Founding Allies

Everyone needs strong allies and we are lucky enough to have a few: passionate  and talented people who have given up their time and energy to help us create this important event. 

A huge thank you to all of ours: 

  • Cathy is an HR Director and Management Consultant and a passionate advocate for supporting menopausal women in the workplace. She uses her own story and experience as a platform for showing how menopausal women can be affected in the workplace, and how employers and colleagues can support them. Cathy is the author of a book on managing menopause in the workplace, for which the profits are donated to a community menopause programme.

    Cathy specialises in HR Transformation and actively supports her community as a Trustee at Derby County Community Trust and the National Justice Museum.

  • Melissa has been in the advertising industry for over 25 years, and is currently the CEO of Dark Horses. She has written extensively about how businesses need to more actively respond to the challenges of menopause and has created an open source Menopause Policy for any business to adapt and use as their own.

  • Jennifer is a writer & editor producing content on issues from menopause to greenwashing, from workplace culture to the longevity of creativity, from the best places to work to levelling up, in titles from Good Housekeeping to Campaign to Management Today. She co-authored the Business Superbrands book series and collaborated with brands including British Airways, O2, and Boden on customer magazines, digital campaigns, and websites. As a freelancer since becoming a mother in 2005 (when flexible working and affordable childcare did not exist) she has experienced a wide variety of different workplaces, including WFH.

  • Varun Chandra is the Global Managing Partner of Hakluyt, which advises leaders of the world’s largest companies and investment firms on the opportunities and risks facing their businesses.

    Prior to joining Hakluyt, Varun worked in investment and merchant banking, advising on M&A, private equity investments, and business development. Initially trained at Lehman Brothers, he went on to help build a regulated advisory firm for former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

    He sits on various charitable and commercial boards, including Sesame Workshop, the world’s leading early learning media platform, IP Group, Inc (an early-stage technology investment firm based in the US), the British Asian Trust, the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, and the Marylebone Cricket Club Foundation.

  • Jane Known for being a double jointed junior ice-skating champ and keen on fads.

    She is the CEO & Founder of Persuasion Communications: An independent communications agency founded on journalistic expertise and experience. This means that not only do we know what works and what appeals to the media in all its multi-channelled glory, but we also know the people who inhabit that world. We work with some of the world's leading creative companies as well as consumer brands ranging from digital products and services to FMCG brands.

    Prior to launching Persuasion, Jane was a senior journalist and editor on several advertising (Campaign and shots), media and design titles. She has also written for Creative Review, Adage, Creativity and Design Week.

  • Writer and health journalist Alice Smellie is co-author of Cracking the Menopause with Mariella Frostrup. She has written and spoken about menopause on a large number of platforms, including major newspaper titles and podcasts, as well as working with key campaigners to highlight the cause.