This year’s edition of Women in Leadership: London saw our highest turnout ever, with 260 of our brightest female members travelling from as far as France and Italy for the chance to personally meet world-leading firms in the Finance, Banking, Asset Management and Professional Services industries.
We kicked off the day with some warm-up networking to help our members get to know one another and build their network, followed by an inspiring keynote speech from the Global Head of Employee Relations at UBS, Cicilia Wan. She took us through her personal career journey in the traditionally male-dominated finance industry and shared her valuable advice for our members who are at the very start of their career journey.
Next on the agenda was a skills session run by UBS’s Campus Relations and Marketing team, where students received valuable advice on building an effective personal brand to ensure they stand out in graduate scheme and internship applications.
We then began open networking, where students were able to meet some of the most prestigious companies in the world, including UBS, Accenture, American Express, Bank of England, Berenberg, EY, Goldman Sachs, Greenhill, Insight Investment, Macquarie, Marsh & McLennan Companies, National Audit Office, PwC, Redington, Rothschild & Co., RSM, Ruffer, Smith & Williamson and T. Rowe Price.
Not only could students personally connect with those in the graduate and more senior roles they aspire to enter after university, but also with the graduate recruitment teams who would be reviewing their future applications.
“I really enjoyed my time at Women in Leadership... I had the opportunity to meet really inspiring women who hold top positions in the Finance sector... Learning about their experiences and skills has been really inspiring and I would advise that if you have the opportunity to attend any Bright Network event, take advantage of it.”
- Bright Network member
Next up were panel sessions with senior female leaders. Each of the three panel sessions included six participants from our partner firms, which enabled members to have an overview of all the different sectors at the event.
“Instead of seeing [being a woman] as something that may hold us back, see it as something that may propel us to the top. We have a lot to offer – we should speak up more!” - Women in Leadership panellist
To wrap up the day, we finished with our Bright Network Awards ceremony, where 5 firms chose to reward some of our brightest members who had achieved excellence in areas such as commercial awareness and leadership. A huge well done to all of our winners!
Check out the rest of the photos from the day here
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