Polly McMaster is co-founder and CEO of The Fold, an award-winning British brand focused on creating workwear that inspires women to feel confident and ‘put-together’ every day.  Her career journey is an inspiring one – possessing both a PhD in molecular biology from Cambridge University as well as an MBA from London Business School, along the way Polly has also worked in healthcare consulting and private equity in the healthcare industry. On pivoting into fashion, with a desire to stand out...

Currently Head of Communications for EMEA and APAC at commercetools, the leading provider of composable commerce, interestingly that’s not how it all started for Serena Chaudhry Pandey. Serena also has over a decade-long experience as a war journalist under her belt, including reporting on events as varied as the conflict in Iraq to the death of Nelson Mandela; with Serena’s expertise in global affairs and storytelling always shining through. Amongst her many journalistic achievements, Serena...

Ayesha Ofori is the founder and CEO of Propelle, a pioneering investment platform designed to empower women to achieve financial independence. As a former Executive Director and Private Wealth Adviser at Goldman Sachs, Ayesha personally managed over £500 million in client assets, working closely with ultra-high-net-worth individuals. Motivated by a desire to bridge the gender investment gap and make investing more accessible to women, Ayesha left her successful career in traditional finance...

PLEASE NOTE THIS EPISODE WAS RECORDED IN MARCH 2024 Jenny Brown is Headmistress at City of London School for Girls. Joining the school in 2019, Jenny has focused much of her headship around the notion of ‘finding space to pioneer’ – central to which is the idea of carving out more space for reflection and wellbeing. The position is Jenny’s second headship role; she spent previously spent five years as head of St. Alban’s High School for Girls, an independent day school for pupils aged 4 to...

Natasha Latiff is an international lawyer and expert on gender equality and human rights. With over 15 years of grassroots and high-level experience in policies and programming on ESG and human rights in a globalised economy, Natasha has advised and run projects for the likes of the United Nations, European Union, and US Agency for International Development. Natasha set-up the Strategic Advocacy for Human Rights (SAHR) while reading law at the University of Warwick; the initiative has gone on...

Tina Afiqah is an author and creative therapist. Tina is also the co-founder of ParaBelle Studios, a homegrown business in her native Brunei, with the aim of bridging generations to celebrate heritage through its contemporary collections of stories and illustrations. Tina was awarded the Women of the Future Southeast Asia Arts and Culture Award in 2023. The Award was in recognition of her innate ability and motivation to harness her profound knowledge and experience, to empower individuals in...

Lily Elsner is the co-founder and CEO of Jack Fertility, a postal male fertility test company revolutionising male reproductive healthcare, and on a mission to make sperm testing as easy as possible.Since childhood Lily has been passionate about changing and improving the healthcare industry by making products and services more innovative and consumer-centric. A Wellesley College graduate, Lily went on to earn an MBA from Oxford University's Saïd Business School, and is now an entrepreneur...

Lesley Woods’ 20-year career in public relations has taken her around the world. Adeptly combining her Chief Communications Officer Ministry of Defence ‘day job’ with serving as a Squadron Leader in the RAF Media Reserves, Lesley has worked with international partners and film industry collaborators to shine a light on the work of her military colleagues. As a serving senior Royal Air Force Reserve Media Officer, her operational experience equips her with unique perspectives that informs her...

Dr Omnia El Omrani is a Climate and Health Junior Policy Fellow at Imperial College London. She was the first official Youth Envoy for the President of COP27 and the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and then was appointed as Health Envoy for the 28th UN Climate Conference (COP28). A medical doctor with multiple roles as a Commissioner at the Lancet Commissions on Sustainable Healthcare, Prevention of Viral Spillover and Post-COVID Population Health, Omnia also holds positions as a...

Peter Brown is Price Waterhouse Coopers’ Global People and Organisation Leader, managing operations across 157 countries with a workforce practice of over 10,500 professionals. He joined PwC UK as a partner in September 2010 having previously held senior roles at large professional services organisations. With over 25 years’ experience as a Workforce and HR transformation expert, Peter is committed to working with large multinational organisations to help them tackle their staffing and people...

**WELCOME TO THE 2024 SEASON!!**  Tanya Patel is a CEO with a greater purpose. Founder of both a sustainable womenswear brand Chapter.London, as well as the specialist maternity and nursing brand Lily and Ribbon, Tanya has combined her business acumen with a passion for creative fashion solutions. Her clothing range has featured everywhere from The Independent, as one of their best maternity jeans two years in a row, Grazia, The Sun and The Daily Mail. The Evening Standard even declared Lily...

Pritha Mehra is Chief Information Officer at the United States Postal Service, describing the role as a ‘privilege to oversee one of the world’s largest and most critical technology infrastructures’. Throughout her near 34-year career with the organisation, Pritha has honed a breadth and depth of expertise across a range of verticals, from marketing to technology, and is frequently asked to steward critical change that transforms people, processes, and products. An admired and respected...

Dr. Sweta Chakraborty is a behavioural scientist whose work is motivated by the need for clear, credible, science communication to urgently and proactively manage the risks that threaten human security and well-being, encompassing everything from climate change to COVID-19. Sweta brings a unique blend of academic, as well as public and private sector expertise, as a communicator and consultant, merging science, policy, and the media, to get decision-makers the information they need for better...

Dr. Swati Piramal has used her background in medicine, public health and business to change the trajectory of healthcare, education, and public policy in India. She is one of India’s leading scientists and industrialists and is involved in public health and innovation.  Dr. Piramal is also a Director of Piramal Enterprises, one of the leading Indian multinational companies in Healthcare, Financial Services and Information Management. With the intention of providing affordable medicines to...

In 2008 Polly Harrar identified a gap in service provision for women who have been, or are at risk of being disowned, and who require long term support towards leading a successful independent life without fear, as a result she set up The Sharan Project: a specialist charity that supports South Asian women affected by abuse or persecution. Amongst her many accolades, Polly is an Associate at the London Policing College, specialising in Domestic Abuse and Harmful Practice interventions and...

Zainab Alema, aka Zee, aka The Bulldozer, is a neonatal nurse by profession and a rugby player by passion. Zainab has been playing rugby for over a decade and as a black, Muslim, mother-of-three, is passionate about getting more people from diverse backgrounds into rugby. Her determination, commitment and love for the sport, has also led Zainab to start ‘Studs in the Mud’, her project supporting grassroots rugby in Ghana. She is also an ambassador for the Mintridge Foundation charity, which...

Harleen Deol is a consultant oncoplastic breast surgeon for the East & North Hertfordshire NHS Trust.  She has worked in the NHS for 26 years, as a breast reconstruction surgeon; a supervisor for trainee surgeons; and an advisor, chair and member of numerous committees. Harleen has dedicated her time to championing technological innovations that prioritise patient benefits as well as save costs. Also a tutor at the University of Cambridge, as well as having presented and taught live...

Anila Dhami is an award-winning presenter and journalist who has worked for some of the UK’s biggest media companies for nearly a decade. Currently, she freelances as a presenter and reporter for ITV News, C5 News, and LBC. Unabashedly confident, calm and certainly compelling, Anila has adeptly utilised her professional approach to host live debates on hard-hitting topical issues, interview a diverse range of people from all sectors of society – from MPs and experts to A-list celebrities -...

Josephine Lee is the Corporate Real Estate Lead across Asia Pacific for Cummins, a company which prides itself as a ‘global power technology leader’. Previously as Regional Business Development Director for Asia-Pacific at Knight Frank in Singapore, Josephine managed corporate clients across multiple geographies. With vast experience in the real estate sector, Josephine has won market-defining mandates.  Having spent three years in China, Josephine was responsible for over a million square...

Carlotta Zorzi has an enormous amount of strings to her bow. An award-winning, bilingual English and Italian Non-Executive Director and consultant, she has vast experience working with tech start-ups and large blue chip companies.   With over a decade of experience within the media, advertising and tech space, Carlotta is a huge advocate for building connections and paying it forwards. A tech career coach, leadership thought-leader and storyteller, she’s made it her mission to build...

We have a very special #WorldKindnessDay collaboration for you for this weeks’ Women of the Future podcast. We’ve joined up with the wonderful people @teamkind2 (Twitter) and @teamkinduk (Instagram) for KindFest 2022 - the global virtual kindness festival featuring politicians, performers, broadcasters, authors, entrepreneurs and policy makers, now in its third year and advocating for radical #kindness.   Joining Kim Rowell on this podcast episode, is the remarkable Waad Al-Kateab, a Syrian...

A Turkish citizen, born in Vienna, Burcin Ressamoglu is an experienced Executive Leader with a passion for gender equality and advocating women's leadership in organisations.   Burcin started her career in marketing with STFA Ogden Services, moving to Siemens, and then joining Philips Electronics for 14 years where she undertook several senior management positions across various European countries as well as in China . In 2012, Burcin took the CEO role in Sodexo Benefits and Rewards Turkey...

Activist, writer and speaker, Sangeeta Pillai, is the founder of the South Asian feminist network, Soul Sutras, which is all about tackling taboos within the culture. She’s the creator of the Spotify award-winning ‘Masala Podcast’; the show for South Asian women deals with sex, sexuality, shame, periods and much, much more. Sangeeta is also the creator of  the Masala Monologues series of writing workshops and theatre shows in the UK and the US. She has been featured in the Evening Standard,...

Caroline Williams is Director of Open Executive Education at Saïd Business School, part of the University of Oxford. She is responsible for the vision and success of their Open Executive Education (OEE) portfolio. Under Caroline’s leadership, OEE is ranked second in the world for quality of executive education by the Financial Times, earning first place in the UK for six consecutive years. Caroline’s career has taken her from developing and managing large scale media campaigns to running...