One of the themes that emerged was that many of these successful women felt they were lucky. They cited moments in their career when everything seemed lost and an investor stumped up cash, or a risky move that fortunately paid off.

A member of the audience raised the point that fifteen years ago she’d been in a Topshop meeting with Jane Shepherdson and always remembered her passion and intelligence. And it was clear that while these women felt lucky, the recipe for their success was something clear cut.

Work hard.
Be authentic.
Take risks.
Be passionate and positive.

Listening to the speakers and other attendees, things are tough out there for lots of businesses. The women from retail business cited the weather in April and May as a particular bane, those from the charity sector referenced the Government and economic challenges. Nonetheless it was cheering to be in a room with such talented, inspiring women who are constantly looking for the next business opportunity.

And as an added bonus, Tamara from Mr & Mrs Smith gave us her secret favourite hotels:

Hotel Endsleigh, Devon
Brody House, Budapest
Sextantio Albergo Diffuso
The Pig Hampshire

Check out #inspiringwomen on Twitter for more comments on the event!

Dispelling the myth of the tea girl

The importance of interning and getting work experience is all too well embedded into the minds of students and post-grads looking at breaking into any industry across the country. However, nowhere - and I really mean nowhere I did my research – tells you what it’ll actually be like, and what you’ll actually be doing.

My Dad’s friends laughed at me when I was gloating about my first highly-anticipated placement. “I ‘ope you’ve bin practicin’ yer tea makin’ skills”, they scoffed at me. But my placement at Consolidated PR could not have been any different. I haven’t spent longer than five minutes standing at the photocopier and – although cups of tea flow aplenty throughout the office – I haven’t actually made a single round! Instead, I have been working with the corporate team across a huge range of clients, on an even larger variety of tasks. From researching topics I haven’t got a clue about – and consequently learning loads – to dodging up to Kensington High Street for the afternoon. From sourcing back copies to attending brainstorming meetings. From mounting coverage to calling specialist titles for forward features lists. No two days are the same.

The myth of the intern is well and truly out-dated. My experience has been as insightful and educational as it was beneficial and necessary. Working at Consolidated PR has not only given me a frame of what the ‘real working life’ (spoken about with scepticism amongst my student friends) is actually all about, but it has also taught me how the industry works, how the industry intertwines with so many other sectors, and all the work that goes on behind the scenes to get coverage and happy clients.

To other prospective students looking to get into the industry, I would definitely suggest partaking in a few weeks’ work experience. I would also advise the significance of being thorough and efficient, as the rewards will only be reaped with graft put in first.

Anyhow, this tremendous independent Commission, chaired by Dame Elish Angiolini QC, has just published its recommendations on how to curb the number of women offenders in Scotland, which has doubled in the last decade.

Of the 37 recommendations, the media led heavily on the proposal that Cornton Vale, Scotland’s only all-women jail is “unfit for purpose” and should be bulldozed, replacing it with a smaller specialist prison for long term and high risk prisoners and regional units to hold short-term and remand prisoners.

The report acknowledged that undoubtedly some women must be in prison to protect the public but for women who are repeatedly committing lower level offences, there needs to be more emphasis at tackling the root cause of their problems in the community.

Last month, we arranged a briefing with the inspirational Dame Elish Angiolini, a former Lord Advocate of Scotland, and editors from leading newspapers and TV stations at Stirling’s Cornton Vale. This tactic of providing the back-story ahead of the report’s publication paid dividends.

The recommendations have now been presented to Kenny MacAskill, Cabinet Secretary for Justice.

If you want the whole story, Google away.  And, yes, we’re still working on that elusive phrase.

The Advertising Standards Authority has knocked back 20 complaints that hard man Vinnie Jones was performing the CPR resuscitation technique incorrectly in the British Heart Foundation’s TV ad.

Let’s stop and think about this; here’s a venerable public information campaign championing a life-saving health message and folk are getting uppity that it could least to “unsafe behaviour.”

Why, what, how? Because it encourages untrained bystanders to ignore the kiss of life and concentrate on just pushing hard and fast on the chest to the beat of the Bee Gees’ Stayin’ Alive?

Try telling that to 39 year old Alan Linton (pictured above) who collapsed and stopped breathing on the golf course last month, only to be saved by his quick-thinking pals who remembered Vinnie’s Stayin’ Alive message on how to deliver chest compressions.

In other news, pedants are complaining that organ donation ads don’t specify that the donor needs to be dead.

Grannies have amassed on Westminster Bridge; false teeth clattering, throwing Mr Kipling’s and arthritic fists pumping at their former pin-up boy, Gorgeous George, who has ripped the stuffing out of their pension pots.

I don’t think this is far from the truth – once pensioners read through the magnifying glass, between the Budget lines and discover the ‘granny-tax’.

I wouldn’t want to be an upcoming pensioner knowing I’m soon to be worse off… in both an increase in hoodie-dodging and decrease in usable pension. But I definitely wouldn’t want to be the Chancellor, despite the 40 odd grand he could be saving when the 50p axed-rate comes into affect next year. No, I just couldn’t live with myself having stolen the money from the helpless, hard-working, OAPs, who keep the Royal Mail alive and all opticians in business. 

But apparently it is fair, right?

This is what we have been told at least. Britain’s old people have missed out on the pleasures of austerity up to now and ‘we are all in this together’, so let’s pull them down a peg or two by the scruffs of their wrinkled necks and see if they can handle it like the rest of us.

There could be collateral damage, but hey ho, this may help with the ‘rising cost of the ageing workforce’ problem.

There are some people out there who have a different opinion. They believe the elders amongst us deserve a little bit more. They believe they have put in life’s hours and should be allowed the time to sit back and enjoy a lunch-time custard-cream comfortably without having to save some for dinner. Shock horror.

The top rate of tax had to go, according to George, and if that means others take the hit then perhaps it is a worthwhile cause – for the coalition at least.

For now though, I might head over to Westminster Bridge and see if there are any cakes going spare…

The industry has certainly been racked by a plethora of thorny communications issues over the past year. The timing of the BHA’s introduction of new whip rules, just days before the flat racing’s inaugural showcase event at Ascot last October, beggared belief.

And with five tragic equine deaths at Prestbury Park this year, the usual cry went up from animal welfare groups about the cruelty of the sport. All I’ll say on the matter is that a recent visit to trainer David Pipe’s yard confirmed that these thoroughbreds are mollycoddled, nurtured and cared for beyond description. As racing pundit Alan Lee mused: “Fatalities can occur anywhere….they happen more regularly and grotesquely among horses during neglect in fields or on roadsides than those enjoying the comforts of racing stables.”

Pipe junior and senior certainly need no advice on word of mouth marketing. Four jaded gents – one charity auction bidder and three freeloaders – turned up at the Somerset nerve centre to be treated like royalty, and will now bang on to anyone within earshot about the wonders of their hallowed institution.

That said, if my ship ever comes in, I’d go local and support Scotland’s burgeoning band of trainers. Congratulations to Fife based Lucinda Russell for bringing home Scotland’s first Festival winner for over a decade. Maybe owning a nag isn’t such a pipe dream after all? Whatever.

Economic growth is looking unsurprisingly below-par, but the financial cloud does hide a silver lining in that the double-dipper recession looks to have been avoided, stopping the inevitable vomit in our mouth as previously expected.

The Office for Budget Responsibility plans to raise its economic growth forecast a meagre 0.1% for this year and we’re hoping, as Yazz belted, the only way is up.

The Budget will showcase an arm around the shoulder for the underprivileged, raising the income tax threshold at which the paupers pay income tax. Of course, the oligarchs get their much needed handout as well – if they happen to be paying UK Bees Wax in the first place – with Tory feet stomping all over the tax rate that is 50%. Even-Steven?

A fuel duty rise set for August may just be frozen. Which is lucky because turning to the bottle would not have helped ease the woes; a rise in alcohol duty is expected to add 8p to a pint of beer. Oh the pain, what’s an alcoholic to do?

And last but not least, Osborne will announce the end of national pay bargaining so that government departments can set regional pay rates for public sector workers. Step forward, Bob Crow, to lead the union barracking.

Let’s sit and watch and turn-off when Ed Balls arrives.

The individual events of the 2011 Rugby World Cup need no further mention, bar that as a whole they left English rugby in a state of disarray previously unheard of. Star players warranting tabloid headlines normally reserved for the indiscretions of footballers, in-fighting in the corridors of the RFU, leaked reports and players indulging in the ‘anyone but me’ blame game. Rugby fans are not as swift to boo their own country as their football counterparts; however 2011 ended with similar feelings of discontent towards those expected to carry the sporting hopes of a nation.

Safe to say 2012 did not begin as a year of great expectations for English Rugby; yet following a remarkable 6 Nations campaign expectations have been turn on their heads. And the man English rugby has to thank for this sudden turnaround is Stuart Lancaster.

Presented to the media along with his coaching team of Andy Farrell and Graham Rowntree in their pristine white tracksuits, a clearer image could not be conveyed. This was to be a fresh start, a clean slate. A good PR drive, bringing the players down from their pedestals to reacquaint them with the grassroots of the game, bringing in speakers to reaffirm the pride that should come from representing your country. But international rugby is not won by simply talking a good talk, results must also come on the pitch and an inexperienced squad left many feeling England would more likely be competing for the wooden spoon rather than the grand slam.

Fast forward a few weeks and expectations could not be more different, as the St Patrick’s Day demolition of Ireland at Twickenham demonstrated. Plaudits must go to Wales for their Grand Slam success, but England were only denied a Grand Slam themselves by a last gasp lost to the Welsh in a game which was evenly contested to the final whistle. And England have also begun to re-assert themselves in the IRB rankings, lying fourth only behind the powerhouses of Southern Hemisphere rugby.

Surely nothing now stands in the way of Lancaster and his team being given the job full-time, rumours persist that Nick Mallet with his extensive CV remains front-runner for the job, but with all the events of the past few weeks it would be foolish for the RFU to even contemplate rocking the boat. The players have come out in their support of Lancaster. The fans and the media have called for his swift appointment. Even his main rival Nick Mallett has accepted Lancaster deserves the job. All that remains is for the RFU to reward the man who has restored pride to English rugby.

As a company, we each donated a home-made baked delight and spent our lunch money tasting all the pleasures produced. In total we raised £220 for the charity, which helps people living incredibly tough lives, both at home in the UK and across the world’s poorest countries.

Whilst we try to fight our sugar downer this afternoon, at least we can all rest assured that stuffing our faces this lunch time actually went to a good cause for once!

Shout outs go to today’s most olympic competitors and winners of the bake sale:

• Best tray bake – Tim’s brownies
• Best savoury bread – Lara’s cheese and leek muffins
• Best small cake – Louise’s jam tarts
• Best large cake – Philippe’s Guinness cake
• Best savoury pastry – Lottie’s samosas

… maybe next year for me.

When researching the pros and cons of starting a career in PR, there are many information sources which highlight the difficulties of taking on a junior role in the industry. These include having to manage a never-ending to-do list, being stressed and fatigued and the need to be competent enough to prioritise many requests, multi-tasking your way through most days.

Although these pressure points can come across as a negative side to PR for anyone looking to get into the industry, they are also what make this career choice enjoyably challenging and the results are so much more rewarding when you have worked hard to achieve them.

Recently, I joined the Consumer team at the premiere of Barbie: A Mermaid’s Tale 2. As I was never ‘one of those children’ who cut their doll’s hair, pulled off their heads or left them in the garden for the dog to bring in, I was what they call a ‘pro’ at Barbie maintenance. I was beyond excited to be on-site for the premiere to witness the glitz, the glam and the glitter.

And never have I been witness to so much pink than at the Vue Cinema, Leicester Square, in our activity room when over 100 competition winners, dressed to the nines in their most sparkly outfits, came face to face with Barbie herself.

As a team we worked non-stop from managing the door in the freezing cold, to colour-coding an entire cinema and trying to fine-tune walkie-talkies – technology has never been my strong point! A particular highlight was running the wrong way down an escalator having realised it had changed direction whilst mid-pursuit for fizzy drinks for VIPs.

You would think that all the running around would take the shine off working at a star-studded event, but actually it makes the job so worthwhile not only when you achieve great media coverage butalso when (in true Consolidated PR style) you can sit down with the team at the end of the day over a bottle or two of wine and know you’ve done a great job.