‘Women Unplugged’ is an exclusive event, which will feature an inspirational line-up of speakers, each one passionate about the progression of women. Delivering in the style of short, sharp Ted Talks, our five speakers will succinctly share their top tips for success and give a taster of their commitment to empowering women.
[gdlr_accordion style=”style-2″ initial=”0″]
[gdlr_tab title=”Sessions”]
“Get over yourself” with Birgit Neu
Taking action around anything new can be scary, but in this energising talk former Mentor of the Year Birgit Neu will share her personal stories and strategies for how to get over yourself and just get on with it! She’ll ask you to consider how well you know your stuff, who you need, what you’re going to do to get going, how you’re going to cope when things don’t go to plan, and how to work out what’s really important once the ball gets rolling versus what’s making the most noise. Finally, she’ll make sure you’ve said what you want to take action about out loud – and as everyone knows, after that there’s no going back!
“Rise to the top” with Lauren Riley
Whether Lauren’s success story is the result of meticulous preparation and the unwavering pursuit of defined goals or an accident brought about by ‘bad’ habits learnt in childhood, is a matter of interpretation only and Lauren will explain why. Lauren can remember being acutely aware in childhood of being labelled bossy but champions being the exception not the rule. The greatest barriers in life have proved to be the biggest motivators for success for Lauren and she will show you how every situation presents an opportunity to interpret a dead-end or a kick-start. Lauren’s endeavours have seen her forge a successful legal careers and found The Link App, a tech company set to revolutionise the legal industry. Lauren discusses her time on BBC The Apprentice and the highs and lows of such a whirlwind experience. Lauren’s inspirational story proves how the biggest barriers are in our own minds and why she believes women can have it all, careers wise and beyond.
“Doing it your way” with Heather Melville
During this inspirational session, Heather will share her career story and her views on how women can position themselves for success. Heather started her own career as a young mother at 16, no one realised at this point that she would go on to defy the odds and rise to the upper echelons of corporate banking. The journey wasn’t easy as Heather faced a number of challenges along the way, managing her young family as her career thrived, operating as a women at a senior level, coupled with the fact she was the only leader who was also a women of colour. During her career, many individuals attempted to shape Heather in terms of her career path, however she stuck to her own guns and built her own model for success, in her own words, “She did it her way” and now she wants to help you do it your way! Over the past 7 years Heather has also built one of the most successful corporate women’s networks at RBS as she is passionate about the progression of women, Heather will also share the history of this network and why she feels so strongly that no matter where women start it their careers, with passion and drive, impossibilities can become possibilities.
“Genius Power Dreams” with Andy Woodfield
Imagine getting to do what you love every day. Imagine being surrounded by people who were genuinely passionate about what they do. Imagine having others recognise and nurture your unique talent. Imagine being encouraged to realise your potential and unleash your inner genius, power and dreams…every day. Now imagine that this was your place of work. How many of us live this dream? Join Andy as he shares his story and top tips on how achieve your inner genius, harness your own power and live your dreams.
“Confidence & Power Posing” with Mairi McHaffie
Confidence, or the lack of it is often claimed to be the No 1 barrier getting in the way of female progression. In this assertive boosting talk, actress, TV presenter and business leader Mairi McHaffie will share her practical tips on how to feel and appear confident even when you’re out of your comfort zone. She will talk us through comprehensive body language tips, share some stories from her own battles with confidence and give you the tools to set actionable goals to put into practice today. Finally she will set you off with your own personal Avatar to tap into whenever you need to step up and act up to your best performance.
[/gdlr_tab]
[gdlr_tab title=”About your speakers & facilitators”]
Vanessa Vallely, Managing Director, WeAreTheCity
Vanessa Vallely is a recognized expert in person-to-person business networking, online branding and a sought after motivational speaker. In 2014, Vanessa was cited as 1 of the top 100 Connected Women in the UK by GQ magazine. Vanessa is passionate about sharing her experience and know-how with others and has delivered keynotes for over 100 companies in Europe, the US, India and the Middle East. Vanessa corporate experience stems from a 25 year career in Banking and Finance.
In 2008, Vanessa started the networking site WeAreTheCity: (WATC) as a vehicle to help women connect and grow both personally and professionally. Today, WATC has become the Little Black Book for UK’s female workforce and experiences over 4 million hits per month with an average of 200,000 unique visitors. Its 30,000+ members rely on this fantastic site to inspire, motivate and provide them with the direction they need to take their careers or businesses to the next level. CareersCity was launched in 2012 as a niche female job board aimed at raising visibility of career opportunities open to women in the UK. In 2014, WATC was also launched in India.
Arnold Longboy, Dean, Chicago Booth Business School
Arnold Longboy is the Managing Director of Executive Education for EMEA & APAC. Based in London he is responsible for building corporate relationships through leadership and management programmes of senior executives throughout the EMEA and Asia Pac regions. He also serves as a board member of UNICON which is a global consortium of business-school-based executive education organizations.
He helped to open Booth’s London campus in 2005 and initially headed the admissions and marketing efforts of the European platform of Booth’s global executive MBA program. Prior to his relocation Arnold managed a portfolio of executive development programmes from Booth’s campus in Chicago. There he also worked with corporate partners interested in opportunities at Booth’s campus in Singapore.
Before joining Booth, Arnold was Director of Educational Programmes at Harvard Medical International and an accountant at the firm Arthur Andersen & Co.
Outside of the office and classroom Arnold plays and coaches baseball. He coaches for the little league team which won the 2010 British National championship and is also player-manager for the Herts Eagles based in Hertfordshire, UK.
He received his Ed.M. from Harvard University, MSPA from the University of Hartford, and MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
More information can be found here: http://www.chicagobooth.edu/about/campuses/london
Harriet Minter, Editor, Guardian Women in Leadership
Harriet Minter is the editor of the Guardian’s Women in Leadership section. She writes extensively on a variety of issues relating to women and the workplace and has interviewed a range of leading women from MPs to entrepreneurs and celebrities. Prior to her current role she worked as a commissioning editor for a range of sections on the Guardian and also ran the engagement and social media strategy for the Guardian’s Professional Networks. She started her journalistic career at RollOnFriday.com, the leading community site for lawyers and as a consequence knows far too much about the private lives of the City’s highest paid litigators. She is a regular speaker on women’s rights, the future of work and digital media. Outside of work her passions include high heels and big boats – although not together.
More information can be found here: http://www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership
Birgit Neu, Managing Director, Neuchange
Birgit Neu is MD of culture change consultancy neuchange. She was previously Head of Private Banking Initiative, Global CMB, HSBC, and also held COO roles within Corp. Comms & Marketing and Corp. Development in HSBC’s GBM business. She was founding co-chair of HSBC’s Balance employee network as well as a founding member of the Women on the Wharf initiative in London’s Canary Wharf on HSBC’s behalf. Named one of The International Alliance for Women’s World of Difference Top 100 for 2012, European Diversity Awards Inspirational Role Model in 2012, and Women of the Future’s Mentor of the Year in 2009, Birgit currently co-chairs The Network of Networks for Gender, a best practice-sharing forum for gender employee network heads from approx. 100 multinationals and govt. agencies in the UK. She is a trustee for legal charity Advocates for International Development and writes a career advice column for Harper’s Bazaar online.
More information can be found here: http://www.neuchange.com
Lauren Riley, former BBC Apprentice candidate, Lawyer & Entrepreneur
Best known for her appearance on The Apprentice, solicitor Lauren Riley embodies the spirit of today’s modern professional woman, proving leadership and glamour can come hand in hand.
After graduating with an Honours Degree in Law from Lancaster University in 2006, Lauren concluded her Post-Graduate Diploma in Law with Distinction. Lauren Riley is a qualified solicitor and has always specialised in practising Family Law. Lauren chose to practise Family Law as she felt that she could really make a difference to her clients’ lives, and is experienced in conducting cases related to many different aspects of Family Law. She is a member of Resolution (a national organisation of family lawyers committed to the non-confrontational settlement of divorce, separation and other family problems), always keeps her clients’ objectives in mind, and settles cases with a positive outcome at the earliest opportunity.
Lauren is also an Entrepreneur and the proud founder and director of technology development company The Link App. She developed the technology as a lawyer, for lawyers. Simply put, The Link App’s patented technology is client communication refined.
More information can be found here: http://laurenriley.co.uk
Heather Melville, Director for Strategic Partnerships, RBS
Heather Melville was appointed as the Director for Strategic Partnerships in 2013, a role that will see her leveraging her vast global client relationships together with her sector specialism especially within the Retail and Textile industry.
She is a member of the Judges panel for the prestigious UK Fashion & Textile Awards, In April 2014, Heather was one of the key judges for the exclusive International competition for young fashion designer’s, held in Riga, Latvia. As one of the Judges for the 2014 Brummell Top 30 City entrepreneurs, she truly understands the challenges and opportunities that budding entrepreneurs face.
Heather is also the Founder and Global Chair of the RBS Focused Women’s Network, which is managed by volunteers and today has Circ 12,000 members in 33 countries. She also sits on a number of internal and external diversity boards and in 2010 was awarded the prestigious Women in Banking & Finance Award for Achievement, under the category of Champion for Women. In 2012, she was awarded the World of Difference 100 Award (TIAW) recognising her as one of the top 100 women worldwide who have made a difference to the economic empowerment of women.
Outside of the financial industry, Heather mentors and coaches young women, visiting speaker at Westminster University for the Women On Boards Programme , and represents RBS as a Non-Exec Director for Enterprise Enfield, a business consultancy funded by the Government to help small businesses. She is also a Career Coach, having completed an executive coaching programme. As an established speaker, Heather is regularly invited to speak at a number of global forums.
Heather is a mother of 2 sons and a grandmother of 4 girls and also enjoys driving fast cars as well as listening to live Jazz.
Andy Woodfield, Partner PwC, Sponsor for GLEE@PwC – the inclusive business network for gays, lesbians and everyone else
Andy started his career straight after school by working as an Engineering Design Apprentice. After completing an HND in Computing, Andy spent the next few years working in IT consultancy, project management and IT management. In 1998 he joined Price Waterhouse in London as an IT Security Consultant.
Andy was then admitted into Partnership on the 1st of July 2006.Andy is now the Lead Partner for the International Aid Development Consulting practice in PwC.
Working primarily with the Department for International Development (DFID) and other international donor organisations, they use the Global network of PwC member firms and associated subject matter experts to improve the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable in the world. Andy is also part of a team that is responsible for the development and delivery of Leadership, Culture and Talent programmes within PwC and with Clients, with a focus on helping individuals to be the best that they can be, and helping our clients create working environments that encourage people to be the best they can be.
Andy co-developed a programme called ‘Building Strength in Leaders’, this programme leverages both positive and cognitive psychology to help leadership teams build strength in preparation for and following traumatic business change. At the heart of the programme is a workshop that Andy developed a few years ago for the PwC Global Talent programme – Genesis Park. this workshop is called “Genius. Power. Dreams” (www.geniuspowerdreams.com) and aims to help individuals and teams understand and respect their unique strengths and talents, understand how to use them more often, and finally to consider their legacy of life.
Andy is the sponsoring Partner for the firms inclusive business network, GLEE@PwC. This is an inclusive business network for gays, lesbians and everyone else, it’s open to everyone including clients and those in our extended networks and you don’t have to be gay or lesbian to join it, you just need to be passionate about valuing and exploring difference as something we all have in common. Andy is also a Trustee for Diversity Role Models and Action Breaks Silence.
More information can be found here: www.pwc.co.uk/glee
Mairi McHaffie, Managing Director, Scene Change
Mairi McHaffie is MD of leadership development consultancy Scene Change. She is founder of Coaching Squared, the award nominated cross sector peer to peer coaching programme for high potentials and founder of the House of Commons, Women into Leadership External Mentoring Programme. Mairi spent 10 years working as a consultant in Central Government and was behind the launch of the first women’s network for Ministry of Justice. During her time there she worked with senior civil servants to help them to communicate and present better and provided professional role players to aid the skills practice of candidates in assessment and development centres.
Mairi is a graduate of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and as professional actress and TV presenter she uses her skills to enable individuals and groups to communicate and present better, build confidence, increase visibility and align personal branding to organisational values. She works across all sectors and regularly as an associate trainer for many of the global consultancies. In 2014 she was approached by CEO Vanessa Vallely to join www.wearethecity.com, the UK’s largest women’s career aggregator as associate Marketing Manager and is helping to build the brand-reach across the UK and globally. Mairi appeared on the 2014 BBC Apprentice Final as part of a team of business experts assessing the market potential of a key product. She is the mother of two young boys, a School Governor and occasionally dabbles in stand up comedy.
More information can be found here: http://www.scenechange.co.uk
[/acc_item]
[acc_item title=”In Partnership with”]
John Cassidy | The Headshot Guy®
John believes there’s a great headshot in everyone – No matter how photogenic you think you are. His goal is camera invisibility. Yet so many people loose the ability to express themselves the moment they step in front of a camera and end up looking lost and vacant. John’s work is 90% people. Using a combination of
coaching, direction and fun (and his natural ability to connect with people), he allows your inner confidence to shine through and captures it on camera. John started his photographic career in the Royal Air Force where one of the highlights was to officially photograph HRH Queen Elizabeth II. And as he didn’t end up in the Tower of London, he must have done a pretty good job. He then freelanced for The Times where he was commissioned to photograph world class sports stars such as David Beckham, Andy Murray and Jonny Wilkinson.
Now John focuses his lens on professionals from the world of business. Allowing them to create a visual marketing tool that inspires confidence, reflects success and attracts opportunities. He also speaks professionally about the secret to looking photogenic on camera. John’s mission is to Light People Up and capture their inner confidence.
More information can be found here: http://www.theheadshotguy.co.uk
Smart Works
Smart Works is a charity that helps women on low incomes get a job and become financially independent. With extensive knowledge of the problems that these women face, we provide interview clothes and interview training, enabling them not only to feel more confident but also to start to believing in their own ability to succeed and move on with their lives. One in two of the women we help gets the job.
We have a team of over 75 trained volunteers who work with our clients, helping them to make them look great and feel confident for their job interview. We rely on financial contributions, volunteer time and clothing donations from committed individuals and organisations to enable us to carry on with our work.
More information can be found here: http://www.smartworks.org.uk
[/gdlr_tab]
[/gdlr_accordion]
