5 Women Changing the World for the Better.
In honour of International Women’s Day 2023, I’m celebrating the achievements of five amazing Women.
Pro-active and passionate; Inspirational and innovative; these entrepreneurs are harnessing technology to create a better world.
Cat Wildman, Data Dynamo
Cat set out to use her digital skills to create fairer and more inclusive workplaces. Four years ago, she was one of the co-founders of The Global Equality Collective. Today she is CEO of Powered by Diversity, an app for businesses – large or small – to really get under the skin of their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion data.
The app is so phenomenal that it has an 86% completion rate. It connects users to more training resources than you could possibly handle plus a network of experts who can help your business along every step of the journey to improve workplace diversity. Powered by Diversity have helped hundreds of businesses, reaching thousands of employees, with affordable data and training that changes lives. Cat is a one-woman hurricane set on using data for good. She proves that you don’t have to hire expensive consultants to take meaningful steps towards inclusion.
https://poweredbydiversity.org/
Jen Gale, Eco Evangelist
Do you feel guilty about your household food waste? Do you nag the kids to turn off the lights? Do you sometimes feel that the climate crisis is too big, too scary, that you would rather hide under a rock and wish it all away?
I used to feel all off those things – until I took Jen’s online Carbon Literacy course, Talking Climate.
Carbon Literacy. Sounds dull, right?
Wrong.
Making the science accessible (you don’t need a PHD to join); helping you to understand the difference between low, medium and high impacts; and packed full of hundreds upon hundreds of useful links and recommendations, Jen’s course engages your sense of purpose and encourages you to make small, personal steps for change. A change could be checking the credentials of your pension provider, for example. Everything on the course is delivered digitally. Sign up for the next module now and start making a positive difference today.
Also check out the fantastic sustainable(ish) podcasts, talks and articles.
https://www.asustainablelife.co.uk/
Nic Ponsford, Ed Tech Extraordinaire
Parent of three and former teacher, Nic totally gets why ordinary classrooms need to be “extraordinarily inclusive”. She knew the power of technology in education before any of us had ever contemplated the sheer horror of covid-19 home schooling, Nic’s an Ed Tech expert – in fact she wrote the book on it (Techno Teachers).
Nic’s on a mission to create an environment where all young people – regardless of gender, race, ability, orientation, identity, religion, nationality, or socioeconomic status – can thrive in education. That’s why she created a huge library of digital resources to support teachers and educational professionals.
From early years to Higher Education, Nic and the Collective of over 400 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion pros are Smashing Stereotypes. The Award-winning GEC platform is “the world’s first Diversity and Inclusion platform for education”, it’s now being used in over 20 countries and has impacted over 170,000 students as a result.
Jo Hendrickx, Plastic-Free Fantastic
Jo uses her experience from working in travel and tourism (she was previously Sustainable Destinations Manager for Thomas Cook) to provide innovative solutions for the travel industry. Travel Without Plastic gives accommodation providers, tour operators, and leisure and hospitality businesses the tools they need to ditch the plastic, encouraging us to travel more sustainably.
Jo and her small but mighty team of eco experts work directly with hotels to update their standards and processes so they use less plastic. TWP run online workshops and webinars and have trained over 2500 hospitality operators. The Let’s Reduce Single Use model that Jo created has been used by hotels around the world to accelerate their waste reduction journeys.
https://www.travelwithoutplastic.com/
Célia Pronto, Motivator and Mentor
Célia runs her own Digital Advisory & Mentoring business and sits on three boards as a Non-Executive Director. I guess that means she doesn’t have a lot of downtime!
Célia has made it her personal mission to support and champion women in as many ways as she can, including other women entrepreneurs. She in an investor in female-founded businesses or those helping women (check out seep and Code First Girls). She provides advisory services to female founders, mentoring women both directly and through programmes like Rebus. She’s also an Ambassador for Women on Boards (WOB) – an organisation providing women with the training, skills and opportunities to take Non-Executive Director roles.
Why? Because she is 100% committed to supporting women entrepreneurs and business leaders.
https://www.digital-advisor.co.uk/
And finally….
These are just a handful of women who are using tech to change the world.
Who are the women you will celebrate this International Women’s Day? Get in touch to let us know.
