Georgina Brown | Ministry of Defence
Georgina has a strong digital delivery background.
She has varied experience, including business analysis, project management and software development and design. She is an experienced manager and team leader and takes pride in being inclusive and seeing the people she mentors spread their wings and be valued.
Her infectious enthusiasm and passion for innovation comes from truly wanting the best for the organisation she works for as well as her team.
She has worked for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for over a year as the Digital Capability Lead where she is responsible for working across Defence to implement the Digital, Data and Technology profession. This requires her to build networks and connections across Government to make sure best practice is established. It also requires her to support employees with their learning and development and career choices by developing new training opportunities, including working with the Defence Academy and GDS Academy, and the BCS in developing digital skills within Defence. She is responsible for mentoring several employees herself as well as acting as a conduit to other Government departments for external mentoring. As part of this she has been responsible for bringing in new ways of learning, using on-demand training resources, and communities of practice, all for the first time in Defence.
In addition to her role in the MoD she is the Senior Delivery Manager for establishing a new way of working within Defence called the UK Defence Digital Service (UK DDS). This is the first tri-service and Civil Service collaboration for digital services. The first service she is leading will aim to improve efficiencies in medical decision making in combat and requires her to mentor and lead a technical team to be able to deliver. She works closely with senior leaders to support their engagement with these new ways of working, acting as a coach.
Before working for the MoD she worked for Innovate UK as the Programme Delivery Manager for the Innovation Funding Service (IFS). This has become the major funding route for Government funded research.
During her time with the research councils she was a Senior Project Manager for large scale change initiatives and the Senior Digital Services Manager for the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council where she concentrated on large scale corporate IT implementations.
In the more distant past she has gained skills and knowledge as a software developer and designer.
Victoria Cope | BAE Systems
Victoria is an experienced leader, with a multidisciplinary background and track record of achievement.
Focussed on strategic commercial leadership and effective relationship management to deliver tangible results for businesses and individuals alike.
Victoria has over 15 years’ experience in the Aerospace and Defence sector and has worked within corporate procurement, finance, sales, commercial and engineering functions within FTSE100/250 organisations including BAE Systems, QinetiQ, Airbus and Unilever.
Victoria is passionate about sustainable development, in particular she actively supports the next generation of young people into sustainable careers in the Aerospace & Defence sector, through her roles with the Air League & Movement to Work charities.
Victoria is a chartered Aeronautical Engineer by background and holds an executive MBA from Henley Business School. Victoria is a Non-Executive Council Member of The Air League, Trustee of the Inspiring Leadership Trust and was awarded the Marshall of Cambridge Medal in 2012 for contribution to the industry.
Laura Beattie | Careaux
I am the co-founder, alongside my sister Rachel, of luxury, ethical womenswear brand Careaux based in Manchester.
Careaux create timeless, classic dresses that change to fit each woman's unique shape, style, size and lifestyle. The Careaux dress has a hidden zip around the waist which allows the dress to completely separate into a top and a skirt and then be reattached. This enables the dress to have a different size top to bottom or the same size throughout. Not only that, the tops and skirts can also be interchanged to create different styles, colour and fabric combinations. All handmade locally in Manchester.
However I do not come from a business or fashion background. I went to an all-girls school where I failed all but one of my A Levels. I then completed a Foundation Year at Manchester Metropolitan University, followed by a History degree achieving a 2:1. I then went on to study for a Graduate Diploma in Law. After University I worked as a volunteer for the Citizens Advice Bureau and then as a tutor for the educational charity The Tutor Trust, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Rachel had the idea for Careaux when she was fourteen and as soon as she told me I knew it was exactly what I wanted to do and, even though I have loved doing what I have done throughout the years, knowing this has stayed with me and is still what I feel today.
I have Cystic Fibrosis and I am currently on the double lung transplant list. I am passionate about raising awareness for Cystic Fibrosis and Organ Donation. I was a part of the national NHS campaign during Organ Donation week last year. With Careaux we have also created two dresses for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust highlighting the amount of medication people with Cystic Fibrosis take and also highlight the issue of recycling plastic - with each dress having sequins made out of recycled plastic and laser cut medicine bottles as well as ethically sourced fabric and recycled plastic fabric.
Rachel Beattie | Careaux
My name is Rachel Beattie, I am twenty-three years old and I am co-founder of luxury ethical womenswear brand, Careaux with my sister and best friend, Laura.
From an idea when I was fourteen combining my love of fashion and Maths we have created a world first dress.
Careaux creates timeless, classic dresses that change to fit each and every woman. The Careaux dress has a hidden zip around the waist which allows the dress to completely separate into a top and a skirt and then be reattached. This enables the dress to have a different size top to bottom or the same size throughout. Not only that, the tops and skirts can also be interchanged to create different styles, colour and fabric combinations. All handmade locally in Manchester.
I was studying for my GCSEs and my two favourite subjects were Maths and Art. I have always loved clothes and for my Art project I decided to create a dress with my Nana who had been a dressmaker since she was fourteen as well. She spoke so passionately about the importance of quality, fit and tailoring each outfit to the individual, I fell completely in love with the dressmaking process from start to finish. Alongside this I used to borrow Laura's clothes, but as we were very different shapes, it never used to fit, it was either too big on top or small on the bottom or sleeves were too short or skirt was too long. This brought to the forefront of my mind, how each and every one of us were different - our own, shape, style, personality and lifestyle but clothes had not changed and do not accommodate this fact. One night ten years ago I had the 'lightbulb' moment for Careaux, as soon as this happened I told Laura and it has been our sole dream and focus to make the Careaux dress come true.
However, we did not know anyone who had ran a business and we had not run a business before, therefore we started researching and learning as much as we could. I carried on with my GCSEs, A-Levels and I then went on to study Maths at The University of Manchester. During my time at University I worked for a charity called The Tutor Trust as a primary school tutor to tackle educational inequality and also completed an actuarial internship at a big 4 firm. In my third year at University, I studied abroad in North Carolina and this gave me a chance to delve deeper into the Maths behind Careaux looking at Combinatorics (the number of different ways you can combine different things) for e.g. number of tops and skirts to make Careaux dresses. When I returned from study abroad after years of searching we found our first dressmaker in 2016 and developed the dress for the next two years whilst I was apart of the Natwest Entrepreneurial Spark accelerator programme in my final year of University.
I graduated with a first class Masters of Maths in 2017, soft launched Careaux late 2017 to test the idea and we then launched our bespoke services in July 2018. As well as being on an actuarial graduate scheme at a big 4. In the last 6 months, we've been lucky enough to create pieces for Royal Investitures and I have won the Barclaycard Everywoman in Retail Innovator Award, The EVAs Young Entrepreneur One To Watch and have been named on the Northern Power Woman Future List 2019. We have just launched our kickstarter campaign to pre-order the debut core collection and will be launching the e-commerce site this year proudly supported by The Princes Trust. I am also a Code First Girls, STEM and Pankhurst Centre Centenary City Ambassador.
Anila Chowdhry | Freelance at Channel 5's The Vine Show & The Telegraph
Anila Chowdhry is an award-winning Presenter and Producer.
Since the age of 15, she has gone from conducting work experience at local radio stations and newspapers, and interviewing influential people like MP Sir Charles Kennedy in Parliament and Jon Snow in the Channel 4 newsroom for her YouTube Channel, to working for the world’s leading media companies including the BBC, ITV News, The Telegraph, ITN and Zee TV.
Anila has presented and produced across TV, Radio, and online, breaking major news stories like Brexit, the General Election, Grenfell and the Manchester and Westminster terror attacks.
She has hosted live debates on the topic of the day and interviewed many inspirational and influential people including MPs, experts, celebrities and real people. And she uses her platform to raise awareness of the work done by various charities, predominately focusing on equality, eradicating poverty, empowerment, and supporting the next generation.
Anila is passionate about creating a well-informed electorate, promoting gender equality, and furthering the development of humanity.
Georgina Bobb | Connect2TV Coaching
Georgina Bobb is a London based Freelance Broadcast and Television Production Coordinator, Entrepreneur, Speaker, Media Trainer and Mental Health Campaigner with 13 plus years production experience working within broadcasting, television, online video production and marketing.
Within her 13 years experience she has worked as a Junior Production Manager, Production Coordinator, Production Secretary, Post Production Secretary, Production Assistant, Logger, Junior Researcher, Archive Researcher and Runner in Television creating international and UK based content across all television genres. She has also Directed, Produced and Production Managed various Music Promos, Live Events and Commercials that have been broadcasted internationally as well as being screened online.
She has worked with various mainstream celebrities & artists as well as accumulating over 50 TV broadcasting credits working on prime time entertainment and factual entertainment productions for various broadcasters and independent production companies such as BBC & ITV.
Whilst working in television she has created and developed a TV-specific employability business, Connect2TVCoaching providing clients with CV and cover letter writing consultations and mentoring as well as employability workshops, training and networking events. She has received great feedback in which clients have gained interviews and paid work placements at companies such as the BBC, Lime Pictures, Love Productions and other independent production companies as a result. A Ravensbourne Graduate in Content Creation and Broadcast & from a non-traditional background she is passionate about specifically engaging and empowering disadvantaged young people enabling them to develop both personally and professionally giving them the opportunity to gain paid employment within the industry. Qualified with a Level 3 Award in Education and Training she has delivered several TV and Media specific employability workshops through Connect2TVCoaching enabling over 100 prospective candidates to gain invaluable industry career advice.
One of Georgina's treasured moments in her career thus far includes receiving her first award nomination under the category of Rising Talent at the Screen Nation Awards - a ceremony that celebrates diversity within film and television. This event was sponsored by both the BBC & ITV and was broadcasted on ABN TV.
Georgina is a passionate mental health campaigner who stands up wholeheartedly for equality for those who experience mental health conditions and believes that with a mental health diagnosis you can still be a respectful and successful member of society and can achieve great things. She also has appeared on The BBC Victoria Derbyshire show on BBC Two and BBC News Channel alongside BAFTA award-winning Actor Adam Deacon discussing mental health as part of a 'Living With Bipolar Disorder' segment. The Independent, The BBC News Website, New Magazine and also Channel 5 News at 5 has also featured Georgina on her personal experiences with mental health. She is currently a media volunteer with Rethink Mental Illness a mental health charity. She is also currently studying a Level 3 in Understanding Mental Health.
Gina Thompson | Warner Bros TVP
Gina Thompson is an exuberant yet empathetic Digital Media Assistant for Warner Bros TV Production.
Having worked with Warner for 1 year, Gina's technical focus has chiefly been in areas within the digital space such as, Content Creation and Production, Social Media Ideation, Strategies and Campaigns, Online and Offline Marketing, SEO, PPC and Traditional Web Management. In this role, Gina championed and supported social media campaigns and output for TV shows such as Channel4’s 'First Dates' and 'First Dates Hotel', BBC’s 'Nine to Five With Stacey Dooley', ITV’s brand new 'The Big Audition', and more. Delivering digestible and engaging content for the audience, with a forethought approach in an ever evolving space.
Prior to Warner Bros, Gina worked as a Make-up artiste for the luxury beauty brand Yves Saint Laurent, in its flagship stores in Oxford Street, London. Representing the brand in store, supporting customers and driving sales.
Born and raised in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, Gina's 'big move' to the UK has been one of her bravest achievements yet. Whilst studying Film at the University Campus Suffolk, Ipswich, Gina expressed her passion in people with an imperative need to get young adults have vital discussions - from goals, ambitions, self and career development and most importantly, mental health and in doing so, a safe space, 'Make A Mate' was born.
Gina's peers have often described her as a 'go getter', 'special' and 'reliable', she prides herself in her quality relationships with people. Her compassion has led her to volunteer for and support The Cancer Research UK charity.
Once a pageant Queen, Gina has held the title of Miss Big, Bold and Beautiful, London, with all proceeds to the Sue Ryder charity.
Outside the cooperate space, Gina spends time honing and developing her other passions such as TV presenting/vlogging, gastronomy, networking and a recently acquired hobby, boxing.
Occasionally appearing on your TV screen as a supporting artiste, extra or an audience member, her love for the Arts, the Entertainment and TV industry is still as captivating to her now as it were a young, hopeful, girl child in Nigeria.
Isabella Silvers | Hearst UK
Isabella is an award-winning Digital Associate Editor in Hearst Content Studio.
After interning around the industry, Izzy landed a digital role at InStyle.
In 2018, she was named one of PPA’s 30 Under 30 young journalists to watch for her work at Hearst, including titles such as Cosmopolitan, ELLE and more.
Part of Hearst’s Diversity & Inclusivity Steering Group and BAME network, Izzy is passionate about increasing diversity and inclusivity in all areas of the industry and was shortlisted for Hero of the Year at the European Diversity Awards.
Juliette Nicholls | Pineapple Audio Production
An award-winning, high-achieving radio producer who successfully creates station sound, imaging elements and promotional trails for Heart’s biggest national campaigns.
Clients include Sky (the biggest UK commercial radio partnership to date), Netflix, Disney, Santander, Sony and Sainsbury’s.
Juliette is a positive and tenacious individual who has built contacts, grasped opportunities and achieved a dream role. 9.8 million listeners hear her production every week and working for Global, she is part of a company named Campaign's Medium Business of the Year 2017.
She was named in the Radio Academy's 30-Under-30 Awards in 2016, and again in 2018.
She is also the Director of 'Pineapple Audio Production', which specialises in the production of podcasts, including LBC's 'For The Many', Metro's 'Mentally Yours', the Project Love Podcast, the Popbuzz Podcast, the Cardiff Blues podcast, The Apprentice: Qualified and the Influential Women Podcast.
She achieved a sponsored place to attend the Radio Days Conference in Paris in 2016, representing under-30’s working in radio - and was invited back to the 2017 conference in Amsterdam and 2018 conference in Vienna.
She strategised and leads ‘The Network’ - Global’s internal networking group - managing events with guest speakers including CEO’s (Pearl&Dean, MediaCom, The Lighthouse Company) and experts in language, personal branding and communication.
Agnieszka Baliszewska | Nursing and Midwifery Council
Since I was at school I have been aware of wanting to do my best and at the same time to motivate and lead others to do more and to enjoy life.
After graduating from Camberwell School of Art I took the decision to move into a role where I could make a difference. My time at Monsoon Accessorize gave me a solid grounding in a challenging retail customer service environment, learning about sales, customer relationships and being part of a service team. Equipped with this experience I looked for an opportunity in the charitable sector, initially joining the NMC on a temporary contract in the call centre, since when I have progressed up to my current role as UK Registration Team Manager.
While attending a residential leadership course in the sixth form I realised that I enjoyed guiding and leading others, facing a challenge, finding great solutions and working with a team towards a common goal. Throughout my career I’ve always worked hard to find the next opportunity and build my skills base while leading those around me. I’m a great believer in nurturing and developing talent at all levels, and also finding the joy in discovering strengths and talents in others.
Within the NMC I founded the Talent and Development working group, I sit on the Communication Rhythm Forum, am a Change Champion and a Tone of Voice Champion. These are all opportunities that I have identified as areas where I can make a difference and a real contribution; although disparate, they do have a great deal of overlap and are of key significance in promoting good communication and relationships in such a fast paced and changing organisation.
The NMC, although a regulatory body, is a forward thinking organisation that embraces diversity and difference. I have been able to add to this through supporting my team to break down barriers, grasp opportunities, find their brand, understand their goals and put themselves forward. This can be challenging, which is great and rewarding! Life for me is constantly learning; I am looking forward to the future, to learning and advancing myself and those around me.