Best-selling author supports St Mary’s mission to empower girls

To mark International Women’s Day, St Mary’s has invited best-selling author of ‘Don’t Fix Women’ Joy Burnford to deliver a talk to parents and daughters from the St Mary’s community and beyond on Saturday 9 March.

This free event, held at St Mary’s Senior School from 12.30-1.30pm on Saturday 9 March, will explore how parents can provide the best environment for their daughters to flourish and what we can all do to empower girls to be who they want to be in the world. The session will provide inspiration on how to provide the right environment (at home and at school) for girls to be successful in the future. Her talk will explore the idea of thinking of our daughters as seedlings and what we as parents need to do today to create the right environment for them to grow and flourish as they move through school and into their careers.

Joy Burnford, author and gender equality trailblazer, will share her experience and talk about some of the things that have helped her to have a fulfilling career, and will include:
• The 4 Cs of career success – Confidence, Commitment, Connections and Collaboration
• Recognising our strengths and not being afraid to ask for support
• Importance of role modelling behaviours in the home and at work

Mrs Griffiths, Principal of St Mary’s said: “We are thrilled that Joy Burnford is supporting us in our vision to empower girls. At St Mary’s we believe girls are remarkable and that there is a need for women to play a greater role in the world of work and society as a whole. Girls have different educational needs and at St Mary’s we provide an enlightened, empowering and complete education, designed specifically for girls to thrive. Joy Burnford is truly inspirational and I am sure those who attend this event will find it inspiring and insightful”.

Places for the Empowering Girls event are limited and can be reserved via this link.

Joy Burnford is the Founder and CEO of Encompass Equality (previously My Confidence Matters) and a recognised gender equality trailblazer.

With over 25 years’ experience as a business leader, non-exec director, podcast host and speaker, Joy helps organisations accelerate their journey towards sustainable gender equality by providing them with strategic advisory services, research and a range of practical solutions that create equitable places to work.

As author of bestselling book ‘Don’t fix women: the practical path to gender equality at work’, host of ‘The Equality Conversation’ podcast and contributor of over 70 articles on Forbes.com, Joy has interviewed hundreds of senior business leaders, board members, CEOs, authors and experts, and has been cited in national, business and HR press. She regularly speaks at conferences and industry events and sits on the UK’s Chartered Management Institute Women’s Advisory Committee and the Financial Times Women at the Top Advisory Board.

She is also a Non-Executive Director and Vice President of the East of England Co-op, playing a key role in ensuring the long-term success of the business, shaping future direction and overseeing governance, policy and strategy decisions.
She is a busy wife and mum to two wonderfully different children and a dog called Ziggy!