Lumsden: Winning Women 2019

Article by Ethan Schapiro.

Edited by Grace `Kennedy

According to Madeleine Albright, the first female Secretary of State in the US, “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women,” a quote repeated with relish by Conna Walker, founder of clothing retailer House of CB and one of seven guest speakers at The Lumsden Club’s 2019 Winning Women Conference. 

The annual conference called together a deius of some of the UK’s more influential women. Ms. Walker was joined by Carrie Longton, co-founder of Mumsnet, the UK’s largest online community for parental advice sharing; Gail Bryden, an Ambassador for Women’s Enterprise Scotland, a non-profit focused on helping female-run companies and founder of JustBe Botanicals, an all-natural range; Daphne Biliouri-Grant, who co-founded and is Director of Due Diligence and Advisory - a risk management consultancy - and a Trustee for Fife Women’s Aid; Emily Burns, Associate Director of the Royal National Theatre and Bridge Theatres in London; Julie Bogaert, founder of the popular blog Frenchionista and manager, who oversees the social media presences of figures ranging from HM The Queen to Victoria Beckham; and Jane Lunnon, Head of Wimbledon High School who counts in her illustrious career a stint as Senior Deputy Head of the prestigious Wellington College.

The diversity of careers represented by the speakers can be attributed to Head of Sponsorship, Ella Dow. “It was a lot of cold-calling,” said Dow of her sourcing process, “Somebody knew somebody who knew of somebody else, and that was really how I found people.” Recognising her own hard work, Dow also acknowledged the help the Conference received from their corporate sponsors: law firm Allen & Overy, powerhouse Accenture, investment service Trium Capital, and South African chemical production concern Chemgrit. Dow was not alone in her work—the mammoth undertaking of the running the Conference required a team of 10, including two heads of sponsorship, two of logistics and one of media. The Event Director, Florence White-Spunner set the agenda for the evening, asking the question, “If you’ve ever experienced imposter syndrome, how have you dealt with it?” The first to answer was Ms. Burns of the National Theatre, “All the time, and it’s not very helpful.” Every speaker, spare Ms. Biliouri-Grant, had experienced the noisome phenomenon that causes successful people to doubt their accomplishments and feel like a fraud. Ms. Biliouri-Grant attributed her ability to avoid the syndrome by having a strong sense of self, “I was told from a young age that I was useless, that I wasn’t good enough for anything. Because I believed so strongly in my own abilities […], I never had to experience it.” While Frenchionista Ms. Bogaert described that she felt lucky, saying she constantly felt that she was blessed, despite working equally as hard as her peers. 

The speakers were bold and unafraid, and the questions grew increasingly personal. When Ms. White-Spunner queried, “What do you think of our name?” the speakers made their concerns with it be known. Ms. Walker noted the visible lack of diversity, “When I saw your picture I thought ‘Ah, everybody looks like me.’ I am a feminist, and feminism is very important, but sometimes it becomes white feminism. When we, as women, make a space for women, we should be including all women.” Ms. Walker’s sentiments were echoed by Ms. Bogaert, “When I go into a meeting room and I feel like there’s no diversity, I question the decisions that are being made.” Ms. Biliouri-Grant questioned the name further, “using the term “winning” implies a competition. For me, it would be appropriate to say ‘leading women,’ something that doesn’t create a sense of division.” Schoolmaster Lunnon recognised the appeal of the “alliterative aspect of the name,” but felt that the name was needlessly divisive, “These messages are critical for women, but also for men to hear. The education job is across both genders”.

Questions then moved to the business side: “CV tips and interviews, how do you stand out, if you can?” The speakers, having been in hiring positions for many years imparted crucial application advice and stressed the importance of proofreading your CV. Ms. Longston, of Mumsnet said, “Spell properly! I wouldn’t give an interview to somebody who can’t use apostrophes.” Ms. Lunnon expressed the same frustrations, “ I can’t bare people who can’t write a good cover letter. Don’t tell me how amazing you are: show, not tell.” The speakers also emphasised the importance of following up on your application, especially after an interview, as showing a potential employer how well you’ll fit with their culture is imperative in standing out from a pile of increasingly similar applicants. “In the past year I’ve seen at least 100 CVs,” said Ms. Bogaert, “it’s really about the cultural fit and the energy. It’s also a lot about humility.” Ms. Bryden did caution, though, the importance of presenting yourself well even when not physically present, “what you really have to be careful about is your social media footprint.” After stressing further the importance of zeal, good grammar, humility, and what those can evince about you in a job application, the event moved to a brief Q&A.

The essence, and more importantly, the impact of the event was summed up beautifully by First-year attendee Shade Mazer, who said, “What I appreciated most about the Winning Women Conference was how candid the speakers were about their career trajectories. I feel like a lot of the ‘empowerment’ events I’ve been to before have been more of ‘How to accept condescension, mansplaining, and sexual harassment in your daily work life,’ and I loved how these women, who came from a diversity of career paths, were able to say in essence “being a woman doesn’t mean burying your femininity and conforming to the notion of the ‘old boys club'. I felt genuinely empowered after that conference, like I could be strong and audacious in the face of adversity and persevere and really triumph.” Like Mazer, her friend, fellow first-year Kaci Emrich, was impressed with the display of “what women can accomplish with a bit of tenacity and temerity, especially in completely male-dominated spaces”. 

Overall, the event exuded empowerment, and, if the method for judging it would be how well received its message was by the audience, a resounding success. 

Photo Credit: The Lumsden Club