Jimmy’s Jobs of the Future podcast has launched a special series featuring female entrepreneurs in celebration of International Women’s Day.
Hosted by Jimmy McLouglin OBE, former Special Adviser to the UK Prime Minister, this special series includes some of the female entrepreneurs who have appeared on the podcast, such as CEO and Founder of Starling Bank, Anne Boden, Founder of Juggle Talks, Romaine Thomas, CEO of Foundervine, Izzy Obeng, and Founder of the Dots, Pip Jamieson, will take part.
On Wednesday 9 March, the podcast will welcome co-founder of Propercorn, Cassandra Stavrou as the newest guest in the series.
Highlighting the importance of the key calendar date, particularly around raising awareness of the lack of female founders, Cassandra Stavrou tells host Jimmy: “International Women’s Day is a fantastic moment in the year to shed light around some of the crazy stats, such as, only 8 out 100 CEOs in the FTSE 100 are females. There are more CEOs under the name of ‘Dave’ than there are women founders, International Women’s Day raises awareness around how much further we really have to go.”
When asked by Jimmy to share her experience of exiting the Propercorn business, Cassandra honestly shares that she fell pregnant halfway through the process, and the decision she made to keep this a secret: “I realised that I didn’t want anyone to be able to tell I was pregnant in those final stages of pitching and negotiating deals.
“It’s something I thought long and hard about, and I’m utterly convinced that it would have weakened my position, if the potential investors knew, which is a really sad thing to say, but it’s true.
“Being pregnant ended up being the thing that saved me. I think I would have found it emotionally hard to exit the business and continue in an operational role seamlessly. I had the baby three months after we completed, and it forced me to have a natural break, as I was able to go away, focus on my child, and give the business time to breathe and find its feet without me.”
Other highlights will include:
Anne Boden discussing what female entrepreneurs can achieve in the tech and finance sphere and how diverse groups are held to higher standards.
Pip Jamieson shares how it was so hard to find female mentors at first and why it’s so important now.
Romanie Thomas encourages more companies to focus on gender and diversity.
Izzy Obeng shares her passion for awareness and inclusivity of marginalized groups.
Cassandra Stavrou on building one of the most iconic brands in the UK and overcoming adversity as a female founder.
Jimmy’s Jobs of the Future is available on Apple, Spotify, Soundcloud, and all major podcast platforms.
