Digital Agenda
Full wrap-around LIVE and on-demand content
From policy to implementation, From talk to walk, and from idea to impact, our digital series will host brilliant individuals who are doing things differently when it comes to achieving equity; both personally and professionally.
There are no barriers to the insights and wisdom that can be shared on advancing women at all critical life-stages.
This curated series of inspirational bite-size talks will focus on actionable takeaways and advice.
We know that your time is precious so we won’t waste it. Solutions, real-life stories and advice are what you’re after, and these sessions will provide it - candid case studies from businesses who have “Been there, done it”
Available live or on-demand on our superior easy-to-access web platform for those with a digital or full pass. Plus, all talks from the London Summit will be available on-demand to digital or full pass-holders.
Please check the website regularly as more sessions will be released weekly.
05.05.23
Welcome from Founders: What is the WIW Summit and why have we created it?
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We chat to Mariella Frostrup, Janet Lindsey & Laura Biggs , who will be sharing their wishes for the Summit and how we can really start to influence a real change for women in work
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Mariella Frostrup is one of the UK’s most respected broadcasters and columnists. Her contribution to arts and literature along with her advocacy on gender and social issues have placed her at the forefront of the cultural landscape. She made the ground-breaking BBC1 documentary ‘The Truth about Menopause’ and she currently presents her own daily show on Times Radio covering issues of the day.
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12.05.23
The importance of breaking the reproductive health taboo in the workplace
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Join us as we chat to Lina Chan the founder of Parla, who will share her personal experience and what led her to launch Parla. Here's a snapshot of Lina's story that we will highlight alongside how her employer supported her on this journey and how companies can support their employees through their reproductive health.
The 25 weeks that Lina carried Mia, she experienced complications, with heavy back to back bleeds from the beginning of her pregnancy. She held her breath through every scare and every abnormal scan, hoping that her little girl would make it into the world. Looking back, Lina sees that she was always at high risk of losing her baby, but the love she had for her and her optimistic nature kept her rooting for her to live. Sadly, before Lina could reach her third trimester, Mia’s heartbeat stopped. Lina not only lost her beloved baby, but she also had to give birth to her during an 8 hour labour that would shatter her already broken heart and change her life forever.
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Lina Chan is the CEO and co-founder of Parla. Lina spent most of her career working as a private equity investor in the US and the UK. After experiencing multiple pregnancy losses, difficulty conceiving and preterm birth, Lina became acutely aware of the gaps in women’s health care.
She founded Parla in 2018 with the mission to improve women’s access to expert support and health education. She quickly grew the company to over 15,000 users in 80+ countries before being acquired by Holland & Barrett, Europe’s largest health and wellness retailer, in early 2022.
Lina is also a regular public speaker advocating for women’s health issues at various events like GIANT Health, VivaTek, HIMSS Health and Femtechnology Summit.
19.05.23
A Real-Life Women's Health Case Study - How I coped, how my employer supported me and what advice I'd give to employers
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Join us as Katie Muir chats to Rachel Yendoll Head of Content at Channel 4, about her health issues and how Channel 4 have supported her throughout her life stages.
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Head of Content Management at Channel 4.
A senior leader with significant experience across the media at Channel 4, UKTV and the digital sector. Skilled in leading large operational teams, managing content and access services across multiple platforms.
Operational expert across live multi-platform events, have led on projects including the award winning Paralympics, Stand up to Cancer and Formula 1. I am adept at leading large complex teams, with multiple stakeholders in a highly demanding and changing environment.
Head of Access Services across programming at Channel 4 – sets the strategic vision for ensuring content is accessible for all, supplying subtitles, audio description and signing for content and live events.
Champion and advocate for diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
A convert to HRT after undergoing two operations for cancer and going into surgical menopause.
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Kate was chief film critic of The Times for seven years, and is the author of three novels. She is an expert public speaker on women's health and the menopause, and an activist for The Menopause Charity. Kate has given menopause speeches at The Royal Institution, and Cambridge, Brighton and Leicester universities.
26.05.23
Menstruation - Menopause: Introducing a new British Standard
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Join us to hear more about the soon to be released FREE BSI standard for Menstruation / Menopause policy guidance for all companies
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Anne Hayes heads up the BSI Knowledge teams that lead the Sector strategies and the standards to ensure UK and global innovation and policy are supported with relevant standards. Having spent 20 years working within the standardization world she has experience across a broad range of industries and sectors having headed up teams for Governance, Risk and resilience as well as healthcare and sustainability.
Previously to BSI Anne was Editorial Director at Sweet & Maxwell Ltd.
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Darron Dupre is Head of Local Government at UNISON Cymru Wales. As the senior negotiator for around 35,000 UNISON council workers in Wales, 75% of whom are women, Darron places equality as well as terms and conditions at the heart of his work.
Darron became a union rep for the National Union of Public Employees in 1991 whilst working in the NHS. In 1993, NUPE became UNISON and in 1994, Darron became UNISON's youngest Branch Secretary at the age of 23. In 2000, Darron joined the Wales Trade Union Congress (Wales TUC) as Research Officer and in 2006 returned to UNISON as a Regional Organiser.
In 2017, Darron attended the Wales TUC launch of their Menopause Toolkit, an event that he says, 'was the most profound of my career'. Armed with his Toolkit, Darron asked Velindre University NHS Trust whether it would work in partnership with UNISON around a menopause awareness and support campaign for all staff. This project created the very first employer Menopause Cafe in Wales, won a number of HR Awards for the Trust and was used as the best practice example for NHS Wales. Darron also negotiated for NHS Wales to send bi-lingual menopause awareness posters to every GP surgery in Wales.
Noting that the Local Government workforce in Wales is statistically older and female, Darron is currently working with the Welsh Local Government Association to place menopause awareness and support at the top of the workforce agenda . To support this, Darron will be conducting a survey of the entire UNISON council and schools' membership, women and men, to better understand the menopause experiences of local government workers in Wales.
16.06.23
Fertility Matters at Work
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We will be chatting to the founders at Fertility Matters at Work. 1 in 7 people will suffer with infertility. It can be incredibly hard to deal with a diagnosis like this within the workplace. We will be finding out how best to support women with an issue that impacts every part of your life.
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With over 15 years of broadcasting experience with the UK’s leading commercial radio stations and award-winning voiceover artist Natalie launched The Fertility Podcast in 2014, once pregnant after fertility treatment.
It was the UK’s first dedicated podcast on this taboo topic at a time when podcasts weren’t as popular as they are now. Over the last seven years, Natalie has spoken to numerous men and women about their struggles and interviewed fertility experts around the globe. To date, the podcast has had almost half-a-million downloads.
She is a patient advocate and regular panel host and chair at key fertility industry events and a qualified Freedom Fertility Formula Coach. In 2019, Natalie shared her experience of IVF whilst hosting a breakfast radio show in Grazia magazines' ‘Womb with a View’ column and then went on to speak as part of AXA’s Diversity and Inclusion festival and work with Barclays Banks, before joining forces with Becky and Claire.
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After working in HR for over 12 years for a number of well- known corporate and public organisations, Becky is now a Fertility Blogger and Patient Advocate as ‘DefiningMum’, having written and spoken about fertility at work as part of BBC Fertility Week 2019. She is also the Founder of Paths to Parenthub, a virtual support platform for those needing to use donor conception to build their family.
Following a difficult fertility journey, which involved numerous IVF Cycles and miscarriage, Becky is now mum to three girls thanks to egg donation. She’s passionate about raising awareness and wants to change the support available for those experiencing fertility treatment in the future, particularly in the workplace.
02.06.23
What makes a woman happy at work?
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Discover what makes women more happy at work (based on rigorous employee sentiment surveys), where the happiest women are and what your organisation can do to make your workplace a place where women (and business) can thrive.
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Lord Mark Price is the founder of WorkL, an employee experience platform helping organisations to measure, track and improve engagement and commercial success. Mark spent 34 years in the John Lewis Partnership, the final 10 as MD of Waitrose and Deputy Chairman of the partnership. After leaving the John Lewis Partnership Mark was the Minister of State for Trade and Investment. Mark is also the President of the CMI and is on the board of Coca Cola Europacific Partners.
09.06.23
Meno-economics: the real cost of losing mid-life women
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In this session , Author, Journalist and documentary maker Kate Muir will share with us the findings from her research on how losing midlife women form your workforce can have a dramatic effect on your bottom line
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23.06.23
The role of a Menopause Ambassador
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What is the role of the government's first menopause tsar?
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Helen Tomlinson is the UK’s first-ever Menopause Champion. Working alongside the Department for Work and Pensions, Helen helps employers develop policies that empower women experiencing menopause to stay and progress in work.
Advocating for gender equity is the common thread throughout Helen’s 30-year career in the recruitment and employability sectors. In addition to her voluntary Menopause Champion role, Helen is Head of Talent (UK and Ireland) for the Adecco Group, the global leader in HR solutions. Her pioneering podcast on menopause and work inspired the Adecco Group to design and implement one of the UK’s first corporate menopause policies.
Since then, Helen has supported companies of all sizes to create supportive environments, encourage open conversations, and help women thrive at work through menopause and beyond.
With three decades of experience across commercial management, sales, and strategic HR planning, Helen helps organisations realise the business benefits of an enlightened approach – and drives positive, pragmatic change for employers and their people.
01.09.23
Menopause - time for an inclusive conversation
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Menopause is not a one-size-fits-all. There are so many symptoms and so many different lived experiences. We'll hear from doctors on the importance of individualized care.
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Dr Clare Spencer is a registered menopause specialist and an NHS GP. She qualified from Cambridge University and holds Membership of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners. She initially trained in obstetrics and gynaecology where she gained a Doctor of Medicine for research in fetomaternal medicine.
As well as her role of Clinical Director at My Menopause Centre, she currently runs an NHS menopause service and is a GP partner in a practice in Leeds. She is also a British Menopause Society menopause trainer and is involved in educating GPs about the menopause transition through talks, lectures and seminars. Dr Spencer has written menopause training modules and pathways for doctors.net, the Primary Care Women’s Health forum publication, Her Life Her Health, and the Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust.
While working as a GP she noticed a need for increased awareness and understanding of the menopause transition amongst her patients. As well as her own challenging menopause experience, she could see how their menopause symptoms were having a detrimental impact on all aspects of their lives and decided to qualify as a Menopause GP. Through her clinical work and being co-founder of My Menopause Centre, Clare is passionate about educating, empowering and supporting all women through all stages of their menopause transition.
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Dr Manisha Singh is a Consultant in Sexual & Reproductive Health (SRH) and Community Gynaecology with over 13 years of experience as the Lead Clinician and NHS Consultant. She is passionate about all aspects of women’s health through all life stages and the menopause in particular.
She has been a Member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists since 1998 and is also a Fellow of the Faculty of SRH. She is active in teaching and training and regularly organises and chairs regional training days and meetings. She is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Leeds Medical school and is the Training Programme Director for postgraduate training and is incredibly proud of being a part of shaping the future consultant workforce in community SRH. She is a Council member at the Faculty of SRH and has other responsible Faculty roles.
Within her NHS Consultant role, Dr Manisha focuses on women’s health and complex contraception and is responsible for clinical supervision and governance as well as assuring high standard, evidence-based clinical care. Dr Manisha has experience in the different, often unrecognisable ways menopause can present, the negative impact this can have and the life-changing benefits of tailored and collaborative clinical management. She feels strongly about raising menopause awareness and easing access to holistic and empathetic care.
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Dr Tonye is an experienced Consultant in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Community Gynaecology and has been a BMS-recognised menopause specialist for almost 10 years. She was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in September 2016. She also holds the Faculty of Sexual Reproductive Health (FSRH) Advanced Menopause Certificate and is also the FSRH Menopause Guardian involved in the curriculum, logbook and training in menopause care basic and advanced certificate. A true advocate of women’s health and the menopause, she regularly facilitates and delivers sessions on contraception and menopause and has authored publications and delivered presentations regionally and nationally.
With a very kind and sympathetic approach Dr Tonye, is fully aware of the growing hunger for information and support for menopause care and believes in providing high-quality, individualised care for all women. During an initial consultation, Dr Tonye will explore her patient’s symptoms, needs and goals and, together with additional medical history, will work with her to establish the different options available for treatment and continuing the patient’s journey together.
08.09.23
Flexible working and working from home how can you make it work - for women and your business
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Research and Policy expert. Natalie is an ex-research scientist with a PhD in nanoscience. She co-founded Parent Promise in 2022 with Dearbump founder Emma Jarvis to ensure people starting families felt supported and able to thrive in their professional and personal lives. The motivation for doing so was that as a woman in her late 20s she felt, she had to start making preparations so that she'd be able to start a family when she was ready to; that included reassessing her career altogether, which many women do.
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Emma is an ex-scientist, software engineer, mum of two, entrepreneur and Linkedin Top Voice for gender equity. She founded Dearbump in 2017 and Parent promise in 2022 to ensure women and parents were more supported than she was during her pregnancy. she focuses on helping businesses support the health and wellbeing of women and parents in the workplace, offering specialised support from pregnancy through to parental leave and early parenthood. Her ambition is to help women have a healthier, more positive pregnancy and birth experience, enabling them to feel supported and confident in returning to work if they choose.
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13.10.23
How to Embed Women’s Health and Mental Health into an Organisational Health and Wellbeing Strategy
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Amy is an award-winning Mental Health, Health & Wellbeing and Women’s Health consultant with more than 20 years of unparalleled experience. She coaches organisations of all sizes, putting into place evidence based, measurable and sustainable strategies which are as innovative as they are effective. She has created and implemented strategies in organisations of all sizes from big 4 accountancy firms (she wrote and implemented EY’s UK health, mental health and wellbeing strategy) and global strategies for FTSE 100s, to SMEs and start-ups. She was also a Non-Executive Director of Mental Health First Aid England.
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Hannah Meredith is an award winning Health, Mental Health & Wellbeing Lead with over ten years experience in the industry. With a background in facilitating wellness retreats, Hannah draws on her own lived experience of mental ill health to bring a unique perspective and passion to the whole spectrum of wellbeing.
Hannah was appointed as the first Health, Mental Health & Wellbeing Lead in 2017 for global tech marketing company -MVF. As the sole creator of multi award winning Health, Mental Health & Wellbeing strategy - ‘Be Well’; Hannah has been responsible for designing, leading and delivering the strategy globally.
Hannah’s ‘Be Well’ strategy features an array of benefits, policies and activities which help to support the mental, physical, social and financial wellbeing of all of MVF’s employees with a big focus on where inclusion & wellbeing meet such as neurodiversity; pregnancy & baby loss; menopause; fertility and other reproductive health issues.