In the lead up to International Women’s Day, Smart Works have been travelling across London to spread the word about our empowering service. We have attended inspiring events with individuals and organisations who share our passion for supporting women to be their best.
Here is a summary of what we have been up to…
- Spin for Smart Works launch event at Core Collective on Friday 1 March.
- On Friday we also attended a Change Makers Breakfast at Facebook. The morning featured a range of incredible speakers including Harnaam Kaur, Scarlett Curtis, Otegha Uwagba and Helena Bonham Carter, plus a clothing drive for Smart Works.
- Our CEO Kate Stephens spoke on a breakfast panel at The Curtain Hotel hosted by C&C Search on Wednesday, alongside entrepreneur Steph Douglas, start-up consultant Keji Mustapha, career coach Helen Letchfield and entrepreneur Lu Li. Together they discussed how to create a diverse and supportive culture to support women in business.
- On Wednesday evening, we attended a panel event at The Fold on the topic of shared parental leave with Annette Picardo, Managing Director of Etsy, and Leonard Picardo, Global Marketing Director of Deliveroo. The panel was chaired by Christine Armstrong, author of The Mother of All Jobs and proceeds from ticket sales were kindly donated to Smart Works.
- Meanwhile, members of the Smart Works team were also invited to a networking event hosted by Brand Me Collective. A panel of female founders, chaired by Ginnie Chadwyck Healy, discussed the importance of building a brand in the beautiful setting of Wild at Tart.
- On Thursday morning, we attended a panel discussion at Netflix, who chose Smart Works as their charity partner for International Women’s Day, running a clothing drive for us in the process.
- Throughout the week we also visited Spin teams from across the capital at Barclays, Osborne Clarke LLP, Franklin Templeton and Wavestone.
- Alongside meeting their Spin teams, Franklin Templeton and Wavestone also welcomed Smart Works to a breakfast event, which launched their International Women’s Day celebrations.
- Currency Cloud and Royds Withy King also hosted us for networking and presentation events in their offices on Friday.
The cherry on top of the cake this week, our inspirational Co-Chair and Honorary Treasurer Jo Hunter received her OBE for her services to Disadvantaged Women through Employment Skills Training at Smart Works.
Thank you so much to everyone who invited Smart Works to such inspiring and creative events, joining us in celebrating International Women’s Day 2019.