Bloomberg and Women of the World

This weekend Bloomberg celebrated its ongoing partnership with the Southbank Centre’s Women of the World (WOW) Festival in London in conjunction with International Women’s Day. Now in its fifth year and with an international presence in 15 countries, the WOW Festival offers a unique opportunity for inspirational women from across business, culture, politics, education and media to join together to explore and celebrate the many achievements and challenges for women and girls globally.

Since the beginning, Bloomberg has supported the WOW Festival to promote the organizations’ joint commitments to advancement of women in all communities, everywhere. The alliance, dubbed “the perfect partnership” by The Times, is a natural extension of the Bloomberg’s global commitment to women and builds on a long history of collaboration with the Southbank Centre.Through Bloomberg’s support, WOW offers the public a program of hundreds of activities, debates, discussions, workshops and performances – ranging from self defense classes to workshops on women in creative industries — lead by more than 300 speakers. More than 20,000 attend the program of events.

This year, Bloomberg also hosted three panels and invited leading women in the their sectors to discuss, debate and exchange on the challenges and opportunities facing women in three key sectors close to Bloomberg’s heart: women in business, women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and women in journalism. More than 350 attended the Bloomberg Presents panels, which were moderated by Bloomberg’s Francine Lacqua, Caroline Hyde and Jackie Simmons.

Additionally, representatives from Bloomberg and key charitable partners attended a reception hosted by Samantha Cameron and the Prime Minister to celebrate the festival. WOW Artistic Director Jude Kelly and BBC Sports Presenter Clare Balding came to speak with employees in the London office and more than 30 Bloomberg volunteers mentored young women throughout the festival in various speed mentoring sessions.

Bloomberg’s people, philanthropy and partnerships share the WOW mission to address and raise awareness of the most important issues affecting women today. Our philanthropic programs, ranging from mentoring young women in inner city schools and supporting the creation of opportunities for women in STEM, to enabling access to maternal and reproductive health around the world, support this effort and we are proud to join hands with WOW to put the critical issues surrounding gender inequality on the global agenda.

For more insights from WOW, see Bloomberg Television’s Francine Lacqua’s write up of her ‘Women in Business’ panel for the Huffington Post: http://huff.to/1BYmzcB

Advice, inspiration and observations from the BLOOMBERG PRESENTS panelists:

Women in Business:

• “Never take no for an answer if no isn’t the answer to the question.” - Dame Tessa Jowell MP
• “Push doors open before they open for you.” - Baroness Gail Rebuck, Chair of Penguin Random House UK
• “Be clear about your personal drivers, your own values. As my Dad always said, ‘If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything’.” - India Gary-Martin, CEO & Founder, Only Fingers and Toes
• “Don’t wait for a job to be posted. Present yourself.” - Ann Cairns, President of International Markets, MasterCard

Women in Journalism:

• “I created my last three jobs. Be an entrepreneur.” - Emma Barnett, Women’s Editor, Daily Telegraph and BBC 5 Live Presenter
• “Don’t get bitter, get better.” - Brenda Emmanus, BBC London News
• “Numbers are important. Don’t ignore them.” - Olenka Frenkiel, former BBC broadcast journalist and documentary film maker
• “The problem isn’t just bias. A lot of women are stepping out.” - Eleanor Mills, Editorial Director of The Sunday Times and chair of Women in Journalism

Women in STEM:

• “The internet has been – and continues to be – 90% created by men. We are at a moment of absolute crisis.” - Baroness Martha Lane Fox, co-founder, Lastminute.com
• “We need to show girls that STEM can change lives.” - Anne-Marie Imafidon, Head Stemette of the Stemettes
• “Coding has an image problem. We need a tech equivalent of the ‘ThisGirlCan’ campaign.” - Sarah Drinkwater, Google London’s Head of Campus