WeAreTheCity Reveal Top 100 Female Rising Stars

Today WeAreTheCity released the names of its top 100 female Rising Stars as part of its annual awards programme.

The prestigious Rising Star awards aim to showcase the pipeline of female talent in the UK and to create role models across 20 different industries and professions.

The awards focus on celebrating the achievements of women under a management level regardless of age.

This year a new category was introduced to celebrate the efforts of senior individuals who champion gender equality, both within and outside of their organisations.

Over 850 entries were judged by a panel of 21 independent judges and over 28,000 public votes were received for the 200 shortlisted nominees from across 112 countries.

The top 5 winners for each category will be celebrated at a lavish awards ceremony on June 30 at Barclays.

Headline sponsored by Barclays, the awards are supported by AON, Bloomberg, Cancer Research UK, Women of Influence, Computer Weekly, EPAA (Executive and Personal Assistant Association), EY, The Guardian Women in Leadership, Inclusive Networks, ISS, JournoLink, Kier, Lloyd’s, Morgan Stanley, Newton Investment Management, Oliver Wyman, PA Consulting, Pedalsure, PwC, Reed Smith, Squaremile, Societe Generale, Socitm Advisory, Twenty Recruitment, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, UN Women National Committee UK, Virgin Media Business, The Voice and Worldpay.

Vanessa Vallely, Managing Director of WeAreTheCity said: “It has been a total honour to run this year’s awards and highlight the achievements of so many amazing women. The calibre of entries was truly phenomenal.

“WeAreTheCity is very much about supporting the female pipeline and introducing these awards was a perfect opportunity to showcase the amazing talent of women across the UK.

“We are exceptionally proud of our winners and look forward to following their future success.

“We wouldn't have been able to launch these awards without the support of so many organisations, who took no convincing, to support these women and recognise their achievements.

“Both myself, my team, our sponsors, judges and supporters are very much looking forward to celebrating with all of our winners at the Barclays on 30 June”.

The winners of each category can be found in alphabetical order below. Full details of each winners can also be found by visiting risingstars.wearethecity.com

Rising Stars in Banking - Sponsored by Societe Generale:

Ebi Obode - RBS

Khalia D. Newell - Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Lauren Garey - JP Morgan

Luma Zitani - Barclays

Rachel Webster - Barclays

Rising Stars - Champions – Sponsored by Oliver Wyman:

Carolyn Pepper - Reed Smith

Funke Abimbola - Roche UK

Heather Melville - RBS

Robert Thesiger - The FISER Group

Tamara Box - Reed Smith

Rising Stars in Charity – Sponsored by Cancer Research UK, Women of Influence:

Frah Saeed - YMCA North London

Mary Dobson - LYCP

Michelle Thorpe - UK Homes 4 Heroes

Samantha Jones - Smart Works

Sophie Richardson - Free The Children UK

Rising Stars in Consulting - Sponsored by EY:

Amber Rosier - Accenture

Cynthia Yoon - KPMG

Hannah Selby - Mott MacDonald

Helen Campbell - PwC

Jennifer Curtis - ZS Associates

Rising Stars in Defence – Sponsored by PA Consulting:

Hayley Barnden - Ministry of Defence

Natalie Grainger - Naval Air Squadron

Sarah Cotman - RAF

Sarah Stevens - Royal Fleet Auxiliary

Sherry Conway - RAF

Rising Stars in Diversity – Sponsored by AON:

Elisha St Hilaire - Aon

Julie Thomas - Zurich Insurance

Lauren Peel - Aviva

Rupal Kantaria - Oliver Wyman

Stephanie Kouame – Bloomberg

Rising Stars - EA/PA’s – Sponsored by EPAA:

Amanda Hargreaves - PZ Cussons

Hannah Kate Smith - RSA

Jennifer Corcoran – Crédit Agricole CIB

Karen Glenn - Colt Technology Services

Simone White - BlackRock

Rising Stars in Education – Sponsored by The University of Chicago Booth School of Business:

Amy Farrelly - Rugby School

Brenda Neburagho - St Mathew Academy

Carrie Dunn - University of East London

Faye Kilgour - Graydin

Hasmita Chavda - Ignite!

Rising Star Entrepreneurs – Sponsored by Virgin Media Business:

Amma Mensah - Beyond The Classroom

Charlotte Pearce - Inkpact

Clare Anyiam-Osigwe (nee Eluka) | Premae

Georgina Bullen - Team Insight

Phoebe Gormley - Gormley & Gamble

Rising Stars in Facilities Management – Sponsored by ISS:

Cheryl-Anne Sanderson - G4S

Elaine Gibson - NSPCC

Lianne Lawson - Interserve Construction

Mary N O'Connor - CBRE

Sophie Kimber - ISS

Rising Stars in HR & Recruitment - Sponsored by Twenty Recruitment:

Ellen Hartley - Barclays

Julia Vanoli - House of Commons

Kayleigh Bottomley - Progressive Recruitment (SThree)

Tarryn Severn - Barclays

Winnie Oudemans – Barclays

Rising Stars in Insurance - Sponsored by Lloyd’s:

Adobea Atsrefi - AIG

Amy Sinnott - AIG

Charlotte Lach - AIG

Christy Mitchell - Zurich

Sarah Millman - LV=

Rising Stars in Investment Management - Sponsored by Newton Investment Management:

Alison Ure - Hermes Investment Managers

Emma Bullock - Saunderson House

Jamie Tolentino-Deludet - Investec Asset Management

Katie Trowsdale - Standard Life

Sarah Hudson - BlackRock

Rising Stars in Law, The Lynne Freeman award – Sponsored by Reed Smith:

Claudine Adeyemi - Mishcon de Reya

Danielle Ayres - Gorvins Solicitors

Kim Opszala - Dentons

Leah Glover - DWF

Rhiannon Paine - Clifford Chance

Rising Stars in Media & Journalism – Sponsored by Bloomberg:

Jenna Jones - Maggie Semple Ltd

Nejra Cehic – Bloomberg

Roz Sanderson - UBM

Ruth David - Bloomberg

Samantha Brooker - Secret Escapes

Rising Stars in Oil & Gas – Sponsored by PwC:

Anne Bailey - Baringa Partners

Anne Claudel - BP

Eleanor Collins - BP

Kerrine Bryan - CB&I

Nicola Hartshorn - British Gas

Rising Stars in Property Services – Sponsored by Kier:

Alex Chitty - Land Securities

Alice Boswell - The British Land

Jessica Neale - CBRE

Najwa Jawahar - WSP | Parsons Brinkerhoff

Rebecca Fieldhouse - Iceni Projects

Rising Stars in Public Sector – Sponsored by Socitm Advisory:

Emma Redman - Southend Council

Hannah Cotton - Transport for London

Lorraine Eyers – Greater London Authorit

Susan Russell - Festivals Edinburgh

Temitope Roberta Lawal - Ministry of Justice

Rising Stars in Sales – Sponsored by Worldpay:

Elizabeth Drummond - Bloomberg

Emma Gillies - Sedgefield Racecourse

Mary Kay - Real Staffing (SThree)

Shauna Bull - Pure Storage

Valentine Rabin - MasterCard

Rising Stars in Sport - Sponsored by PedalSure:

Alexandra Merisoiu - The Merisoiu Technique

Francesca Brown - Goals4Girls

Hayley Bennett - Kick it Out

Manisha Tailor - Swaggarlicious

Sophie Radcliffe - Challenge Sophie

Rising Stars in Technology - Sponsored by Morgan Stanley:

Babs Ofori-Acquah - MVF

Ellie Ulrich - Cisco

Lucie Svandelikova - BT

Sarah Chapman - 3M

Sarah Khan - SARA K Digital

Notes to Editor:

• To interview Vanessa Vallely, please contact info@wearethecity.com

• For other media enquiries contact Chantelle Akerman on 01702 201695 or email chantelle@wearethecity.com

• For more information about WeAreTheCity please visit risingstars.wearethecity.com


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About WeAreTheCity.com

About WeAreTheCity The aim of WeAreTheCity is to provide an information careers and lifestyle portal for women working in London and across the UK. It was founded in 2008 by husband and wife team, Stewart & Vanessa Vallely with the intention of providing career orientated content to working women and entrepreneurs across London. Other key facts • It has been funded by both founders and was run as a not for profit from 2008 to 2013. • WeAreTheCity has a database of over 30,000 professional and entrepreneurial women. • The company has a projected reach (via network relationships) of approx. 400,000 women across the UK. • WeAreTheCity experiences over 4million hits per month, 210,000 unique visitors • WeAreTheCity.com is the top 1% of visited websites in the UK (as per Alexa.com), ranking at 7,275 out of 10 million websites registered in the UK, 181,977 out of 1 billion websites worldwide. • WeAreTheCity has a job board offering specifically aimed at our female members, www.careerscity.co.uk which was launched in October 2012. • WeAreTheCity.com has a sister site based in India which was just launched in March 2013, www.WeAreTheCity.in. This is currently sponsored by Ernst & Young LLP • We have a combined social media reach of 9,000 via Twitter, 1,500 on Facebook and 5,000 members on LinkedIN. • WeAreTheCity has over 25 resident bloggers and over 250 volunteer writers. • We generate around 25-30 unique pieces of content per week. • We supports over 25 charities with free advertising through our Giving Back section. WeAreTheCity provides the following services. • Provides career and lifestyle orientated information to professional and entrepreneurial women working in London and across the UK. • Provides corporates with a platform (through Careerscity.co.uk) to advertise their open vacancies directly to a female market). • Project manages events for corporates who wish to engage with particular demographic of women (eg Technology). • Provides a platform for corporate companies to enhance their brand within the female community by publishing gender related content. • Provides a platform for female entrepreneurs to advertise and promote their quality products or services to a large female demographic. • Offers training opportunities to our members via free webinars. • Profiles inspirational women across the UK in order to raise their profile and inspire our members. • Promotes restaurants, bars, business schools, wellness activities in London plus other female centric services. • Provides competitions and unique discounts for our members. • Provides our own events, eg networking drinks 4 times per year. • Engages with our members via a bi-weekly newsletter and various social media feeds. • Promotes female leadership programmes and opportunities for women to up-skill outside their corporate environments. • Provides a calendar of events from female networks and other learning providers. • Provides a directory of recommended coaches. • Promotes giving back activities (Charities and social enterprises) to our membership to encourage them to give back to their communities. • Provides a platform for female writers to share their stories and experiences with other women.