A Seat at the Big Table

Have you ever seen the movie, The Associate? It is a film on Netflix featuring Whoopi Goldberg, which tells the story of a woman in business, who is a leading sales executive in a finance company, where she is overlooked for partnership in her firm because she is female.

She works over her contracted hours, placing herself in environments more favourable to her male counterparts (such as lap dancing clubs and soccer ball matches), to support developing business relationships and winning business. But despite her leadership qualities, she fails to receive credit or be considered for promotion.  

To get around this, she decides to leave her job and set up her own business but, as a woman, prospective clients fail to take her seriously. She then decides to create a new identity through a fictional character – a white middle-aged man called Robert Cutty. She pretends ‘Cutty’ is her business partner to support her pitches. This helps her to capture the attention of key business players and gain their time to present her strong business proposals.

This comedy was made in 1996 and society continues to learn and evolve to support more equality and diversity. However, attitudes, systems and structures continue to prevent women in business from reaching the top and having a seat at the table.

According to Statistica, it was recorded in 2021 that only 18 women were in the position of chief executive officers at FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 companies. Data also continues to show that women in business still struggle more so than their male counterparts for venture capital (VC) investments.

These statistics remind us that women in business are still seeking to break through that ‘glass ceiling’ to establish an equal playing field for career ascension and business progression. For people of colour in the workplace, this glass may be even harder to break, with the statistics being even lower. Green Park’s Annual Business Leaders Index recently recorded that there were currently no black male or female CEO’s at FTSE 100 Companies.

As a woman of colour, this has never been more important to me and many of these issues require institutional reviews and further support to establish a more inclusive and diverse playing field in business. But in the meantime, there is an opportunity for all of us to lead on positive initiatives that promote change and encourage a more diverse, inclusive and successful playing field for all.  

Back in 2020 I launched Herstory and 150 women in business descended on Brighton Pier in the pouring rain to network and celebrate Intenaitonal Women’s Day in style, indoors of course!  We networked, workshopped, panelled and laughed with the help of our friends at Funny Women.

This year we have teamed up with Funny Women again and a range of local and national based businesses to create Making Herstory II to provide a seat at the table for women in business where we can celebrate our wins, communicate with each other about existing barriers and enhance our business contacts.

This is a networking event like no other and all the action takes place on Wednesday 8^th March International Women’s Day 2023, at The Ironworks Studios in Brighton.

Highlights from the previous event, were captured by our local news and television station, Latest TV.

Making Herstory II again features a lively format of networking, an empowering workshop led by Funny Women founder Lynne Parker and actress and improviser Jenny Bolt; a panel discussion featuring presenter Gail Porter along with some of Sussex’s leading business women; and an all-star comedy hour hosted by Bronwyn Sweeney, with Elaine Fellows, Yuriko Kotani and headlined by Zoe Lyons.

Our theme for this year’s event is ‘Ownership of Identity’ and our powerful, and I will be hosting the panel when a diverse panel of business and community leaders will come together to discuss their experiences along with the importance of owning one’s identity in the workplace.

Funds raised from the event will go to the the Rockinghorse Children’s Charity and Donna Holland the CEO will be joining the panel.

Expect to build on your network, be inspired by local leaders, have a few laughs and leave feeling empowered!

See you there!

For more information and to book this event, click here.