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International Women’s Day
Posted by Claire Boote, on March 7, 2019.
Estimated reading time: 1 minute(s)
March is the month of International Women’s Day – the perfect time to celebrate strong women! All month we’ll be sharing stories of wonderful women, from all walks of life and all corners of the globe, who have excelled in their fields and made a positive impact on the world.
We’re hoping to inspire you by telling you all about some incredible women, some of whom you may know, and others you may not. But by sharing their stories, and a little of their wisdom, we’re aiming to leave you feeling motivated and ready to seize the year ahead.
Here at Royce Lingerie, we have our very own strong woman! Jane Fleming is our founder and she set up the business more than 25 years ago from her kitchen table, while looking after her two small children. We’ll be doing a Q&A with Jane later this month, so you’ll get to hear her story soon.
In this article we meet the 10 women that inspire us. And we’d love you to get involved too, so please tell us about the strong women who inspire you and give you strength when the going gets tough. Join in the conversation now on our Instagram and Facebook pages.
We want to hear all about the awesome women out there – we know there are plenty of them, so let’s unite for International Women’s Day and celebrate the influential female figures in our lives!
1. Cupcake Brown
Louisa, Designer
“My inspirational woman is Cupcake Brown. I read her book, A Piece of Cake: A Memoir, over and over again and what she went through is INSANE. Her autobiographical story starts when she’s 11 years old; she’s orphaned and placed with sadistic foster parents. In her pre-teens, she runs away and is exposed to drugs, alcohol, and sex. She goes through a truly dark journey. Eventually, she checks into rehab and begins a journey to recovery. Now she’s a lawyer and a No.1 Sunday Times Bestseller. If that’s not a strong woman, I don’t know what is!”
2. Frida Kahlo
Francesca, Commercial Director
“My inspirational woman is Frida Kahlo. I love her style, the way she dressed, and how she rebelled against society. Frida was an influential and politically active Mexican artist who painted mostly self-portraits. Despite contracting polio at the age of six, later being badly injured in a car crash, and having a turbulent marriage, she kept her chin up and persisted with her art. She even turned up at her exhibition in an ambulance on a stretcher the year before she died!”
3. Sandra Sambrook
Tracy, Customer Service Manager
“My inspirational woman is my mum! She is so level-headed, always positive and believes what will be will be. She’s also a great homemaker, very family orientated and is always my ‘go-to person’ if I need advice, comfort or a kick up the butt! I strive to be like her and hope my son looks up to me as much as I do to her.”
4. Chelsea Werner
Claire, Marketing Manager
“My inspirational woman is Chelsea Werner. She’s a two-times World Champion gymnast and four-times US Special Olympian, who has Down Syndrome. She’s also a fashion model and has appeared on the cover of Teen Vogue. She’s amazing because she defies all Down Syndrome stereotypes and has not let her condition stop her in her ambitions. Her positive outlook is so inspiring. She tells people that they can break barriers and face challenges and is quoted as saying ‘Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something’! She’s awesome.”
5. Katie Piper
Dawn, Finance Manager
“My inspirational woman is Katie Piper. She’s an English philanthropist, television presenter and former model, who was attacked with acid by an ex-boyfriend in 2008. It caused serious damage to her face and blindness in one eye, but the way she has overcome it and succeeded in her career is incredible. She’s an inspiration.”
6. Malala Yousafzai
Becca, Administrator
“My inspirational woman is Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate. In 2012, she was shot by the Taliban on her way home from school after blogging for the BBC about her experiences while the Taliban’s influence was growing in her country. She fought for girls’ rights to education after the Taliban stopped girls from attending, and has become a leading advocate of girls’ rights. After everything she went through, she still wanted to get an education and now tells the story to create awareness – she’s incredible.”
7. Margaret Thatcher
Stef, Warehouse Manager
“My inspirational woman is Margaret Thatcher. She was a strong woman in her time; any woman in a ‘man’s job’, in my opinion, has to work twice as hard to succeed and she did. She was Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990 – the first woman to ever do the job and the longest-serving Prime Minister of the 20th century! She was once called ‘The Iron Lady’ – nobody calls you that unless you’re a strong woman.”
8. Gillian Proctor
Demi, Junior Designer
“My inspirational woman is Gillian Proctor. Gillian, who leads the Contour Fashion course at De Montfort University, always puts her students first and goes above and beyond to support them. She is known as the ‘queen of contour’ and is internationally recognised for her art of creating lingerie, swimwear, corsetry and sportswear. She’s been named in the top 10 ‘Industry Influencers’ by the prestigious Lingerie Insight magazine and has worked with huge fashion names such as Karl Lagerfeld and Armani. She’s so motivating!”
9. Yoko Ono
Bob, Managing Director
“My inspirational woman is Yoko Ono. She has never shown any bitterness since the murder of her husband John Lennon, and instead just carried on promoting the message of peace, love and harmony. Her achievements are many – alongside being a peace activist she’s also a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and filmmaker as well as doing performance art in both English and Japanese. She’s so talented!”
10. Emmeline Pankhurst
Carmel, Finance Assistant
“My inspirational woman is Emmeline Pankhurst, who helped women win the right to vote. She has had a massive impact on my life ever since I learnt about her at school. With the suffragettes she changed how the world looks at women. Men and women should be treated the same, not just in the workplace, but in every aspect. In the current day and age, more people are beginning to realise this, but it all started with political activists like Emmeline, who fought for women’s rights. They had the courage to stand up for what they believed in and sacrificed a lot for all women. They’re such an inspiration.”
