MARCH8 LIVE: Empowering the female leaders of today

The modern workplace can be a minefield, filled with politics and competition, and it seems the higher you move up the ladder the more hurdles you have to overcome. Now imagine dealing with all that and finding out that you’re still earning 30% less than your male counterpart doing the same job.

Navigating maternity leave or caring for a young family while also trying to make a successful career. Feeling unheard and unseen by your employer, and being told it's because you don’t assert yourself enough, or that you assert yourself too much.

My maternal grandmother was married off to a stranger as soon as she hit puberty at 13. She was still a kid.

My mom, the 9th child, was married off to my dad when she was only 17. She was also very much still a child. Both these women did not have much of a say in the life they live.
I stood on a stage a few weeks ago in London, to receive an award for being a TechWomen100 winner. And I'm bewildered by how much in only one generation, the tides have turned! And so much has changed in the lives of girls because of the Women and Men who are constantly lifting the barriers that restrict us in how we live our lives.

"What you tell yourself matters" is my journey of overcoming barriers that were imposed on me by the time and place I grew up in and barriers I imposed on myself because of what I was told I can and cannot be.

The modern workplace can be a minefield, filled with politics and competition, and it seems the higher you move up the ladder the more hurdles you have to overcome. Now imagine dealing with all that and finding out that you’re still earning 30% less than your male counterpart doing the same job.
Navigating maternity leave or caring for a young family while also trying to make a successful career. Feeling unheard and unseen by your employer, and being told it's because you don’t assert yourself enough, or that you assert yourself too much.

In this virtual panel our experts discuss all of the biggest challenges faced by women in the workplace, and how to survive and thrive in the corporate world.

Rebecca Leppard is a communications strategist who has switched careers from journalism to public relations. She has also changed lanes from working for a PR agency to being an in-house PR. She has experienced relocating to different cultures (big city to island life) and different working environments (corporate to tech start-up). She is now an entrepreneur who founded Upgrading Women, a learning & development company for women in tech. So she will share with you the ins and outs of career switching, including:

What to write on your resume when applying for a different role
How to keep a positive mindset when you’re are starting from the bottom again
How to take a leap from being employed to self-employed and vice versa.

Diversity - a business buzz-word that means so much.

But what does it mean to run a diverse workplace and retain talent from all different walks of life? How can businesses support a better future for everyone in the workforce? How can hiring managers and leaders advocate for diversity in their workforce? In this panel we explore how businesses can make their operations more diverse and offer careers that put inclusion at their centre. Let’s explore how diversity is shaping business practices, as well as how we can level-up our employees to strive for a better tomorrow.

Watch on-demand

March8 LIVE 2023 took place on International Women's Day 2023.

It was a fantastic event with a metaverse-style virtual stage hosted March8's very own Emily Cook.

The 4-hour event saw hundreds of attendees joining the conversation, engaging in Q&A sessions and panel discussions.

Navigating Career Change | Rebecca Leppard , Founder of Upgrading Women