Mission

I want to ensure that more women have the option to stay in the leadership pipeline after having children so that long term, we have more female senior leaders. I also want to support both men and women to make well considered choices how they want to arrange family lives. that we have more men who feel confident to make a choice

Category

Family Support

Additional Information

Leaders with Babies Before maternity leave, I led the South East Region at Teach First, where I developed and delivered the Teach First leadership programme. I have always been passionate about social justice and upon reading that there are fewer female CEOs in FTSE 100 companies than CEOs named John, I decided to make a positive contribution and organise Leaders with Babies event in the House of Commons during my maternity leave (see twitter here).  Attendees heard the honest stories of inspirational leaders such as Karen Blacklett OBE or Geraldine Strathdee CBE on how they managed to combine a leadership careers with looking after young children.    The event was very successful, we had 60 adults leaders and 50 babies in one room in the House of Commons (see picture) and  a waiting list of 40 people despite the event only being promoted by word of mouth. The MP was so inspired that she wants to run it again.    One of the attendees said: "It was so good to get a big group together of mothers and fathers passionate about being good parents but also continue in leadership careers - and so inspiring to hear from some of the people running the country who have done just that!"   Upon seeing that there is such a demand, I decided to take this work forward and did a number of in depth interviews with returning parents to identify what would make the biggest difference to them.      I plan to continue the #leaderswithbabies events as a series but also develop a highly selective leadership programme for new parents, supporting them to continue on the leadership trajectory during maternity leave and beyond as well as support the programme fellows to make a positive contribution as a group of change makers, e.g. through forming an influential community, leading gender equality projects in their host organisations or engaging in reverse mentoring.   To make this a reality, I need to work with corporates and therefore I need an excellent visual identity. This is why it would be amazing to have the support of a Pimp My Cause member.  About me: I have run highly successful leadership development programmes in Switzerland, Denmark and the UK, first as Vice President for People Development in AIESEC and then as Regional Director at Teach First where I have grown the South East Region by 50%. In my spare time, I am Chair of Trustees at Lewisham Citizens Advice and volunteer as Nightstop Host with homeless young people. In Switzerland I studied Anthropology and Business and graduated with an MA with distinction in Social Anthropology from the University of Manchester.