Angela Mortimer hosts 8th International Women's Day event

On Friday 11th March, Angela Mortimer hosted its 8th annual International Women's Day lunch at the Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square where a number of inspirational speakers and special guests attended in order to support the Wellbeing of Women charity and of course, celebrate the lives, work and many achievements of every single female! Julia Barfield, the architect behind the London Eye, Kiki McDonough, jeweller to the Royal family, Dr. Yasmin Jetha, Ex BUPA, Abbey National and Pearson CIO and Eve Pollard OBE, author, journalist and former tabloid editor addressed an audience of over 250 women from across Europe to give advice and insight into their lives and careers to aspiring women journeying up the career ladder.

 

"Women are equal to men and should be equal to men, but the facts do not support this," opened Angela Mortimer, co-founder of the international recruitment agency. "Male networks open doors to other males occupying senior positions, so we should spend more time mixing in with these established male networks."

The speakers gave candid insight into the reasons for their success to spontaneous applause from a packed ballroom: "Set big goals, have self-belief and harness the power of the team. There is no substitute for hard work, but you also need courage, sacrifice, discipline and a great team. No one gets to the top on their own," said Yasmin Jetha.

 

Julia Barfield also emphasized the importance of an excellent team and the ability of the advantage women have in a predominantly male environment. "Much progress has been made in my field, and women now account for nearly 50% of the workforce in many areas. There is, however, much work yet to be done for full parity."

Kiki McDonough suggested that whilst self-belief was critical to success, a supportive family, luck, discipline and some talent are also crucial to success.

Eve Pollard rounded off the afternoon by adding:"Take your opportunities as they arise, work hard, very hard and do not underestimate the importance of the wider team. Male colleagues expect women to become part of the team, so spend offsite time with men before they get to trust you, but do so without denigrating yourself in any way."

 

Summing up, Angela Mortimer referred to her personal mantra, PROSPER, suggesting that in life we need Passion for what we are doing, Resilience against adversity, Openness to new ideas, Self-belief, the ability to be People oriented, be Encouraging to those we work with and be Resourceful in creating new solutions.

The event raised over £5,000 for the chosen charity, the Wellbeing of Women, who dedicate themselves to improving the health of women and babies. A huge thank you to those who came and a massive thank you to the following clients for providing wonderful raffle gifts:

Google DeepMind

Pandora Jewellery

Kiki McDonough

Aspinal of London

Carl Thomson Photography

Lavender & Stone

Clyde & Co

Affiliate window

Manchester United

E-know.net

Jo Malone

Victoria Secret

Marks Barfield Architects

Executive Secretary Magazine

Sipsmith Distillery

Pierre Marcolini