS Birmingham’s Talent Committee. We organised events for aspiring talent and young professionals in the city, to help with their development and networking. I’ve also volunteered for Moneysense, RBS’ financial education programme for young people, and for Envision youth charity as a business coach and mentor.
I graduated from University of Birmingham with a BA in Economic and Social History in 2013.
Gurdeep Sira | London Fire Brigade
In 2009, Gurdeep was appointed as HR Administrator for TfL, one of the largest public sector organisations belonging to the Greater London Authority (GLA).
Working within the high volume HR Services TfL function, she provided support to over 28,000 employees, Gurdeep developed a passion for HR.
Her proactive and eager to learn nature led her to expand her skills set as Employment and Skills Advisor. Here she provided pastrol support, designed and developed programmes, supported senior business stakeholders and built advocacy. This opportunity allowed Gurdeep to add value and influence others career options by highlighting everybody has an equal opportunity to demonstrate their capability.
Following the completion of her CIPD qualification, Gurdeep has now held a number of other managerial positions including Capability Skills Manager, Recruitment Manager, Apprenticeship Development Manager and has supported TfL’s position as a world class employer by driving organisational outcomes and high quality programmes. Her considerable passion has enabled Gurdeep to become responsible for 26 varying programmes spanning HR, Engineering, Rail, Technology to Project Management to name a few. Having established significant credibility within the HR profession, she takes time to really invest in the future generations, actively participating with the Apprenticeship Diversity Champions network (chaired by MP Helen Grant), Care Leavers Covenant, and is a member of several GLA wider working groups, a member of the CIPD community,a STEM Ambassador and belong to the London Apprenticeship Ambassador network. She has a pivotal role in these groups, influencing employment routes, partnerships and HR agenda, creating confidence that HR's role is essential in building value.
Following her achievements at TfL, in 2018 she was recruited as Talent Manager for the London Fire Brigade. With the broader remit of Talent impacting 6000 employees, she now sets the strategic direction through attracting, developing and retaining people, and helping to define the people strategy, culture and organisation development. Gurdeep has done some impressive diversity, outreach, HR and recruitment work which focuses on social mobility and accessibility. She hopes to build on this work at the London Fire Brigade. In 2018 she was recognised for her potential and part of the Mayors Our Time leadership programme.
Louise Deverell-Smith | The Daisy Chain
Before Daisy Chain was created I was working in recruitment, and I saw first-hand how many mums were missing out on great jobs because the employers just weren’t taking their needs into consideration, mostly around childcare.
Not only was this unfair, it just didn’t make sense! What if employers were a bit more flexible in their approach towards working parents? Just think of the talent they would retain!
So, after the birth of my daughter, Daisy (and yes, Daisy Chain is named after her!) I decided to take the plunge and launch Daisy Chain. And it’s been quite a ride!
Apart from placing mums and dads with family-friendly employers across a wide range of industries, we have supported events run by Pregnant then Screwed and Mother Pukka (AKA Anna Whitehouse), and I was included on the #ialso f:entrepreneurs Top 100!
But most of all, I have LOVED meeting with all the mums, dads and amazing employers who get what we’re trying to do. We have placed our candidates with the right employers and both parties are really happy with the result.
I want my Daisy to grow up in a world of equal opportunity, where she will look back on the current situation with disbelief. And I am proud beyond belief to be part of a movement that is pushing for a flexible future.
Dr Larisa Corda | NHS
Dr Larisa Corda is an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist and Expert in Reproductive Medicine.
She qualified from Imperial College London and her training has been both in the UK and Australia, seeing her gain an understanding and appreciation of gynaecological, obstetric and fertility issues across a wide international population. She believes in a holistic approach to treating a patient that addresses many lifestyle factors, as well as a combination of Eastern and Western medical approaches, and is a passionate womens’ rights ambassador, with roles on a number of international charities that have included UN Women and The Circle. She believes in using innovative natural and mild IVF techniques to assist conception where needed, is ITV This Morning’s and Channel Mum’s Fertility Expert, regularly appears and is quoted by the media, and has several research interests, some of which have been published in international journals. These include the effect of stress on reproductive outcomes, older age motherhood, as well as the current global injustice of inequity of access to reproductive care. She is also brand ambassador for KicksCount and Wellness Sisters, and has launched her own website www.drlarisacorda.com which offers guidance and support for all those wanting a natural empowering approach to their fertility. In keeping with this, she has devised a unique programme for fertility and pregnancy called The Conception Plan, which aired on This Morning, and provided help for couples affected by infertility who applied and did not qualify for treatment on the NHS. The holistic approach encompassing diet, exercise, stress management and toxin free living resulted in a natural conception for one couple, after 3 years of struggle, and the birth of This Morning’s very own Baby Freddie!
Khadija Owusu | St George's, University of London
Khadija Owusu is a British Ghanaian Award-winning Leader, Speaker and Medical student.
She is the President of the Medical Elective Equipment Fund, Engagement Lead and Ambassador at Medics2You; a healthcare technology start-up that aims to deliver quality patient-centred care to the continent of Africa. Khadija is also the Head of Outreach at Melanin Medics, a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting diversity in Medicine whilst supporting African and Caribbean aspiring students, medical students and doctors. Her passion lies in inspiring and motivating thousands of young students in the UK from Black and ethnic minority backgrounds to achieve their full potential, despite the barriers and gain successful entry into medical school. Khadija is a change agent, an advocate and a voice for BAME medical students and doctors as she works to tackle several issues often encountered such as discrimination and differential attainment.
Khadija has been a guest of Michelle Obama at the White House; she won the Women in STEM Award by Her Royal Highness Princess Ann as well as received the Akindolie Medical Scholarship Award and many others. In addition to this, she has spoken at various national and international conferences, is selected as a ‘Top 150 UK Future Leader 2019/20 by Powerful Media and has been featured on the BBC, ITV and Channel 5 News.
Khadija Owusu is a true definition of an all-round hard-working, inspirational young woman that is breaking glass ceilings whilst making a strong impact and excelling at medical school.