January 18, 2005 – A Very Different Portfolio Career
In January over 30 women gathered to hear, or rather to be enchanted, by Carol Drinkwater as she shared with us her unusual journey to establish her portfolio career. Carol is a prolific author, actor, screen writer and facilitator.
She is perhaps best known for her role as Helen Herriott in BBC Televisions All Creatures Great and Small for which she was awarded The Variety Club Television Personality of the Year Award.
During her acting career Carol has worked in film, television and theatre. Her credits include working with Lord Olivier as a young actress at his National Theatre Company, Stanley Kubrick on A Clockwork Orange, and Max Von Sydow, who she played opposite in the film Father for which she won the Critics Circle Award for Best Film Actress.
Her best-selling children’s novel, The Haunted School, has sold over 150,000 copies and was made into a film and television series which won the Chicago Film Festival Gold Award for children’s films. Carol has written novels for both adults and children, including An Abundance of Rain, Akin to Love and Mapping the Heart. She is also a bestselling author of two travel memoirs about her life on a Provencal olive farm, and has recently released a third in the series titled The Olive Harvest
Carol has taken her experience as an actress and uses it to facilitate sessions with young girls in prisons. She has also taught drama and mask work to street girls at a rehabilitation centre in Brazil and has traveled extensively throughout South East Asia working with teachers, colleges and universities to create drama through improvisation and storytelling.
At this event Carol shared with us her career journey and lessons. Her books were on sale at the event which Carol was happy to personalize.
“Thank you again for bringing such a talented lady to the meeting. I felt quite honoured being paryt of such an intimate group in her midst.”
Marie-Joseph Obrentz
February 22, 2005 – What’s happening in and around Sophia
March 1, 2005 – Drop-In
An opportunity to meet informally, outside of the official EuropeanPWN events such as lunches and workshops. For non-members it’s an opportunity to meet other members and learn more about the network. For members it’s a great way to keep in touch, to network and to introduce and meet potential new members. Please come along and invite a friend!
Venue: Mercure Hotel, rue Albert Caquot, Sophia Antipolis @ 18:30
March 18, 2005 – What value does an MBA provide to your career?
Themed networking lunch facilitated by Barbara Wilson of the Open University Business School.
Venue: Mercure Hotel, rue Albert Caquot, Sophia Antipolis @ 12:15
April 5, 2005 – Drop-In
An opportunity to meet informally, outside of the official EuropeanPWN events such as lunches and workshops. For non-members it’s an opportunity to meet other members and learn more about the network. For members it’s a great way to keep in touch, to network and to introduce and meet potential new members. Please come along and invite a friend!
Venue: Mercure Hotel, rue Albert Caquot, Sophia Antipolis @ 18:30
May 18, 2005 – A Successful Corporate Career
We had a full house when Julia Sattel came to speak to us about her corporate career experience. Julia is a Vice President at Amadeus responsible for markets within Europe, Middle East, Africa & Latin America.
In this role, Julia is leading the drive to market and sell the new components of Amadeus’ portfolio including: value-added products for travel agencies, e-commerce players and corporations. Julia’s management focus is on improving processes and achieving faster growth. The values which guide her leadership style include transparency, empowerment, and accountability.
Julia joined Amadeus in 1995 having previously worked in various sales and marketing positions in Toshiba and AEG Mobile communications where she gained extensive experience in the distribution of high tech products and services in markets of varying size and complexity throughout Europe.
June 9, 2005 – Entrepreneurism
There were no spare seats available to hear Margaret Milan describe her experience in successfully creating, growing and then selling off a toy mail order business here in France.
The catalyst for the creation of the business was disillusionment with corporate life which set Margaret on a path exploring alternative work options.
In her first year, Eveil & Jeux serviced 1500 orders. This figure had grown to 350 000 by 1997 at which time her husband quit his job to join the business. He focused on seeking finance to support the growth of the business.
By the time the business was sold to the Pinault Printemps Redoute Group in 2001 the business was processing 1 300 000 orders with the support of over 600 staff during peak periods.
Key Learning from the experience
- In this type of business, the attainment of a quality list of targets for direct mail was essential.
- There are new challenges at each stage of growth in the evolution of the business.
- As the business grows, financing this growth becomes a key challenge. Make sure that you have a person dedicated full time to this task.
- Recruit the best people, so that they can grow with the business.
- You need to be pushed outside your comfort zone to achieve your potential. (n.b. this is very uncomfortable at times.)
June 28, 2005 – Annual General Meeting
After presentation of the President’s report (Tracy Stanley) and the Treasurer’s report (Mary Lumley), the new Board was elected as follows:
President: Tracy Stanley
Vice-President: Mary Lumley
Treasurer: Tanya Kempson
Secretary: Susanne Forsman-Hey
Membership Secretary: Rodica Gavirlas
Communications & PR: Karen Marsh
September 20, 2005 – A Corporate Career
Twenty participants heard Margaret Heffernan share her career journey and lessons, along with research findings from her many conversations with women in corporations. Margaret has already enjoyed a diverse career from which she shared her experiences having been a CEO, author, board member, internet entrepreneur and media specialist.
Margaret writes a regular column for Fast Company and Real Business magazines and comments for NPR’s “Marketplace.” She sits on the board of several companies and continues to advise both established and start up businesses. Her book, The Naked Truth: A Modern Woman’s Manifesto about Working and What Really Matters is published in October by Jossey-Bass and the research findings to write the book were the main topic of discussion.
It was a great evening. Following are some comments from participants:
“I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Margaret's engaging, witty, yet serious account of her personal experience and the events that took place, with the women she interviewed. I was able to relate to some of the issues she mentioned particularly regarding "Invisible Woman" and "Negotiating for Pay".
Even if some of us realized years ago what we could have or should have done, Margaret mentioned several crucial points in order to assist us in avoiding or overcoming obstacles. For instance, to be aware of how you are stereotyped and not to transform yourself into whatever everyone else thinks. To be true to yourself and maintain your values.
I think Margaret is inspiring for women commencing or with established careers.”
Ingrid Loren
October 3, 2005 – First meeting of the Sophia Entrepreneurs Club
Venue: Mercure Hotel, rue Albert Caquot, Sophia Antipolis @ 12:15
October 21, 2005 – Using e-Bay for business & pleasure
An informal networking lunch where we will be discussing the use of e-Bay for business and personal purpose.
Venue: Mercure Hotel, rue Albert Caquot, Sophia Antipolis @ 12:15
November 17, 2005 – Succesful Financial Management
It was a very informative evening with all participants keeping Kimberly late into the night. Following are some comments from participants:
" At least now I'm forewarned! Kimberley managed to address some difficult and really quite technical subjects with an entertaining and straightforward talk that seemed to strike a chord with many of us. Making the point that every time we assign money to something we are making an investment, Kimberley looked at a wide range of strategies for getting the most out of our money. And she wasn't even judgmental about the mistakes that we had all made! I think we all felt a little more empowered as a result."
Wendy Buckley
" Imagine an investment manager talking with humour, empathy, intelligence and a good portion of common sense, and you are getting close to what we experienced listening to Kimberly. Admittedly, many probably hoped to get a great insider tip on the next hot stock. To that, Kimberly's answer was disappointing yet comforting. There aren't really an abundance of hot insider secrets, but with good ol' research one can make a decent investment plan. Kimberly certainly sent me home with some simple yet useful tools to getting a better grip on my own financial planning."
Susanne Forsman-Hey
December 9, 2005 – Extraordinary General Meeting
At the Annual General Meeting in June earlier this year, a new Committee was elected. Following this election, the Committee reviewed the general operations of the Sophia Professional Women’s Network (SPWN).
The Committee proposed the following 3 changes to the Membership Statutes:
1) Change of the reoccurring month when the AGM is held
2) Address change
3) Membership fee increase from 50€ to 75€ per year
Current Committee members were re-elected for new administrative year which now runs from January to December instead of July-June.
