International Women’s Day, Pancakes and the Adjustment Bureau

Yesterday was International Women’s Day- a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future- as well as one of the nation’s best loved celebrations –Pancake Day! Unfortunately I had meetings and prior engagements (doesn’t prior engagements have such a lovely sound to it) for most of the day and so I couldn’t attend any of the International Women events I was invited too (I wish I could, they all sounded great).

Instead I helped my Mum put on a Pancake Party and then collapsed in front of the film ‘Adjustment Bureau’ after eating far too many nutella pancakes....and WOW what a film! The concept was really interesting and as a Christian I thought it tackled some interesting questions, on a non-religious level it is also a very thought provoking film. Considering the way so many of us have 5 and 10 year plans, it really turned made me think about why we do thing, the way we strive for certain things and the thought process behind decisions. I obviously do not believe in the ‘Adjustment bureau’ in the manner that it is portrayed in the film, but I do believe in God and Angels.

I do not want to give anymore away, but I would really recommend that if you get the chance to see the film then do, I hope that you are all still feeling slightly sick from the amount of pancakes you have eaten (that being a fairly good indicator of how good your pancake evening was) and that all the Women out there are feeling stronger, prouder and a little bit taller that they are an amazing, incredible and world changing Women!

Also I would recommend readying http://onlyhumantoo.wordpress.com/ this is my blog of the week.

Keep smiling,
R x

Women of the Future

It may have been over a week since it happened, but the publicity ripples are still going.

On the 12th November it was the Women of the Future Awards, sponsored by Shell.
I took my friend Tanya who nominated me (Thank you Tanya) and it was a really special event.
This amazing night started with a champagne reception where we could network. I met with some of the other girls in my category; Nikki Cusworth from Rolls-Royce, Georgia Groom from ‘angus, thongs and perfect snogging’, Alice Powell the best female racing driver I know and Mishka Rushdie Momen a very talented pianist.
The night started with us all up on stage and a welcome speech from Pinky Lilani OBE-who started the awards with Caspian Publishing. This was followed by a welcome speech by David Cameron (who was sat between Cherie Blair and Tessa Jowells) who promised “I will not let the quest for equality die. Women are more likely to become MPs in Rwanda, Belarus, Burundi and the Seychelles than in the UK. Frankly, that’s a disgrace. That is not progressive. And I will not let this problem rest until I’ve fixed it.”
It was....interesting, but I got a mention so that was exciting!
The special guests were Her Highness Princess Zahra Aga Khan and Cherie Blair who are patrons of Women of the Future. Also in attendance was novelist Salman Rushdie and actress Anna Chancellor (Spooks, Four Weddings and a Funeral) to Her Royal Highness Princess Badiya Bint El Hassan. (who is the loveliest person EVER!!)
A big highlight for me was that Phyllida Lloyd (who directed Mamma Mia) presented an award!!!
The food was lovely (even if I don’t really eat much fish, it was really nice!) and the company was ace!
Alice (and her manager) and Tanya entertained me all night... and I won the ‘Women of the Future’ ‘Young Star’ Award.
Thank you very much Women of the Future, lovely night, amazing award and ALOT of publicity (which always helps when getting a new product on the market :-)).

Women of the Future Award

I am very privileged to have been shortlisted for a ‘Women of the Future’ Award (thank you very much Tanya Budd for nominating me!). I am in the Young Stars category and last Friday I went down to London to be ‘judged’. This was not as scary as it sounds, more of an interview. My category is really nice as we all come from different industries and we are all there for different reasons there is Mazeda Begum who is a student (unfortunately I didn’t get to meet her) but I did have the pleasure of meeting Nikki Cusworth a young engineer for Rolls-Royce, Georgia Groom who is an actress (some of you will know her from Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging), Alice Powell a racing-driver who races with Manor and last but not least Mishka Rushdie Momen a pianist.
It was so nice to meet everyone and we all found we had a lot in common (some of even lived quite close to each other). Luckily for us we have all achieved great things in our chosen area, so the judges have a hard job. It is a lot nice that in other categories there are friends that I met at the Management Today events (we were all on the 35 women under 35 list together) were also up for awards.
It was especially nice to see Laura Stevenson of Sadler’s Wells and Jade Tong of DTZ who are also up for awards, good luck everyone!

For more infocheck out the Women of the Future website http://womenofthefuture.co.uk