Celebrating International Women’s Day 2014
Diversity UK Founder & CEO Lopa Patel MBE was invited to speak on a panel in celebration of International Women’s Day 2014 at the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) in London on Thursday 6th March 2014. Moderated by Helen Edwards, Director General Localism at DLCG, the event was attended by DCLG staff from a range of grades and genders who heard from a panel of female speakers comprising Parliamentary Under-Secretary at DCLG Baroness Stowell, Ursula Brennan of The Ministry of Justice, digital media entrepreneur Lopa Patel MBE and social entrepreneur Claudine Reid MBE about each woman’s career path and progression before ending in a Q&A session.
International Women’s Day (IWD) falls on Saturday, 8th March 2014, and is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. Annually, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate achievements, while diligently reminding of the continued vigilance and action required to ensure that women's equality is gained and maintained in all aspects of life. Since its birth in the socialist movement of the 1900’s, International Women's Day has grown to become a global day of recognition and celebration across developed and developing countries alike.
About Baroness Stowell
Tina Stowell, Baroness Stowell of Beeston MBE, is a Conservative member of the House of Lords and a former Head of Corporate Affairs for the BBC. She was previously Head of Communications for three Chairman of the BBC: Gavyn Davies, Michael Grade, and Michael Lyons. She worked at the Ministry of Defence, at the UK Embassy to the US, and at 10 Downing Street during the Major premiership, being awarded the MBE for services to the Prime Minister in 1996. She later worked at Conservative Party Headquarters during William Hague's tenure as party leader and was his Deputy Chief of Staff.
On 10 January 2011, Stowell was created a life peer as Baroness Stowell of Beeston, of Beeston in the County of Nottinghamshire, and she was introduced in the House of Lords on 13 January 2011 where she joined the Conservative benches. On 18 September 2011, Lady Stowell was appointed a Baroness-in-Waiting to HM The Queen, following the promotion of the former Lord-in-Waiting Lord Taylor of Holbeach to be a junior Minister at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
In 2013, Lady Stowell was responsible for successfully steering the Equal Marriage Bill for England and Wales through the House of Lords. She was subsequently promoted to the post of junior minister (Parliamentary Under Secretary) at the Department for Communities and Local Government.
About Ursula Brennan
Ursula has been Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) since July 2012. Previous roles include, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Defence (MOD) from October 2010 to July 2012 and deputy permanent secretary and director of general corporate performance at the MOJ from April to September 2008; chief executive of the Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR) and director general of Living Land and Seas at Defra from 2004 to 2006 Ursula spent most of her career before this in what is now the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), including leading the strategy on welfare to work and benefit fraud.
About Lopa Patel MBE
Lopa Patel is a digital media entrepreneur and founder of the online South Asian Lifestyle portal Redhotcurry.com and ecommerce website TheRedhotshop.com. She is an experienced marketing consultant who previously set up the direct marketing services company DMS Direct Ltd, where she worked with international companies, charities and not-for-profit organisations, marketing agencies and SMEs in a broad range of industry sectors. She is a Chartered Marketer and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), a Fellow of the Institute of Direct Marketing (IDM) and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts (RSA).
Lopa is Founder & CEO of think tank Diversity UK; Deputy Chair of global volunteering initiative Sewa Day; a Non-Executive Director of EMBG (Ethnic Minority Business Group) and a Trustee of educational charity Raha International. She is also a Technology Ambassador for STEMNET, helping to encourage girls to take up science careers.
Her strong record of achievement has been recognised throughout the industry via numerous accolades including being voted 'Asian Woman of the Year' in 2005 (Media category) and she was recognised with an MBE for services to the creative industries in 2009.
About Claudine Reid MBE
Voted as one of Britain’s Top 100 Women Entrepreneurs by real business magazine in 2008, Claudine Reid MBE is considered to be one of the most inspirational women of the time. She is a Director of PJ’s Community Service, a Renowned Social Enterprise specialising in providing services to enhance and transform communities, by providing, Care, Education and Economic Empowerment & Arts services and development programs.
Claudine is also a trainer, inspirational speaker and TV & Radio presenter, she supports organisations and individuals to develop their social enterprise and develop social impact strategies.
As a result of the recognition for her achievements in Social Enterprise, Claudine is also involved in a number of other organisations including government departments:
- Former Cabinet Office Social Enterprise Ambassador
- Appointed to the National Social Enterprise Expert Panel for Government Office of Civil Society
- Trustee for the Nurture Foundation - An international Charity working to Support and empower parents in third world countries.
- Department for Works & Pensions - Ethnic Minority Advisory Board
- Prime Ministers Nomination Panel for the Big Society Awards
In recognition for her commitment to Social Enterprise Claudine received an investiture on the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2008. Other awards have include the Croydon Business Champion Award 2008 for commitment to Business in Croydon, Ethnic Minority Business award, PROWESS award nominee for Female Social Entrepreneur of the year 2008.