THE INSPIRE WOMENS CONFERENCE

Xposure Studio’s were delighted to attend the inspire women’s conference held at the Liverpool Football Club. 

 This is the largest event in the area designed to celebrate women in business and female entrepreneurship. The aim of the event is to inspire and motivate, and that it definitely did. The variety and knowledge of the speakers there was some what refreshing and really did offer new perspectives, as well as invaluable advise on how to go about starting or improving any business.

My favorite speaker at the event was Vanessa Valley, all of the speakers definitely offered me something but for some reason I related most to her. Vanessa is a born and bread cockney chick, coming from the highest flat in a not so glamorous building that must have more than 20 floors, and at her own dismay a lift that rarely worked. From a very young age she would help her mother clean offices late at night to help pay the bills, and this was what formed her healthy approach to hard graft. Vanessa is really proud of where she comes from and she still holds that persona of a ‘hard grafting cockney chick’. In my opinion it is that which distinguishes her from the majority of success stories.

Vanessa left school at the first opportunity in order to earn some vital pennies to help out at home. When she started looking for a job a family member asked Vanessa what it is that she would like to do, Vanessa responded that she would like to work in a bank, the response Vanessa got was ‘Girl’s like you don’t work in banks, in fact girls full stop don’t work in banks’. This only spared Vanessa on… she began applying to every bank there was, taking rejections as hurdles and nothing more. She eventually found her opportunity with a bank that was offering an internship set up for school leavers, and so her journey begins.

To cut a long story short and not deliver you Vanessa’s whole life story, Vanessa faced many obstacles a long the way, from being offered someone else’s job unfairly and standing by her morals, to having to choose between what she believed to be her dream opportunity and her family. She delivers to you proof of doing the right thing and it paying off through her own experience, as well as tips on how to handle working in a male dominated environment, dealing with discrimination, and even advise on how to get around the limitations put upon you from that discrimination.

To date Vanessa has a long string of successes from an extensive 25 year career in Banking and Finance in London.  She also sits on a number of charity boards and has won various recognition awards such as Women’s champion for Women in Banking & Finance, TIAW’s Top 100 global women, Financial News Top 100 as well as Brummells Top 30 Inspiring Women.  Vanessa has also recently been named as 1 of 50 Influential women by Good Housekeeping.

Check out her website for more information or locations and dates for her talks www.vanessavallely.com

Other speakers at the event included Molly Harvey, Annette Kingsley and Claire Lara (master chef), amongst others. The general message was the power of mental positivity, the importance of utilizing your contacts and skills and to feel empowered as a professional woman. 

   

Xposure studios is owned and ran by a team of women and so we are all for this forward way of thinking, and we believe this to reflect in our service and through to our clientele. Whether you come to us for a professional portfolio, a boudoir shoot, a family shoot or even a couples experience, we hope you leave here feeling empowered and liberated.