Hannah Elderfield | Canvas8
I graduated in 2015 with a First class BSc Honours degree in Psychology and now I work at the forefront of strategic insights by helping business understand human behaviour to impact change.
After a short stint in the events industry and a few months working for a van leasing company, I landed a job with behavioural insights practice Canvas8 in 2016 as a Junior Behavioural Analyst doing exactly what I loved doing at University - learning about people.
Over the past three years, I have been instrumental in delivering insight to inform campaigns with a direct contribution to society. From tackling taboos around intimate health and working with nonprofit organisations helping young people better manage their money, to presenting at international conferences for senior stakeholders at media agencies, brands and governmental organisations across the world. I’ve also authored Canvas8’s first ever journal, The Science of (2018), which uncovered the commercial applications of recent academic work from scholars across the globe and made behavioural science accessible to business within the industry.
Within my day-to-day, I work to actively develop and mentor junior team members through personal mentoring, training initiatives and by leading the Canvas8 Graduate program to help senior management build a strong supportive culture for new talent. Outside of Canvas8, I’ve worked with the National Citizen Service program as a Senior Mentor for teenagers enrolling in its summer program, ‘The Challenge’, where I was responsible for leading, inspiring and developing a team of 13 young people aged 15-17.
I’m so passionate about finding ways of translating the learnings from my experiences into opportunities for others - either by helping them find better ways of working or different ways of thinking - so that we can all benefit from the sense of achievement and empowerment that comes from breaking through invisible barriers. I’m now our youngest Senior Behavioual Analyst and am determined to uncover a deeper understanding of human behaviour not just for our clients, but for Canvas8 itself so that we can truly practice what we preach.
Hope Virgo | Hope Virgo
I am the the Author of Stand Tall Little Girl, and an international leading advocate for people with eating disorders.
I help young people and employers (including schools, hospitals and businesses) to deal with the rising tide of mental health issues which affect one in four people and costs employers between £33 and £42 billion annually. I have been described by Richard Mitchell, CEO of Sherwood Forest Hospital, as "sharing a very powerful story with a huge impact". I am also a recognised media spokesperson, having appeared on various platforms including BBC Newsnight, Victoria Derbyshire, Good Morning Britain, Sky News and BBC News.
For four years, I managed to keep it hidden, keeping dark secrets from friends and family. But then, on 17th November 2007, my world changed forever. I was admitted to a mental health hospital. My skin was yellowing, my heart was failing. I was barely recognisable. Forced to leave my family and friends, the hospital became my home. Over the next year, at my lowest ebb, I faced the biggest challenge of my life. I had to find the courage to beat my anorexia.
I began sharing my story in 2016 after my book was published and have gone from strength to strength. As well as working with organisations, I work closely with Government championing the rights of people affected by eating disorders. I launched the #DumpTheScales campaign in July 2018 reaching over 70,000 signatures, secured a debate in parliament, national media, an EDM as well as Ministerial support. The campaign has been something I have worked on completely alone with no support or funding from any organisations. I have used my passion, hardworking ethic and determination to get to where the campaign is today.
A huge part of the work I do is focusing on exercise and how this can be used to support recovery. This is why I chose to cycle across the country in October 2018 to raise awareness of mental health education and the importance of making it compulsory in schools. Along the way I spoke in schools and hospitals to share my story of recovery from anorexia.
Prior to working for myself to raise awareness and tackle stigma around mental health I worked for Alzheimer's Society in Public Affairs, UNICEF in their Corporate Partnership team and in Thailand volunteering for a year.
Louise Maynard-Atem | Experian
I have always been motivated to do things that haven't been done before and to have a positive impact on society, so it was these motivations that drove me to complete my PhD in materials chemistry in 2013.
My research was tackling the issue of greenhouse gas emissions, and I was developing new materials that would capture carbon dioxide. Whilst I enjoyed my time in research, I felt that I could have greater impact outside of academia and so decided to take the highly numerate and analytical skills I had developed and apply them to policy making in the Civil Service, driving evidence based decision-making in a number of teams across Health and Defence.
My passion for doing things differently and my domain expertise leading me to helping set up the Futures Innovation team at BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, and I am currently using the skills I developed in this role to help set up the data innovation team at Experian - focusing on products and services that drive financial inclusion in emerging markets.
Claudia Craig | Centenary Action Group
Claudia is a women's rights campaigner and activist motivated by injustice and the potential for change.
Claudia is inspired by strong and powerful women on a daily basis, but finds it impossible not be infuriated by the way women are continually marginalised and oppressed. This fury fuels an intense passion for gender equality and inspired her to choose a career campaigning for transformative gender justice.
Claudia is currently Campaign Manager for the Centenary Action Group, a unique cross-party coalition of over 100 women's rights activists and organisations #StillMarching for women's right to take part in the decisions that affect their lives. Prior to joining the Centenary Action Group Claudia worked for CARE International UK on their global campaign to end workplace harassment whilst simultaneously studying for an MSc in Gender, Development and Globalisation from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Originally from Scotland, Claudia started her career working as policy support in the UK and Scottish Governments.
In a personal capacity, Claudia successfully campaigned for home use of the abortion pill in England and Wales, sharing her own experience of abortion to highlight the need for change. Claudia appeared on BBC Newsnight and the Victoria Derbyshire Show to advocate for home use and has also been published in the Guardian and Independent.
Anna Blackwell & Kate Culverwell | Kayaking the Continent
Anna
I am an adventurer, speaker, writer and photographer. Over the last six years, I have pursued a number of large adventures, including walking 1,000 miles across France and Spain by myself; completing a five week solo trek across the wilderness of Arctic Sweden; hitch-hiking to Morocco; summitting Mount Toubkal, the highest mountain in North Africa; and most recently, kayaking from London to the Black Sea in Romania with Kate, for which I was solely responsible for media creation (expedition outlined below). Alongside my adventures, I share my experiences and the things I have learned with a wide audience, through writing for a variety of platforms and speaking at events, festivals, schools, and businesses.
Kate
While I am a first-year university student, I have set out to encourage women to participate in sport and musical composition, two areas where women aren’t represented enough. As a composer, I was selected for the BBC Proms Inspire Scheme to encourage under 18-year-old composers, which included talking on BBC Radio 3 about the project. I have since set up various concerts where we only use new music set by young composers. As an athlete, I was a key part in my school’s successful rowing program as Vice-Captain, helping lead our two boats win two National golds. Now at Oxford University, I am becoming Captain of Women’s Boats for my college, to further inspire young women who are either new or old to sport. Further to this, I put together the Kayaking the Continent expedition with Anna (see below).
Aviva Investors
Aviva Investors is the investment arm of Aviva plc, a multinational financial services company with a strong presence in the UK, Europe, Asia and Canada.
Aviva can trace its origins in the London insurance market back more than 300 years.
At Aviva Investors, we are dedicated to building and providing focused investment solutions for clients that include insurance companies, banks and other global financial institutions, charities, local government organisations, pension schemes, private wealth managers, financial advisers, as well as private investors.
Our goal is to deliver the specific and meaningful investment outcomes that matter most to today’s investor.
Christina Blacklaws | The Law Society of England and Wales
Innovator and champion of diversity and inclusion
Started career as a children’s rights lawyer working in deprived area of London with most disempowered in society.
Founding partner, developed and grew to scale a family law firm which included one of the country’s first virtual law practices, enabling women lawyers to work flexibly with the back-office support of the business. Over 100 people (95% female) working with and for the firm.
Set up first alternative business structure within the Cooperative Group. Designed, developed and delivered a remote access, modular fixed fee family service which enabled mainly women to access reasonably priced family law support and advice. Also established largest family law legal aid contract in UK supporting mainly women facing domestic violence and child protection court proceedings.
Director of Policy at Cooperative Legal Services providing leadership for all public policy, external engagement and media work, horizon scanning and providing strategic direction to board.
Chief Operating Officer and then Director of Innovation at top 100 firm, Cripps LLP, managing strategic change within the business. Set up an Affinity Group to tackle issues around D and I within the firm establishing and implementing first remote and agile working policy.
Career long history of commitment to using my legal expertise to support women starting with being an advisor to Rights of Women in 1989, have sat on and chaired numerous committees and boards relating to family law and legal policy/ access to justice issues, Law Society council member representing Women Lawyers Division, President (only 5th woman out of 174!) of the Law Society of England and Wales, member of Judicial Diversity Forum, member of Family Justice Council, trustee of LawWorks (solicitors pro bono charity), chair of HM Government’s Lawtech Delivery Panel, chair of HMG Next Gen Services Advisory Board, member of Thompson Reuter’s Women in Leadership Advisory Board, member of Chartered Insurers Institute’s Insuring Women’s Futures Advisory Board, winner of Power of Women Award 2018, WinLaw, Women in Leadership Award 2017, winner of Lawyer of the Year, Modern Law Awards 2014, The Lawyers Hot 100 for management 2012.
Frequent international and domestic speaker, author and commentator.
Vivienne Artz | Refinitiv
Vivienne is the Chief Privacy Officer of Refinitiv (formed from the Financial and Risk business of Thomson Reuters) since November 2017, based in London, leading the global Privacy Team and overseeing global privacy strategy and practice.
Previously, Vivienne was a Managing Director and Global Head of Privacy Legal and Head of International for the Intellectual Property and Technology Law Group at Citi in the General Counsel’s Office in London. Prior to joining Citi in 2000, Vivienne worked in private practice in London.
Vivienne chairs the International Regulatory Strategy Group Data Working Group and is on the Board of Directors of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), having previously served on IAPP European Advisory Board and been co-chair of the IAPP Knowledge Net for the UK. Until recently, Vivienne was the chair of the AFME Data Protection Working Group, and participated in the UK Finance Data Protection Working Group. Vivienne is also on the School of Business, Law and Society Advisory Board of St Mary’s University in the UK.
Vivienne is the current President of Women in Banking and Finance, having been awarded the “Champion for Women” Award at the Women in Banking and Finance Awards for Achievement 2016. Vivienne has many years of experience leading a broad range of diversity initiatives and groups both within firms and across sectors.
Vivienne has two teenage children and enjoys running, horseriding and cycling.
Sarah Atkinson | techUK
An experienced leader and former news journalist, Sarah Atkinson has over 20 years of experience in multinational organisations including Cisco, 3Com and most recently spent ten years as Vice President, Communications & Social Responsibility, EMEA at CA Technologies.
A member of the company’s leadership team, she also led the company’s Diversity & Inclusion strategy in EMEA - moving the gender balance from 32% women - 68% men to 36% women to 64% men in a typically white male dominated environment.
From 2015 to 2018, she served on the main board of techUK, a non-profit representing the companies and technologies that are defining today, the world that we will live in tomorrow.
Today, she is the Chair of the Diversity & Skills Council at techUK and is actively involved in several Diversity & Inclusion programs including Gender Pay Gap reporting, Returners Programs and is a founding supporter of the WISE Campaign's People Like Me. In 2018, she also worked with Girlguiding to incorporate STEM into their badges and attended 2018 Camp CEO as a role model for Girl Guides.
She was listed in Cranfield University’s School of Management 100 Women to Watch report - a supplement to the Female FTSE Board Report 2018 and in the Computer Weekly 100 Most Influential Women in Technology in 2017 & 2018.
A regular commentator on STEM, equality and inclusion topics, she has appeared on BBC News, BBC World and in various publications.
Foluke Akinlose MBE | PRECIOUS
Foluke Akinlose MBE is founder of PRECIOUS, the leading online network and resource for women of colour in business and leadership (www.preciousonline.co.uk)
Foluke is a trained journalist and editor with a strong background in digital and traditional media. Her career has taken in roles as Internet Europe Editor at Moreover.com; a Reuters backed technology start-up which provided business intelligence and news aggregation products for enterprises and consumers. She also served as editor of ATE Online, the world's leading provider of business information and services to the international gaming, coin-operated and electronic amusements and leisure industries. She has also undertaken editorial roles at the Natural History Museum, Sport England and David Lloyd Leisure Group.
She launched PRECIOUS in 1999 when working in the New Media Department at ITN. It was the first digital publication aimed at women of colour to launch in the UK, pre-broadband and wireless and was hailed as a pioneering initiative.
Foluke has a genuine passion for showcasing the achievements of women of colour, which in 2007 led her to launch The Precious Awards (www.preciousawards.com) a unique annual awards event that celebrates women of colour in business and leadership. Endorsed as ‘vital’ by former PM David Cameron, and an incredible opportunity by PM Teresa May, the awards celebrate the achievements of women of colour in business and entrepreneurship, across a range of industries.
In 2010, Foluke launched the PRECIOUS Girls project which works with schools to encourage, inspire, support and promote the next generation of women of colour by increasing entrepreneurial attitudes and provide access to positive female role models. Foluke is also publisher of The PRECIOUS Book of Quotes, a book featuring quotes and advice from 50 inspirational women.
In 2018, Foluke launched The PRECIOUS Lifestyle Awards, a platform that highlights the achievements of women of colour in the Creative Industries. The event hosted at Google put the spotlight on women creating products and services in digital, hair, beauty, publishing and tech.
In 2008 Foluke was named in the top 100 in Courvoisier's “The Future 500” a list of the country's top achievers across ten wide-ranging categories. She was honoured with an MBE in the 2010 New Year's Honours List for services to the Creative Industries. In 2011 she was listed on One World Actions List of One Hundred (Unseen) Powerful Women who change the World and in 2012 Foluke was awarded a Media Pioneer Award at the Specialist Media Show awards.