Women of the Future Podcast

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!  In celebration, this week we have a special podcast with Lin Yue, a multi-award winning thought leader, keynote speaker, and an original thinker on delivering the intersectionality of diversity, culture and psychology to business. An Executive Director of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Lin is responsible for key relationships in the UK institutional market, with a passion...

Eileen Willett is an entrepreneur and fashion industry expert.  Born in Vancouver to Japanese parents, she trained in Paris and started her working life as a fashion illustrator in San Francisco. With a career that took Eileen via Japan, where she met her husband, to finally settling where she resides now in London, Eileen went on to join the then fledgling Nicole Farhi Menswear brand and helped i...

Stephanie Hill is an emotional wellbeing practitioner and learning and development specialist with 20 years’ experience. She works internationally with United Nations agencies and international Non-Governmental Organisations, as well as charities, NHS organisations and local government in the UK. In 2004 she was working in Southeast Asia when the Boxing Day tsunami hit; tragically killing her part...

Neev Spencer is a TV and radio broadcaster best known for her award-winning shows on KISS FM. She’s one of the UK’s most loved broadcast personalities and the first British Asian to cross over into mainstream radio.   Alongside her broadcasting and presenting work, Neev is a proud ambassador for five charities, including The Prince’s Trust and Global Citizen. In 2017, Neev made a film about her ex...

Natasha Burroughs specialises in advising global investors and companies to drive a sustainable and fair future. She is passionate about building partnerships between the private and public sectors, with experience across the FTSE100, the heart of government, and start ups. She was one of the first senior appointments to the Office for Investment, a joint 10 Downing Street and Department for Inter...

Dr. Rohini Anand is Founder and CEO of Rohini Anand LLC, providing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) advisory services to clients in the public and private sectors. She is a strategic business leader and trusted board member who has successfully transformed cultures and built an iconic brand with an enduring reputation, resulting in accelerating new business creation. With expertise that spans...

Self-titled ‘Polar Preet Chandi’ is nothing short of extraordinary.   A passion and expertise for tennis at an early age saw Preet move to the Czech Republic to attend Novak’s Tennis Academy when she was just 16.  A career in the Army Reserves and a degree in physiotherapy followed; but as her appetite for pushing and challenging herself grew, Preet went on to complete her first half marathon at 2...

With previous roles at FitFlop, Puma, Levi Strauss and Timberland; Suzie de Rohan Willner is a hugely experienced global CEO specialising in values-based leadership and meaningful business transformation. Suzie is currently CEO at TOAST, a purpose driven global lifestyle brand, creating and curating simple, functional, beautiful clothing, homeware and content. She believes that if you focus on you...

Surviving a difficult and challenging childhood in East London, Jack Parson’s mission in life is to make sure no one is left behind by society.  Jack’s work is primarily focussed on the often overlooked 18-30 demographic who, for some, have not had the opportunities that many of their peers from different socio-economic backgrounds have had. Jack, and the Youth Group, are changing this, one young...

Rozella Mahjhrin is a Malaysian singer, songwriter, voice-over artist and the founder of True Complexion, an online social platform that raises awareness of health conditions, disabilities, and body image issues. Born with a birthmark on her face, Rozella grew up with low self-esteem that initially prevented her from pursuing her love of music and performing. Eventually finding the strength to emb...

Noreen Mirza is an award-winning British jewellery designer whose creations have adorned celebrities and international royalty; frequently featuring in global press. Founder of one of the world’s most innovative and empowering fine jewellery brands - the eponymous ‘Noreen London’ - she now acts as the brand’s Creative Director, utilising her expertise and wealth of experience in creating bespoke p...

Chantal Epp is an award-winning entrepreneur and the founder of ClicknClear. She set up her first company Synergy Sounds, a music production company for cheerleading, whilst at University. Following her time working in sync licensing, Chantal took the opportunity to merge her two passions, cheerleading and music, and founded ClicknClear, providing global music licensing within performance sports. ...

Layla Yarjani is Chief Operating Officer of Little Bridge, a company focused on allowing millions of children around the world to learn to read, write, listen and speak English through a social, immersive, games-based community.   Prior to Little Bridge, Layla spent five and a half years in consulting, during which, as an advisor to UNICEF, she founded the NEXTGen London network of young professio...

Kara Owen CMG has been the British High Commissioner to Singapore since June 2019. As High Commissioner, Kara acts as the UK government’s representative and is responsible for everything from political work, trade and investment, to press and cultural relations, as well as visa and consular services. Before taking on the role, Kara was most recently Director for the Americas at the Foreign and Com...

Dr Leor Zmigrod is a Junior Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge. Her research combines methods from experimental psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience to investigate the psychology of ideological adherence and group identity formation. In particular, she is interested in investigating cognitive characteristics that might act as vulnerability factors for radicalisation and ideo...

Sukki Singapora is a burlesque performer and activist. Born to a Singaporean Indian father and an English mother, Sukki has achieved world-wide recognition as the first international burlesque performer from Singapore; founding The Singapore Burlesque Society in 2012, to protect Asian women (and men) wanting to pursue a career in burlesque. Sukki’s television debut came as one of the cast for Netf...

Samantha Cohen is CEO of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council, the business network of the Commonwealth. Prior to this Sam served in the Royal Household for nearly two decades as Assistant and Deputy Private Secretary to Her Majesty The Queen, having held a previous role as Head of Royal Communications for The Queen’s Household. After working on the delivery of the Commonwealth Heads...

Zara Bryson is a Strategy and Innovation Director at Publicis Media, one of the four solutions hubs of Publicis Groupe, comprised of Starcom, Zenith, Digitas, Spark Foundry and Performics, powered by digital-first, data-driven global practices to deliver client value and business transformation.   Zara’s self-confessed love of maths and a degree in law has made her a collaborative, strategic, prob...

Katie Lloyd is Development Director for BBC News & Current Affairs, leading the way in a number of areas; from culture change, D&I, talent development and sustainability, to the BBC’s flagship outreach project, BBC Young Reporter. Since joining, Katie has devised a number of high-impact initiatives that have increased diversity and inclusion within the organisation; including the BBC News Women in...

Georgina Roberts has represented Wales and Great Britain at Olympic Trap Shooting since she was just 17-years-old. As an ambassador for The Mintridge Foundation and British Shooting, she has found her passion lies in helping others to achieve their goals.  Determined to rewrite and change public perceptions, as well as the gender-based stereotypes associated to shooting, Georgina has a steady focu...

Detective Sergeant Neata Simpson embarked on her career with the West Midlands Police in 2002 and never looked back.   Highlighted by her peers as a role model in the public service sector, Neata has been at the forefront of West Midlands Police’s family matters initiative, ensuring support and flexible systems are in place to enable women with families to fulfil their aspirations within the polic...

Zara Janjua is a successful multi-hyphen TV professional; essentially meaning her ‘daily grind’ includes roles as a journalist, presenter, producer, director, filmmaker, writer, comedian, actor, course facilitator and event host. ​ A BAFTA, NTA and RTS award-winning broadcaster of Scottish-Pakistani heritage, Zara has presented national news, daytime TV, comedy and cookery shows for the BBC, ITV a...

Yunquan Qin has been described as ‘the epitome of strength’. The first woman in Asia to be certified as both a counter-terror shooting instructor by the Israeli Tactical School in the US, and also to earn a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu; Yunquan is CEO and chief instructor of Kapap Academy, a social enterprise dedicated to empowering ordinary people, with Yunquan having taught practical self-de...

Lizzy Dening is a British journalist who has written about health, lifestyle and feminism for publications including The Guardian, Grazia, the Huffington Post, Marie Claire, Elle and the Independent.   Passionate about using her writing to help survivors of sexual violence, since 2016 Lizzy has volunteered at Peterborough Rape Crisis Care Group and is Vice Chair of their board of trustees.   Lizzy...

John Lombard joined global technology services company NTT Ltd. as CEO Asia Pacific in May 2016 and brought with him over 30 years of leadership and management consulting experience.  Prior to NTT, John worked for the software company SAP as Head of Services for Asia Pacific Japan. During his stint at SAP, he was responsible for services and support across 14 countries in the region and was centra...