Laura Helen Brown | Author and Illustrator | My Emotions Activity Book
Laura Helen Brown is a dedicated Children’s Mental Health and Emotional Literacy Advocate, serving as the Founder, Illustrator, and Author of the impactful ’My Emotions Activity Book’.
Originating to support her nephew during COVID-19 restrictions, the book has evolved into a global resource available in English, French and Ukrainian, enabling children in the UK and beyond to express their thoughts and feelings. With its inclusive design, the activity book has been embraced by institutions like the City of London and Kent Police, aiding children entering custody. Laura’s efforts have gained recognition from high-profile organisations, including Great Ormond Street Hospital Play Team, Women’s Aid, and The Buddy Bag Foundation.
In addition to her advocacy work, Laura works in Banking in the City of London within a Financial Crime Team. She is a dedicated volunteer at the Bank and serves as a Mental Health First Aider and program coordinator within the International Well-being Team. Laura’s commitment to supporting children and young people with freely available emotional literacy resources has earned her a place among Brummell magazine’s 30 inspirational women in the City of London in 2023.
Pareto FM
Pareto FM, established in 2014, embarked on a mission to revolutionise the FM landscape by integrating social responsibility with operational excellence.
Over the past nine years, Pareto has spearheaded numerous initiatives to foster inclusivity and make a positive impact in the community. Since its humble beginnings, launching from the founder’s bedroom, Pareto has grown significantly, now employing over 500 people with a turnover of £48m. Now achieving a gender split of 50/50 across the employee base, (46% within the Senior Leadership Team), a unique feat within the FM Industry.
Since inception, Pareto has delivered over £100m of services across Europe to some of the largest global brands, earning recognition on the Sunday Times Fast Track in 2021, Fast Growth Top 50 in 2023 and winning numerous industry and non-industry awards.
Pareto leads on its social impact agenda, championing initiatives encompassing Women’s Health, LGBT+, neurodiversity, mental health awareness, and more. The company’s DNA prioritises creating a service-focused, customer-centric FM company with a flexible model that tailors solutions to each partner organisation.
Pareto is a trailblazer in promoting gender equality and inclusivity. Through its social-led initiatives, Pareto empowers its teams to represent themselves authentically, further cementing its position as an industry leader
Emily Olivia | Year 1 Student
Emily is a 6 years old girl (Y1 student) dedicated to inspiring and empowering children to learn STEM.
She is on a mission to inspire and empower the next generation of changemakers. Emily’s passion for STEM education is evident in the way she engages with young children, particularly girls, and fosters their curiosity and interest in the field through her YouTube channel (@STEMPlayground), Instagram (@thisisemilyolivia), TikTok (@stemplayground) focusing on creating and sharing free educational content for primary aged kids and reaching hundreds of thousands of people on a daily basis. Her work directly contributes to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all as well as achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls. Emily always ensures her instructions for STEM projects are clear and easy to follow even by the youngest online audience by breaking down complex concepts and making them accessible, engaging, and interactive to children of all ages and backgrounds. Her proactive and positive approach to promoting STEM education in the UK community encourages children to explore STEM subjects. Emily has been actively working towards closing the gender gap in STEM, and her continuous efforts and dedication have made her a tireless advocate for STEM education, and her contributions have made a significant difference in the lives of children. Her commitment to empowering the next generation of STEM leaders has helped to create a more inclusive and diverse STEM community.
Jodie Evans | Defence Digital, External Communications Lead | Ministry of Defence
Jodie joined the Ministry of Defence in Feb 2014 as a Commercial Officer supporting procurement of 2 complex CAT A £1.5BN Information Service Procurements before moving to be part of the largest Commercial Team in ISS.
This team was responsible for procuring all Technical Support across the ISS and MOD multi-billion-pound portfolio of Information System programmes enabling Defence Information Systems to be a force multiplier. Progressing through several promotions, Jodie became a key member of the Defence Digital commercial team responsible for the delivery of a £400M competitive negotiated procurement for Future Operating Service Management. This contract is the cornerstone of the Service Management for the corporate Defence Digital Services.
Following her very successful time in the Defence Digital Commercial team Jodie has moved role and is now the External Communications Lead at Defence Digital. Exploiting her exceptional stakeholder management, relationship building, engagement and communication skills she is now responsible for effective communication, promotion, marketing, engagement, and involvement of Defence Digital across the organisation, within MOD and across the entire Defence sector. She is already making a difference and raising the profile of the organisation across the sector.
Jodie is passionate about creating a diverse workforce and supporting the organisation in improving its diversity and inclusion position. She saw that there was a gap in what was being done and had the idea to set up a network to try and fill that gap. Jodie took the initiative and was responsible for setting the vision and strategic programme and was pivotal in the establishment of the Defence Women’s Network in 2020. As the network lead, Jodie has built the reputation of the network across the defence and security enterprise through effective relationships and positive action heavily weighted towards gender equality and leadership and has encouraged both female and male allies to collaborate and promote the networks core objectives whilst leading on prestigious events and initiatives. Jodie has also become an influencer across the sector supporting the D&I theme and is a coach/mentor to many female leaders. All of this Jodie has managed alongside her full-time defence role, as well as being a busy mum.
Ashlee Williams | S&P Global
In a career spanning nineteen years, Ashlee is an accomplished data transformation leader for the shipping sector.
Ashlee has extensive workflow automation, data management, and digital transformation expertise, including the strategic review and integration of world-class data assets globally through M&A oversight.
Ashlee is a recognized expert and advisor to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and other international bodies and non-governmental organizations, such as the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), on projects that support the development and/or amendment of regulations and policies related to safety and security in shipping and the facilitation of global trade.
Ashlee is a leading figure for our Women in Maritime, including actively promoting diversity, equity & inclusion with S&P Global’s “Women’s Initiative for Networking & Success”. In 2020, IHS Markit (now S&P Global) were recognized for efforts to address gender fairness, equality, and inclusion within the maritime sector by being listed as a Maritime UK Charter company. She has also partnered with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and Women’s International Shipping & Trading Association (WISTA International) on a collaborative survey to obtain baseline data on the number of women in maritime and oceans fields and the positions they occupy. The data obtained by the survey will help build a clearer picture of diversity and gender equality in the industry.
Ashlee holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management from the Open University.
Chloe Barnard | Associate Director, Global Collaboration & International Connectivity | HSBC
Chloe is passionate about gender equality and plays a very active role in driving D&I.
She is the co-chair of HSBC Private Bank's UK Balance network, an employee network striving for gender equality. She also holds senior roles in HSBC's Global and EMEA D&I committees, driving all forms of diversity globally. Chloe has notably been responsible for leading multiple initiatives including an inaugural intersectionality event, co-running an annual mentoring programme, a coaching initiative with over 50 participants, and an inspirational speaker series profiling diverse career stories. Chloe also holds a lead role in HSBC's client gender strategy, supporting female entrepreneurs and women in wealth.
In her day job, Chloe works in a global strategic role focused on client collaboration between different parts of the bank and internationally. Prior to this, having originally joined on the graduate scheme she progressed rapidly to become the youngest Investment Counsellor in HSBC’s UK Private Bank, providing investment advice to wealthy individuals. During that time Chloe also became CFA qualified and completed her Wealth Management exams.
Chloe also mentors a number of junior women to support their development, and to encourage more women to consider a career in finance. She has been described as "having the natural strength of making a positive impact on people", "proactively inviting diverse perspectives and ways of contribution", and "empowering the team by giving everyone a chance to speak up."
Outside of work Chloe does a range of work in financial inclusion, supporting young people in building their financial wellbeing.