Wavemaker Celebrates International Women’s Day with a Week-Long Programme of Events

Wavemaker is further highlighting its commitment to gender equality with a full week of events to celebrate International Women’s Day 2019.

The all-female panel comprised of women holding various senior positions within the media, recruitment and tech industries including: Kate Waters, Director of Client Strategy and Planning, ITV; Katherine Alexander, Founder and CEO, Talent Investors; Terri White, Editor-in-Chief, Empire Magazine; Candice Odhams, Managing Director, Wavemaker UK; Suzy Dean, CEO, Addin365 and looked at how their own personal experiences have influenced their leadership style.

The panel discussion forms part of a quarterly inspirational speaker series organised by the Women@Wavemaker team. The Women@Wavemaker program was launched on International Women’s Day 2018, and actively supports Wavemaker’s ongoing commitment to supporting and empowering its female employees. Aimed at addressing the many challenges female employees may face in their careers, the initiative finds ways to support and solve these challenges, delivering solutions the pioneer the future of the working environment, helping women to achieve senior leadership positions.

We are so delighted by what we have achieved in the last 12 months, Women@Wavemaker has become embedded into the way we work, offering women more opportunities for career development.

Camilla Bruggen, Co-Founder Women@Wavemaker and Joint Head Data Insight, Wavemaker worldwide

“Women have never had such an opportunity to thrive in the workplace, but there is still much to do before we can call ourselves a gender-balanced world. I’m committed to helping everyone in our business to reach their potential and #balanceforbetter” – Candice Odhams, Managing Director.

Additionally, on Wednesday 6th March, Wavemaker hosts a fireside chat with Bruce Daisley, UK CEO of Twitter and author of the best-selling book ‘The Joy of Work’ aimed at inspiring male and female employees alike, on making their own working lives better and looking at how to develop strategies not only to survive, but to succeed and have fun at the same time.

“I’m honoured to be a part of this week’s Women@Wavemaker programme, it’s such an important initiative that lends itself to being both inspirational and educational to female and male employees. I firmly believe in the value of curiosity and hopefully through my talk and the other panels, mentoring and events that are taking place not just this week, but throughout the course of the year, this triggers some diversity of thought in those that have taken part. This can only be a step forward in the right direction to change.” – Bruce Daisley, UK CEO Twitter

Thursday 7th March sees an International Women’s Day speed mentoring session take place at GroupM HQ which offers employees of GroupM agencies – including Wavemaker, the chance to speak directly with leadership teams, getting one-to-one advice on how to improve and progress in your career. Thursday also sees GroupM holding training sessions at Sea Containers House on subjects such as ‘Personal Impact’, ‘Personal Branding’ and ‘Presentation Skills’.

Friday 8th March kicks off with an inspirational GroupM panel discussion on gender equality which sees leaders from GroupM agencies – including Anna Hickey, COO of Wavemaker UK, discuss the ways in which they are ‘walking the talk’ for greater diversity within their personal and professional lives.

This is followed by Wavemaker Coaching Sessions provided by accredited Wavemaker internal coaches designed to assist on subjects such as building confidence. 30-minute coaching sessions on topics such as finance, nutrition and women’s health will also be offered.

“It’s great to take part in our Women@Wavemaker event this week. Whilst the calendar of events feels reassuringly full around this year’s celebration of IWD, we must not take from this that we are doing enough. There is still much work to be done in striving for equality for women in UK business and across the world. We must continue to support women to go for senior roles, to provide them with the tools and the flexibility to work in a way that is as good for their family/home situation as it is for their job, and to create the circumstances that enable men to take equal responsibility for childcare.” – Anna Hickey, Chief Operating Officer, Wavemaker