On Thursday 10th October, Lean In Leeds held our first ‘Unspoken’ Conference, of which I’m a steering group member. The aim was to shine a light on the topics that are too hot to handle – the issues women go through that are usually not talked about. Over three stages, ‘youth’, ‘warrior’ and ‘sage’, we covered topics such as joining a patriarchal workplace (and being a young, female MD of an engineering firm), miscarriage, adoption, juggling family and business (from a female and male perspective), menopause and the pension gap.

I was honoured to be asked to introduce the ‘Warrior’ stage of the conference, and talked about the pressure on women to ‘have it all’, and the guilt and overwhelm that goes with that. I probably overshared, but hopefully I was authentic!

I also chaired the Warrior panel discussion, where I posed questions to Clare Beecher (giving her thoughts on the adoption process), Kay Crewdson (talking about miscarriage), Abbie Coleman and Simon Gregory (giving a female and male perspective on juggling families and businesses, and flexible working) and finally Stef Coplans (on choosing not to have kids).

We wanted to provide a safe space for delegates to get out of their comfort zone and ultimately grow, and we absolutely achieved that. Many emotional and inspiring stories were shared, we had some real belly laughs and some true connections were made.

We hope to make this an annual event.

Kindly hosted by AQL in their phenomenal event space, the event was made possible by sponsorship from PanIntelligence, the Data Shed and e-mis health. We also had gorgeous catering from Lean Lunch.

Lean in Leeds is the most amazing collection of people, and I’m so thrilled to have found my tribe. I love working with the steering group, and I can’t wait for whatever project we take on next!!