Bhairavi Sapre | Ministry of Defence/British Army
Prof Bhairavi Sapre is a General Adult Psychiatrist working for Cheshire and Wirral NHS Foundation Trust as a Community Psychiatrist in the Perinatal Mental Health Service.
She has been an NHS Consultant since 2011. She is the Joint Clinical Lead for the Cheshire and Mersey Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service. She is a Schwartz Round Facilitator and qualified in Executive Coaching and Mentoring. She is mentor for the Point of Care Foundation, a registered charity responsible for delivering the national Schwartz Round Program.
She is Veteran’s Champion Clinical Lead in her Trust and has helped her trust achieve Veteran Aware Status and set up an Armed Forces Network to help shape the trusts support to armed forces and their families in the Cheshire and Wirral area.
She is an External Committee Member for the Westminster Centre for Research for Veterans at the University of Chester and one of their Visiting Professors. She is currently co-principal investigator for a two-year project that will focus on transition to civilian life for veterans and their families, but will also seek to understand the full experience of these veterans throughout their service.
She is also an Army reservist, serving in the Royal Army Medical Corps with 20 years’ service, holding the rank of Lt Colonel, with 253 Medical Regiment, Northern Irish. During her service she has spent time at the Department of Community Mental Health, Catterick with her military counterparts and has attended numerous military psychiatry training courses and conferences in Trauma focused CBT and EMDR. She is a member of the Defence Hindu Network Committee where she has supported the development of webinars and has delivered lectures at Asian Women's' Events. She is also a member of the 1(Div) Mental Wellbeing Working Group and is the 102 Log Bde Mental Wellbeing and Resilience Lead where she advocates for and supports the wellbeing agenda across the Division.
Chanelle Smith | NHS
My name is Chanelle Smith. I am an FY1 doctor working in East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.
I was featured in the Guardian, the Bristol Post, the Epigram and interviewed by BBC Bristol Radio to share my experiences volunteering as a medical student during the pandemic. This led me to be featured within a children’s book honouring Captain Sir Tom Moore: One Hundred Reasons to Hope. I have now been selected to become an ambassador for the Captain Tom Foundation and I will be working on projects alongside my medical work to support the foundation.
During my studies, I became determined to resolve some of the health inequalities that exist in the BAME community. I have recently contributed to a dermatology textbook, Dermatology Cases in Skin of Colour, that educates medical professionals about skin conditions in different ethnicities. I have strived to improve healthcare for BAME mothers and newborns through my role as an ambassador for BAME Maternity and have been invited to speak at their conferences about the impacts of health inequalities. I will be helping to raise money for The Brun Bear Foundation through hikes and an epic adventure to Greece.
South-African born, I have always tried to stay connected with my roots. My work empowering black communities in Ghana has won me the Pius Adesanmi Memorial Student Award for outstanding contribution to Pan-Africanism. My work was celebrated by the University of Bristol for International Women’s Day and I have been invited back to a regional conference to inspire the next generation of medical students.
Abigail Swerdlow | Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust and East London NHS Foundation Trust
Abigail is a Specialist Registrar in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust.
This year she has taken on the role of fellow in medical education for East London NHS Foundation Trust and honorary lecturer for Queen Mary University London, designing and delivering undergraduate medical education in psychiatry. She obtained her undergraduate degree from the University of Cambridge and qualified as a doctor from Kings College London in 2011. In addition Abigail has gained further qualifications by completing a diploma in philosophy of medicine and a foundation certificate in systemic approaches in working with individuals and families. She is currently completing her postgraduate certificate in learning and training.
Abigail recently set up a London medical education forum for psychiatry trainees, which she chairs. This focusses on peer support, collaboration and sharing learning. She organised a successful global mental health conference for all London medical students. Abigail has delivered webinars and workshops on mental health within schools, youth groups and to the wider community. Abigail has set up numerous mentoring programmes and mentors many individuals personally.
Abigail sits on the Royal College of Psychiatrists wellbeing committee, is the junior doctor chair of the Jewish Medical Association and is a trustee of JAMI and co-chair of their clinical governance committee.
Victoria Kinkaid | British Army
Victoria is a junior doctor with a passion for women’s health. She studied Medicine at the University of Aberdeen, graduating in 2019, and holds an MSc in Global Health and Management, with a strong focus on Global Maternal Health.
Victoria is a self-reported feminist and activist. She is passionate about the safe provision of healthcare, particularly good reproductive care for women, alongside spreading evidence-based information around women's healthcare to enable women to make informed and empowered decisions around their healthcare.
She advocates strongly against the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and has led a group of researchers to do research around how much medical students know about FGM. From this novel dataset, it was found that medical students in the UK wanted to be taught more about FGM. Victoria then established a team with her mentor to raise awareness to all frontline professionals of their mandatory reporting duties with regards to FGM. This has resulted in her and her team creating a 4-week free FutureLearn course in collaboration with the University of Aberdeen, which had over 450 students enrolled.
She is also passionate about the provision of safe and accessible abortion care. She is the campaigns coordinator of Doctor's for Choice, a pro-choice organisation of healthcare professionals who advocate for abortion rights and reproductive justice both in the UK and worldwide.
She also volunteers for a charity called "Abortion Talk", which runs a confidential talkline to provide support to anyone with an experience of abortion care; including sexual and reproductive health and abortion care professionals, those who have had or are considering having an abortion, and those who have supported loved ones with their abortion care decisions.
Victoria is passionate about gender equality and has a specific focus on women's healthcare, but also women's empowerment more widely. She does all of this whilst working a full-time clinical job.
Greta McDonald | Sweet Lounge
My name is Greta and being an entrepreneur has always been a passion of mine, I was always into business from a very young age you could even say it runs in my veins!
I started my own company at the age of 16, but after trying many different industries I landed on my current company, Sweet Lounge, which has been growing year on year.
I always had a passion for business, there's no doubt about that. When others at school were off to University, I made that all important decision to pursue my interest in starting my own company.
My first company was a florist shop which I opened in our local town. I encouraged my mother and aunt to leave their day jobs to come and make arrangements in the shop which quickly became a success. I was in charge of everything else.
I also got myself into a national and some local newspapers as well as winning some business awards too! My mum still runs this business to date, but as I was interested in discovering a different industry, I handed over the reins to her.
Fast forward a few years of experimenting to when I started Sweet Lounge back in 2014, all was well until I was hit with depression and anxiety, these were a few years of dark times that were hard to overcome, issues with my health, mental health, family relationship and money lead to me hitting complete rock bottom and it was somewhere I thought I would never get out off.
I found it so difficult to overcome this until my partner (now husband) gave me the utmost support. It took some time but I did see brighter days, I would never know how to thank him for getting me out and back on my feet again, he's the one that deserves an award!
Anxiety still hits me sometimes but I always remind myself that I always have his support no matter what situation I find myself in.
Sweet Lounge's journey carried on as I hoped it would, putting more effort into making this business grow.
I am now a mother of 2 small boys (a 2 and a 3 year old) although balancing life and growing a brand at the same time is tough and can sometimes be overwhelming, it's incredibly rewarding and keeps me super motivated. My husband also has a local business that's growing well in a completely different industry to mine (selling white goods) which we both run together, so my hands are always full, believe me!
A year after my 2nd child, I decided I really wanted to push the pedal on Sweet Lounge, so I decided to go into FMCG (fast moving consumer good/ Retail) with a line of my own packaged vegan gummy sweets. We are now stocked in around 140+ independents as well as BOOTHS, all 5 Daylesford store and recently Holland & Barrett and Gorillas App. I am currently in talks with Morrisons and Ocado to stock our products.
In 2021, I won ‘Young Entrepreneur of the Year’ with Forward Ladies and secured Bronze in the Northamptonshire Food & Drink Awards under ‘Food & Beverage Achiever 2021’. Alongside this, I was also a finalist in Northamptonshire Business Excellence Awards under ‘Businesswoman of the Year’ and in the Great British Entrepreneur Awards 2021 under ‘Food & Drink Entrepreneur of the Year.
I am incredibly proud to have achieved what I have over the years and I will keep on climbing.
Nicole Dellipiani | Bump to Bambino
Nicole is a Founder and Director of Bump to Bambino, a discovery and price comparison website for everything pregnancy and parenting from trusted brands and retailers.
Nicole has 10+ years experience in Human Resources, where she worked in the City of London for one of the Big 4 audit companies. However, whilst pregnant with her 2 children she encountered a a fragmented, stressful and soulless online shopping experience for new parents and set out to solve this problem.
She did not have any technology experience and faced with costs into their £100s of thousands to build a Minimum Viable Product she set out to learn to code and understand how to build a discovery and price comparison website.
Nicole and her business now partner with well known brands/retailers including John Lewis, ASOS and Mamas and Papas who believe and support Nicole's vision to build an online shopping community to parents. Hoping them to save money and time with their shopping and having everything they need all under one virtual roof.
Abbie Hills | The Dazey Hills Company
I am 26 years old and hold a BA degree in Film and an MA degree in Arts Management.
I have been working and trying to get my foot in the door of the entertainment industry since I was 15, and have worked in acting, modelling and film production. I founded my own Talent Agency to diversify the entertainment industry and provide opportunities to all. I am particularly interested in this because I have cerebral palsy. Recently, I also worked in the costume department of a Hollywood film. I am passionate about helping others and that will always be my motivation. I also mentor other filmmakers and produce my own projects alongside my Talent Agency. Currently, I am also working with a charity to support people with additional needs and disabilities.
Michelle Leivars | The Soap Sponge Company
The Soap Sponge Company was created as a result of a series of traumatic events around 8 years ago.
Myself, my husband and our two daughters' world was turned upside down following my husband's accident and my own major surgery, ending up having a hysterectomy at 29 due to a series of hospital blunders. After being a stay at home Mum for 11 years, I found myself needing to take charge of the family unit and try to carve out a future for us.
With no qualifications, no business experience and no confidence, I was at a loss as to how we would recover as a family, frightened with no way to turn and no scope of getting us out of the situation, my mental health plummeted as I tried to navigate the situation we were in.
Financially in ruin, we had to visit food banks to get by and our future looked uncertain. Upon receiving their food bank parcels, it contained a sample sized body lotion, which was a luxury I had been unable to afford, and after using it I remember feeling so special and pampered.
At such a dark time, that one action of using that product lifted my spirits and in the midst of the chaos made me feel human again.
It was from that moment that I vowed to dedicate her future to making other people feel special, if only for a short time, just as I had at that moment.
In the years that followed we slowly started to get back on our feet and eventually The Soap Sponge Company was born. We have a deep rooted passion for self care, having kept our experiences at the forefront of our minds, every product is made with the same desire to deliver that same special and pampered feeling I had all those years ago. We handmake our products in our High Street shop in Witney, Oxfordshire, using kind to skin, vegan friendly ingredients.
The business ethos is that every single person deserves to feel special, you are all important, you are all worthy and everyone should practise self care, no matter how small, something so simple can make you feel special and human again.
Cat Wildman | Global Equality Collective
Cat is Co-Founder and CEO of the Global Equality Collective. She’s a diversity, equality and inclusion expert, an award-winning digital product person and most importantly, a mum of 3.
Cat is a scientist-turned-technologist who’s spent the last 2 decades solving problems using technology, and creating digital products for companies like The Times, The Sunday Times and Timeout London. As a STEM ‘lifer’, Cat had seen the sheer scale of the problem of imbalance and lack of diversity in the workplace, especially in STEM careers, and began mentoring and working with STEM women and girls. When she became a parent, and saw that Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in education hadn't substantially moved on since the 80s, she realised that she had a personal responsibility to change things. She decided in 2017 to dedicate the rest of her career to bringing about equity and solving imbalance.
As Co-Founder of the GEC, Cat is passionate about mentoring, and always has a number of mentees. In 2016 Cat worked for a year to conquer her phobia of public speaking in order to become as visible as possible and provide representation and inspiration for the next generation of diverse talent. She now speaks at events like Women of Silicon Roundabout on her favourite topics; diversity, equity and inclusion, underrepresented founders, start-ups and of course, working parents.
Indie Gordon | Foundervine
Indie is an International Motivational Speaker, Coach, Angel Investor and Founder of Halo an all in one safety app that provides round the clock safety, resources and support for adult men and women, guardians and lone workers.
Halo connects to different health and fitness apps and software that allows users to track their physical health also, this ensures everyone is supported from all angles.
Indie started her career in Program Management, setting up social action projects in different communities, the aim was to bring communities together and empower people to become active citizens and not passive bystanders, this meant partnering with major companies like Sky, HSBC, Nandos and local government. Indie was responsible for ensuring over 7,7800 + young people successfully completed the program and achieved their goals.
After 6 phenomenal years of building a management team across London and Surrey Indie moved into the startup ecosystem where she now heads the international programs department at Foundervine a startup tech training consultancy company that works to empower anyone with a dream of starting, developing and scaling a business.
Indie has 8+ years of experience in large scale strategic program management, VIP stakeholder management and business growth and scale-up. Since joining Foundervine Indie has overseen the transition from a small, largely part-time team, to a fully staffed organisation of over 20 employees with offices on two continents. She has overseen a number of excellent, high impact business support programs for diverse entrepreneurs including:
- Barclays Black Founder Accelerator in partnership with Barclays Bank
- Lloyds Investment Readiness Accelerator and Immerse Program in partnership with Lloyds Bank
- Lambeth Business Support Program on behalf of London Borough of Lambeth
These programs amongst others have supported over 4,600 individuals in the last three years to build enterprise skills, take their first steps into entrepreneurship and scale new digital ventures.
Indie is on a mission to empower anyone, and everyone to speak, lead, work and live with unapologetic confidence. Indie has returned to school to achieve her degree in computer science at Harvard University. Her goal is to equip people regardless of gender, race and disability with the tools needed to achieve their dreams and live their best lives.
Indie took a leap of faith and transitioned into the tech industry after attending a coding class for women wanting a career change and was blown away by the scope and impact of what could be achieved. Now, Indie is in a position of leadership where she empowers the companies of today and tomorrow, ensuring all companies and organisations are tech-enabled and can weather the storm of any social, economical or environmental change