WOMEN MASTERING CHANGE 2024- house of LORDS

 Yesterday I was invited to speak at the House Of Lords by Bernie Davies to celebrate women mastering diversity.

I’m thrilled to hear Love Your Period is deemed a safe and inclusive place, and has the DEI stamp from the expert herself.

I also went on to share my experience with my brain tumour. And funnily enough found myself sitting next to the current CEO of LATCH Welsh Children’s Cancer Charity who has supported me and my family so much.

Connecting the two, I share how I'm using this luck-of-the-draw life I live to ensure girls don't grow up believing their body is inappropriate to talk about, cutting them off from proper education and help when they need it. We cannot rule out that these young people won't get sick - I'm proof of that. By knowing their bodies early intervention is more likely.

The aim was to show and gain excellence from these influencers (different meaning in my book) to create and better further change.

To the panel and audience, I extended the question and idea of what we need to look at and change.

None of us are perfect.
None of us have fixed an entire issue.
There's always room to grow.

Most certainly yesterday was a day of growth for me. 

  Yesterday, I had the incredible opportunity to visit the House of Lords to attend the Annual Women Mastering Change, hosted by Lord Qurban Hussain and Bernie Davies.

During the event, our wonderful host, Bernie Davies, inquired in front of everyone if I had brought any recent issues of Cardiff Life magazine, which I had not. To my amazement, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, a celebrated Paralympic athlete and member of the UK House of Lords, revealed she had one in her bag, which nearly moved me to tears! 😭

Highlights from the event included:

➡ Durdana Ansari OBE, Honorary Captain of the Royal Navy, shared her incredible journey and career and reminded me of a quote I love from Barack Obama, "Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."

➡ The Deputy Ambassador for Pakistan, Dr. Faisal Aziz, emphasised the importance of incorporating female sensibility into our efforts for change.

➡ Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson discussed the equation of education to choices, highlighted the significance of sisterhood, and shared her personal journey along with her strategy of taking a breath, controlling reactions and having a moment to ponder, "What would Michelle Obama do?"

➡ Molly Fenton stressed the necessity of unity to reform and overturn ineffective policies. “If we do not work together, we will not overturn and change the policies that are clearly not working”

I am incredibly grateful, overwhelmed, and humbled by yesterday's experience and thank you Bernie Davies for the invite. 

 I made it to the UK House of Lords!

What an incredible experience.

This “Women Mastering Change” event was one to remember for a lifetime.

Thank you Bernie Davies for:
✅ Bringing this tribe together
✅ Encouraging us to act now on what matters
✅ Highlighting the importance of collaboration

Not only were we fortunate enough to be in such a prestigious building but also got to hear from inspirational speakers and global leaders.

Thank you Durdana Ansari OBE (Hon Capt. Royal Navy), Baronness Tanni Grey-Thompson, Kwamara Thompson, His Excellency Dr Faisal Aziz and more for sharing your thoughts.

A special shout out to Molly Fenton, Chelsea Pinches-Burrowes and Molly Stephens who made this day even more memorable!

Someone said to me: “Not many people get this chance in their lifetime.”

I’ll certainly never forget this special day. 

Thank you very much for the invitation and opportunity to join you at the House of Lords. What a wonderful event and such a memorable experience.