Westcountry Wonderwomen come together to inspire SW students
Leading ladies across the South West are coming together to celebrate International Women’s Day for an evening of inspiration, with the launch of the first ‘Westcountry Wonderwomen Workshop’.
A celebration of the diverse range of female talent and expertise who live, work or are from the area, the evening workshop event will take place at Kingsbridge Community College on Wednesday 8th March. Providing female students with an exclusive opportunity to gain insights from local leading ladies, spanning a wide range of sectors and at various levels and stages in their career paths.
With an overwhelming response from guest speakers invited to the event, the workshop is being hosted exclusively for KCC and Dartmouth Academy students from year 10 upwards, with 11 guest speakers including:
Award Winning Illustrator & Artist, Laura Wall - Named Venus 'Entrepreneur of the Year 2016', Laura Wall is 31 years old and an award-winning artist based in Teignmouth, Devon. She is most known in the Southwest for her large-scale murals and illustrative series, Love At The Seaside. Laura is inspired by the Devon and Cornish coast and paints quirky landscapes based on real places, which are displayed in galleries nationwide; all feature the same characters that she has created including Goose and Sophie from her children’s book series, which are published in 40 countries. Laura opened her own gallery and public working studio in May 2015 in Teignmouth, Devon, with husband Dave Butt, this has since become the home for the fine art series Love at the Seaside and all things Goose! And a place where you can meet Laura and watch her pain
Founder & Co-Organiser of Women Can, Jo Earlam – The first women's only marathon which takes place on 28th May 2017, the event is inspired by the story of how, 50 years earlier, one woman made marathon history...simply by entering and taking part in one. A marathon to celebrate that women can, the running event will mark the extraordinary anniversary and launches in Devon. Katherine Switzer changed the course of women’s running when she completed the Boston Marathon back in 1967, despite the efforts of course officials to physically remove her from the race
Fifty years later, Katherine will again run the Boston Marathon, this time she will be hailed as a hero after inspiring women across the world to reach their running goals. Jo is delighted that the event has become the first UK partner of 261 Fearless, a global non-profit social women’s running movement, “What Katherine Switzer has achieved for women’s endurance running is truly remarkable. As a keen marathon runner, I thought what better way of celebrating her legacy than further empowering more women to run a marathon.”
Managing Director of The Shops at Dartington, Barbara King – Retail royalty with previous roles include Buying and Merchandising Director at the iconic Liberty London department store, Barbara is also Chief Board Director for Food & Drink Devon. In March 2010, King set forth her new position as MD for The Shops at Dartington and her creativity and hard work has proven a winning formula, with Dartington now seen as a retail destination for visitors outside the county. Barbara comments: “Retail is in my DNA, every trip to somewhere new inspires me to look at lifestyle trends and observe what is different or emerging, it could be an image, sitting in a restaurant observing people, viewing an exhibition – I will find something to spark an idea!”
Theatre and Screen Actress, Victoria Lucie - A professional actress from Devon, with both stage and screen experience. She has played Gwendolyn in The Importance of Being Earnest with the Worcester Rep, Christina Grant in Agatha Christies Murder on the Nile, scared people at Alton Towers for Halloween and played princess in pantomime-most recently her favourite, Snow White. Loving screen equally Victoria’s first role was in Dartmoor Killing, as young Becky. The National Film Award-Winning Best Thriller. She has appeared on an ABC television as Snow White, as a special for Once Upon a Time, called Behind The Magic, and performed in multiple shorts and music videos-most notably Luke Potters, Do You Love Me Yet? Victoria did not train conventionally at drama school or university, instead has "learnt on the job!" Victoria is a strong believer that hard work and passion can achieve your goals.
Founder & Director of RAW PR & Marketing, Hayley Reynolds – a creative PR & Marketing agency which specialises in promoting food and drink from the South West. With leading brands including Luscombe Drinks, Warrens Bakery, Salcombe Gin and South Sands Hotel to name a few, Hayley set up RAW in the summer of 2011. Having worked in London for 10 years at leading food and drink PR agencies, followed by an additional 5 years freelancing within the sector, Hayley has a huge network of leading journalist contacts and now heads up a team of five at RAW as well as being on the Board of Directors for Food & Drink Devon.
Measurement Engineer at Rolls Royce PLC, Tory Brown – “Whilst I was at school, I was unsure about what I wanted to do with my life. I chose A-Levels based on what I was good at and what I enjoyed, with no real plan of what to do with them. After finishing my A-Levels, I went on to study Engineering at University of Cambridge, eventually specialising in Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering. I did work experience at various engineering companies, which helped me land a job with Rolls-Royce. It’s most definitely a man’s world, and while I sometimes enjoy the challenge this brings, I’m always looking to encourage more women to think about a career in engineering. I firmly believe that men and women bring different ways of looking at tasks and it’s this diversity that help teams achieve the best results. My main piece of advice is to remember it’s important to do things based on what you enjoy as well as what you are good at, the rest usually falls into place.”
BBC South West Senior Broadcast Planner, Louise Walter – Louise is a senior broadcast journalist at the BBC in the South West- fulfilling an ambition she had since she was 4 years old. She has been lucky enough to work in a variety of roles in television news, from filming and editing her own reports, to producing programmes and presenting the news both in the South West and in the Channel Islands. As well as working for the BBC regionally, Louise worked in Beijing as an editor covering the 2008 Paralympic Games, and was a producer at BBC Breakfast (the national news programme on BBC 1 each morning). She has also appeared on the News Channel, Radio 4, 5 Live and the BBC’s World Service.
Editor of Mumsnet Devon, Award Winning Blogger & Freelance Writer, Gina Caro – An award-winning blogger, freelance writer and editor for Mumsnet Devon Gina currently lives in Devon with her partner, two kids and an untrainable dog. Gina owns and writes two blogs, Gypsy Soul, a bohemian and lifestyle blog and Water Gypsy, a travel blog. She regularly collaborates with leading brands including Gumtree, River Cottage and Love Food Hate Waste to name just a few.
Other speakers set to be at the event include Marks & Spencers Store Manager of Dartmouth, 25-year-old Holly Drew; Research Assistant at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Anna White and TED Talks youngest ever speaker Amy O’Toole.
Citizens Advice South Hams is also going to be in attendance, with information available on volunteering and apprentice programmes available to students through the charity. The free to attend workshop has been spearheaded by Lorien Joyce and Katie White, both teachers at Kingsbridge Community College. They are thrilled to have so many speakers taking part –
“With so many amazing women working within the area, we really wanted to showcase to our female students this International Women’s Day that success takes many forms, recognising the huge range of diverse industries there are to choose from. There is something very powerful about collectively coming together and sharing knowledge and experiences, which can have so much impact simply by providing new perspectives and a greater awareness of life beyond the school gates. Launching as a pilot event, we are hopeful that this will develop into a wider platform of mentoring programmes and build on links with professional networks in the South West, helping to inspire the Westcountry Wonderwomen of the future.”
Lorien’s sister, Laura Quick, a Freelance PR and Dartmouth Academy alumni has been supporting with the overall planning and management of the event –
“We really wanted to create an event which showcased the amount of opportunities there are in the area, whatever your interest may be and that it doesn’t necessarily have to mean relocating. After living and working in London for a number of years, when I moved back last year I was worried about the number of opportunities there would be in my line of work and that I may have to take a side-step, or even step back in my own career. This has been completely proved wrong and I have found there are plenty of opportunities and networks, it’s just a case of seeking them out and connecting with them. What I hope Westcountry Wonderwomen can do is make these links more easily accessible and prove that it doesn’t matter where you live, what your interest is or what you want to do; it’s simply about finding out what’s out there and realising there are lots of people who can and want to help you achieve it.”
International Women’s Day will see a whole host of events take place across the UK and was seen as the perfect time to kick-start Westcountry Wonderwomen and champion the wealth of inspiring ladies living and working within the South West. To register interest in supporting Westcountry Wonderwomen Workshops, please contact the team at Kingsbridge Community College.
