This year’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Day (WED) theme #ChooseWomen vibrated across the county. Over 115 women joined Pink Link’s conference at the Preston Marriott.
Established in 2014 at the United Nations, WED celebrates women in business across the globe. This year, Pink Link attracted female entrepreneurs from South Africa, India, New Zealand, Singapore and the Netherlands to the Lancashire event.
The Intellectual Property Office and The Baldwins Group held specialist business masterclasses and over 30 businesses showcased their products and services. The event offered numerous opportunities to make new connections with women from a diverse range of industries, from gin makers to manufacturing researchers.
Event Sponsor, Becky Stout of Stand Out Stories said “Sponsoring Pink Link’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Day event gave us a fantastic platform to promote our business to a highly engaged audience. The delegates were actively looking to discover how we can help them to stand out above the competition.”
Over a delicious lunch, the audience was inspired and motivated by two leading businesswomen. Journalist Elissa Corrigan and Film Producer Charlie Greenstein shared their personal journeys; the highs, lows and top tips to achieve success.
Elissa Corrigan spoke of how her experiences including taking part in Bear Grylls’ Treasure Island and a barefoot 10K run forced her out of her comfort zone. Parallels were drawn between personal and professional life showing how you can overcome stress and uncertainty by drawing on your inner strength and resilience. One of the favourite quotes from her presentation was “Don’t blow out someone else’s candle – you never look good trying to make anyone else look bad.”
Charlie Greenstein has over twenty years’ experience in film and TV. Her involvement in some of the most popular tv shows including Strictly, Peaky Blinders and The One Show have led to her co-producing her first feature length film which will be released in 2020. When women have children, they often struggle with balancing family responsibilities with going back to work. However, as Charlie pointed out, the skills that mothers learn; resilience, conciliation, arbitration, patience and communicating with stubborn people, albeit toddlers and teenagers, are transferrable skills that are invaluable in the workplace.
Organiser, Coral Horn of Pink Link said “The North West is thriving with women looking to start businesses and increase the growth of existing ones. Our events welcome women from all sectors, regardless of whether they are business owners, employees or simply thinking about a change of direction. It was great to see women exchanging ideas, building relationships and forging collaborations, showing that community over competition really does work.”
