To celebrate International Women’s Day, we want to celebrate all of the wonderful women in business that are a part of our local community. Many of our fabulous female tenants go above and beyond with everything they do daily, and we believe they should be celebrated every day of the year, not just on International Women’s Day.
We’ve spoken to many of our tenants to share what they do and some thoughts about International Women’s Day.
Turner & Townsend: Nonee
International Women’s Day is important to me personally as a woman in a traditionally male dominated profession. I am an Associate Director for a global professional services company operating in the real estate, infrastructure and natural resource sectors. During my civil engineering degree the ratio of men to women was 10:1, rising to more than five times as much in my early career. Thankfully that is now changing.
It is important that the achievements of women in the workplace, in the community, in family life and across all aspects of society are celebrated. Women can do, are doing and will do great things for the betterment of us all. Often all it takes to expand our horizons is to see another woman achieve. I’m privileged that my mother is that person for me. I was raised never to think my gender was a reason I could not. However, I really wish that was the case for everyone.
International Women’s Day reinforces that women can and will. When I reflect on my journey so far, I am always reminded on IWD of the men who looked past what I was and saw who I was and the potential I held. The colleagues, family, mentors, managers, friends, and leaders, regardless of gender, who believed and continue to encourage me to be the best version of myself, are the true advocates of IWD.
Jeremiah’s Journey: Tanya
Jeremiah’s Journey is a local charity supporting grieving children and their families through grief or when a someone special in their life is dying. I’ve been at the helm of this amazing local charity less than a year, after previously holding senior leadership roles at National Charities for the last 25 years.
I was born in Plymouth and although I have travelled extensively across my career. I’ve always lived locally, and when people asked me “where do you want to be in 10 years’ time?” it was always my ambition to head up a local Plymouth based charity. I feel so blessed that the right opportunity came up when it did, the work of Jeremiah’s Journey is very close to my heart.
My first leadership roles were in retail management in Plymouth, and I was consistently told that to progress my career I would need to relocate to progress. I have always resisted this because I love my home city so much. When I started, I was a single working mum and giving my son stability was the most important thing to me. However, not moving to be based in London or to the middle of the Country did limit the opportunities available to me. Now that I am working in the city again, I am so encouraged by how much things have changed 30 years on! There are so many inspiring women in leadership in Plymouth and so many more opportunities with a genuine commitment to breaking down the barriers and bias that has existed. International Women’s Day is a great opportunity for Plymouth to share the stories of so many totally awesome and inspiring women across the city.
Joy & Co: Jenny and Claudia
Our names are Jenny and Claudia, a mother daughter team based in Plymouth. Together we created and run our small business Joy and Co Ltd. With a combination of 20 years teaching experience and an Environmental Science degree, we decided to merge our specialties to produce eco-friendly children’s products including up-cycled clothing, craft kits and stationery.
International Women’s Week is so important to celebrate the great strides that are being made to make the world a more equal and inclusive place for women to thrive.
This includes the incredible achievements being made by women in business with over 140,000 new all-female founded companies created last year in the UK. A figure which is growing by a third each year.
We are very proud to be a part of the women in business community which is continuing to grow throughout Plymouth with female led businesses not only growing but creating amazing events across the city from Royal William Yard to Plympton to Devonport that support small businesses such as ourselves to have a local platform to share our stories and sell our products.
It is critical that women in business feel empowered and valued, and to take this week to spread the message of embracing equality so that the number of female led businesses continues to grow.
Diversity Business Incubator
The team at DBI are all familiar faces within the Millfields Trust community. If you haven’t already, take a look at their Meet the Tenant blog post for more information on what they do. Today we’re focusing on the wonderful women that make up Diversity Business Incubator.
To celebrate all women in business within our community, we wanted to share this quote which resonated with us all here at DBI.
“Each time a woman stands up for herself, she stands up for all women.” – Maya Angelou
We also wanted to give a special shoutout to Ela Roszkowska who has just joined the team as our new data analyst! She is yet another fantastic female in our DBI family and we can’t wait to continue working with her in the future.
Ixion Beauty: Amy
We are part of the Shaw Trust and offer courses paid for by advanced learner loans. Our courses include nail technology, makeup, theatrical make-up/hair, beauty massage, salon management, and a new course combined beauty. Most of our courses last up to 25 weeks.
We do attract a lot of mums because most of the courses fit around school hours. We also offer evening courses; our new evening nails course started in the last few weeks. Our courses make people feel empowered, gives them something to work towards and adds a bit of routine into their lives.
International Women’s day is all year round for us, empowering women all year round and helping them build their confidence. A positive learning environment changes your mindset. We want to try and engage with more people so they know we are here; there are so many things you can learn here.
If you’re a business in need of office space, light industrial units or possibly just a meeting room, head over to Our Premises today. If you already know exactly what you need then please don’t hesitate to contact the team.