It can’t have escaped your notice that Wednesday was International Women’s Day, and we hosted our own special event to celebrate the day with over 120 women turning up to the Doubletree by Hilton on Festival Park, sponsored by Brampton Recruitment, to witness a stellar line up of inspirational women speakers, each with a very powerful message.
Trinidad born but naturalised Stokie, Gabriella Gay opened the proceedings with a powerful poem – ‘In Our Sisterhood’. As well as holding the position of equality and diversity officer of the Keele University Postgraduate Association, Gabriella is the founder of Stoke’s Roaming Poets, a group of local poets who take poetry to the streets, a trustee of the New Vic Theatre, a cultural advocate for Stoke and strong believer in the power of the spoken word.
Stand-up comedian, author and motivational trainer Kirsty Hulse has trained almost 20,000 people to be more confident. Up until the lockdown announcement in March 2020 she was married, living in London, and had plenty of work booked. Three months later she had separated, lost all her work bookings, and moved back to Stoke-on-Trent. Her message that hardly any of us are born confident and her ‘well yeah’ approach to doing anything certainty struck a chord with the audience.
Next up were JCB Academy Year 13 students Georgia Cobley and Kate Bradbury. There are 180,000 engineers needed annually to plug the gap in STEM related jobs and the JCB Academy has the aim of changing this by developing engineers and leaders with both young women making their contribution by gaining places on degree apprenticeships with Rolls Royce and JP Murphy respectively.
Natalia Pilgui had the perfect life in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Married with two young children and her own educational centre, Only English. When Russian shells started falling on Kharkiv on 24th March 2022, the family hid in a basement for eight days before deciding to make the six-day journey to the Polish border. Natalia and family ended up in Staffordshire thanks to a sponsor in Uttoxeter. Natalia found Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce and the Positive Pathways programme which helps refugees back into employment. She still runs her business online, with colleagues displaced around Europe, and helps other refugees in Staffordshire to regain confidence and a sense of purpose through engagement with Positive Pathways.
Lastly we heard from, Carrie Somers founder of Fashion Revolution, a global movement which arose from the Rana Plaza garment factory disaster in Bangladesh in April 2013. Fashion Revolution is the world’s largest fashion activism movement campaigning for systemic reform of the fashion industry with a focus on supply chain transparency. Carrie also founded Pachahuti, a fair-trade Panama hat manufacturing business which has a shop in Leek.
I am immensely proud of the contribution that these and countless other inspirational women play in making our community so diverse, innovative and positive.
Staffordshire Chambers reflects this with a 50-50 split between women and men on our board and this carries on through all our areas of activity.
If you missed today’s event, don’t worry as there is still time to book a place on the ‘Confidence Live’ event at the King’s Hall, Stoke on 30th March. It boasts a line-up of expert speakers, including award-winning journalist, Caitlin Moran, Kirsty Hulse. There are also interactive workshops where you’ll learn proven strategies for increasing self-awareness, setting and achieving goals, and overcoming obstacles. The event is discounted for Chamber members, and you can find out more and book your place here: Confidence Live – Staffordshire Chambers
If you want to talk to us about any business issues, including funding, you can call our switchboard on 01782 202222 or call the Stoke and Staffs Growth Hub Helpline on 0300 111 8002 or email: info@staffordshirechambers.co.uk
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