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Ep 47: From Inner City Estate to OBE - How Vanessa Vallely OBE has revolutionised the future of women in the UK

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Helen McGuire
by Helen McGuire

​The fight for achieving gender parity can feel like an uphill battle. One step forward and two steps back. Vanessa Vallely OBE joins us in this episode for an inspiring, hundred-mile-an-hour conversation on how we can work to achieve gender balance in the UK.

Vanessa is CEO & Founder of WeAreTheCity and WeAreTechWomen, amongst many other initiatives that aim at achieving gender parity and raising the profile of women in the workplace. She began the journey when she started her first website in 2008 to connect with other women, learn new skills, and build sisterhood in a time when diversity was on no one’s lips.

Since then, it’s grown to 80,000 members. She moved into events and awards to help grow the community and recognise those who are achieving great things in the women’s space. The initiatives have a highly collaborative focus, and we talk about the power of partners and why we also need to be working with men to achieve gender parity.

Vanessa is a trailblazer in the women’s space and won an OBE for her work. She shares with us her inspirational story of her being awarded the honour. Vanessa also speaks about the economically challenging background that she grew up in and the mindset that it created for her. She didn’t let it become a barrier, and she speaks about her philosophies on passing on her success to her children.

Finally, Vanessa shares with us what’s next on the agenda and how you can get involved.

Listen on Apple Podcasts here

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