About this article

Read time:

4 minutes

Category:

Life at Skout, Opinion

International Women’s Day 2021: Skout’s inspirational women

This year’s International Women’s Day theme is ‘Choose to Challenge’. IWD explains, We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements. Collectively, we can all help to create an inclusive world. From challenges comes change, so let’s all choose to challenge’. 

With that in mind, we wanted to share the stories and achievements of the women that have inspired us – because they have broken boundaries in their field, are forcing change in an industry or with a particular issue, or because they’re inspiring the next generation of young girls and women. 

Each member of the Skout team has nominated a woman that inspires them and told us why: 

Rob Skinner (MD) – His mum 

My mum inspires me. Outwardly, you wouldn’t think of her as naturally tough, but I think she is hugely resilient. She was widowed in her 30s and brought my brother and I up on her own from a young age. When I asked her how she got through the difficult times, she just said: true grit. Determination overcomes adversity. Oh, and she used to make a wicked butterscotch flan! 

Claire Lamb (Dir) – Kate Bingham 

As an ex-biochemist and venture capitalist, Kate Bingham took on the role as chair (unpaid) of the UK’s vaccination task force. Within the space of two weeks, she and her team had drawn up a list of 43 possible vaccines and identified which ones were likely to save the most lives – she then set about buying them. To help with the delivery of the vaccine, she also assembled a cross functional team of private sector experts in supply chain and logistics. The reason why we’ve had such a successful roll out compared to other countries is thanks to the fantastic work of Kate and her team. 

Claire James (SAD) – Jacinda Arden 

Prime Ministers are rarely relatable. When I think about all the PMs we’ve had throughout my lifetime, I would not consider any of them to be ‘like me’, which is why Jacinda Arden is such a breath of fresh air. Did you know that she became prime minister of New Zealand at the age of 37? (That’s 10 years younger than I am now!) Not only can you tell she is passionate about her country in the way she speaks, but her quick reactions and unwavering belief in protecting her people during the Covid-19 pandemic prevented the high mortality rates that we’ve witnessed in many other countries. I admire her enthusiasm, single mindedness, and the commitment she has for her role and the citizens. I am confident she will continue to do amazing things for New Zealand.  

Fiona Wyatt (AD) – Victoria Wood 

A performer, songwriter, comedian, writer and actress, there’s no denying that Victoria Wood is uber-talented. As a female comedian she was one of the first to be taken seriously in the 80s, which opened doors for many others following in her footsteps. She even gave her fabulous friend, Julie Walters, a platform to shine upon! If that wasn’t enough, she was also a trail blazer for the North at a time when TV channels were fixated on posh English accents – as she would say, “keepin’ it real as always”.  

Celine Goodier (BDM) – Michelle Obama 

As lawyer and writer, Michelle Obama was the first African American first lady of the United States. During her time in office, she focused her attention on social issues such as education, poverty and healthy living, using her upbringing and experiences to inspire others. As a champion of girls’ education, she launched ‘Let Girls Learn’, an initiative that encourages girls to stay in school and has tirelessly broken-down stereotypes to remove the barriers in female education. I have learned from her philosophy never to hold back or be told that I can’t do something and instead, use it as a challenge to succeed! If you want to learn a little more about her life, the Netflix documentary ‘Becoming’ is definitely an interesting watch.  

Alex Gladwin (OM) – Queen Elizabeth II 

As the longest reigning monarch in British history, Queen Elizabeth II has held a place of power on the world stage for over 65 years. Crowned on 2nd June 1953 at the age of 27, she is still the head of our country at the age of 94! From guiding us through wars and different political directions to keeping in touch with an ever-changing world, she has dedicated her whole life to serving the commonwealth and has always remained resilient despite personal and family tragedy. For me, she will always be one of the most inspirational female leaders of our time.  

Lottie (SAM) – Dina Asher-Smith   

Dina Asher-Smith is a British sprinter and Olympian and currently holds the title of Britain’s fastest woman in recorded history. Not only does she work and train incredibly hard on-track, but she also uses her profile and platform to speak out about important issues and encourages young girls in schools to participate in sport. What she said in a recent interview really struck a chord with me:   

“There’s a big drop off in girls who do sport when they’re around 13 to 15, and everybody seems confused as to why. To me, it’s perfectly clear: I think that’s the age when girls become more aware of their surroundings and people start to look for who they are – what it means to be a woman…and often sport isn’t in that picture. They see the ideal of femininity projected to them and, as a young sportswoman, you look and think: so, am I opposite to that? You have to show that being a career sportswoman is viable, is celebrated, is positive. [That] it doesn’t come with stereotypes; it doesn’t come with boxes that you have to fit and it’s not at odds with being a woman.”  

Becky McCardle (SAE) – Angela Davis 

Angela Davis is a political activist, philosopher, academic and author – and has recently been included in Time’s 100 ‘Most Influential People of 2020’. I’ve recently read her book, ‘Women, Race and Class’ which is a study of women’s liberation as well as a history of the slave trade and abolitionism movements. A powerful quote that I think demonstrates her strong will and passion for racial and discriminatory justice, is: “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.”    

Rebecca Brown (SAE) – Lauren Steadman 

British Paralympian, Lauren Steadman, made me realise just how much you can achieve if you are determined and are always finding new ways to challenge yourself. Not letting her disability stand in her way, she reached the semi-finals of ‘Strictly Come Dancing.’ And took part in the 2020 series of ‘Celebrity: SAS Who Dares Wins’, beating her fellow competitors to be crowned joint winner. She is also co-founder of Sizu Minds – a community which supports mental health and encourages people to have a voice and be proud of who they are.   

With so many inspirational women and achievements to celebrate, we thought a day simply wouldn’t be enough! That’s why we’re taking the month to mark the occasion, using our social feeds to shine the spotlight on our nominated women and share their incredible, empowering and inspiring stories. 

Which woman inspires you and why? Follow our Twitter and LinkedIn feeds to join the conversation and share your nominations with us! 

About this article

Read time:

4 minutes

Category:

Life at Skout, Opinion

Q&A with Alex Gladwin: What does it mean to be a trustee for an EOB?

Rules of engagement: do you need an AI policy?

Browse more blog posts

Posted on
byIsobelle Yoxall
As you may know by now, this year Skout went through the process of becoming an employee-owned business (EOB)! This is an exciting move that provides great opportunities for everyone connected with the business, not just for our employees, but for our clients and everyone we will work with in the future. As part of the process, an employee-owned trust...
Posted on
byClaire Lamb
In short, yes. But that answer would make this a really brief blog 😉. With the UK Government estimating that one in six UK organisations, nearly half a million companies, have embraced at least one AI technology, the chances are your employees are already using it – whether officially or unofficially. One thing that we discovered when we started to...
Posted on
byJames Weaver
In today’s digital-first world, we constantly receive breaking news and developing stories around the clock. The dawn of the smart phone and rise of social media has given us a world of information at our fingertips and major news organisations’ rolling coverage can be as theatrical and gripping as the plays of old. Just as Shakespearean tragedies gripped audiences, today...
Posted on
byRob Skinner
If you’re working in B2B marketing in the digital commerce technology sector you’ll know what an incredibly complex landscape it has become! As online buying both by consumers and businesses has evolved, the range of technologies available to help businesses selling or purchasing online or digitally has grown hugely. Today, your key audiences are being bombarded with marketing content covering...
Posted on
byJack Snell
Why was PR your chosen career?  Without it sounding like the biggest cliché in the industry, I just happened to fall into PR unintentionally. I applied to study journalism at Leeds Beckett University but they replied telling me that the course was already full, heart-breaking stuff 😔. Instead, they offered me a place on the public relations course, so I...
Posted on
byJames Bentley
You may have seen recently the brilliant news that Skout is now an employee-owned business as our founding shareholders, Rob Skinner and Claire Lamb, signed 100 per cent of the company’s ownership over to an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) which acts on the behalf of our team. It’s a move that provides great opportunities for everyone connected with the business,...
Posted on
byClaire James
Generative AI (such as ChatGPT) has caused a bit of a storm in the marketing world but its power to transform is being embraced by other industries to significant advantage. In this blog I am looking specifically at the retail industry and how it is adopting GenAI to help shape the future of customer experience whilst also reducing costs. Creating...
Posted on
byLee Simpson
From Meet Ups to Expos, the tech industry is one that thrives on knowledge and best-practice sharing. Yet all too often tech events fail to hit the mark when it comes to offering tangible value, instead created by corporate machines as something of a vehicle for self-promotion.   Manchester’s Amy Newton is on a mission to change that, striving to reinvent...
Posted on
byRebecca Brown
AI has been the hot topic in our team meetings over the past few months, with the Skout team debating the pros and cons of its use. From using it to assist with desk research and providing inspiration for headlines through to transcribing interviews to help remove the need for extensive notetaking. Its flipside, however, has driven conversations around its...
Posted on
byHonor Williamson
As World Wellbeing Week draws to a close, we wanted to shine a light on wellbeing at work. While every area of wellbeing is hugely important in all aspects of life, it’s especially important in the workplace – we’re there nearly every day, after all! We spoke to Chris Snookes, Group Head of Marketing, Products and Markets at our client...

Send us a message

Download The B2B business relationship report

The B2B relationship renaissance – did digital kill it? The importance of relationships throughout the customer buying journey. Please complete the form below and receive a download link via email.