For this third workshop of the Women Talent Pool 6th edition, WIL Member Despina Anastasiou, Global Business Development Director - Corporate Strategy at Dow Europe, drew on her 30-year experience to show how purposeful and strategic networking can have a positive impact on our Talents' career development and leadership brand. 

On 29th April, Christelle Cuenin, Career Development and Public Speaking Coach and Alumna of the 4th edition of the Women Talent Pool (WTP) programme, kicked off the second workshop of the 6th edition of the WTP with an interactive Masterclass on developing a "Speaking Utility Vehicle". Many people struggle to give speeches and presentations with real impact, and Christelle showed our Talents how they could achieve this, drawing on examples of famous speeches like Oprah Winfrey's at the Golden Globes in 2018, to illustrate what good looks like.

On 23rd March, Marina Niforos, WIL Board Member and Affiliate Professor at HEC Business School in Paris (Future of Work), delivered the first in a series of workshops for the 49 Talents of the 6th edition of WIL's Women Talent Pool (WTP) leadership programme, entitled "Developing Your Leadership Potential". Marina was supported by two Talents who have been nominated as Sherpas for this promotion and will act as the link between her and the Talents throughout the year: Paola Brucker-Dhont, Government Relations and Policy Director France at VMware, who moderated the Q&A session, and Tolulope Ayeni, Lead Product Manager at WIL WTP Partner, Rexel, who wrapped up the workshop.

On the 1st of March, WIL Europe launched the 6th edition of the Women Talent Pool (WTP) leadership programme, with a special Opening Ceremony for our 49 new Talents, as well as our Members, Partners and Alumni. There were introductory remarks from WIL President, Thaima Samman, and WIL Board Member, Nathalie Wright, followed by an inspiring exchange between WTP Programme Patron and WIL Member, Petra De Sutter, and WIL Member, Milena Harito. In part two of the event, former WTP participant, Chloe Jones, recounted her experience as a talent in the WTP4. This was followed by an icebreaker networking session between our new Talents.

On the 10^th of December, WIL Europe welcomed the participants of the 5^th Women Talent Pool Programme (WTP) for an interactive Closing Ceremony to mark the end of their collective 12-month long journey together.

This special event welcomed the participation of WIL members, Catherine Ladousse, President of Cercle InterElles and former Executive Director of Communications EMEA, Lenovo, who gave her tips on building a personal brand and communicating with confidence; and Myriam el Ouni, Group Head of Sales for Financial Services Institutions of Europ Assistance, who talked about the impact that participating in the WTP programme in 2012 had on her career.

The two sessions were moderated by our talents Eva Sinkovic, Policy Officer/Team Leader at the European Commission and Marie-Louise Weeda, Attorney at Osborne Clarke.

This event provided the participants with important new insights and perspectives to enrich their professional journeys as they came to the end of their time on the WTP programme.

On the occasion of the visit of our US-based partner GlobalWIN, on the 18^th of February 2020, our members, talents, and friends met in Berlin for a gathering, kindly hosted at the offices of Osborne Clarke.

Our event began with a self-awareness and career development workshop led by Korn Ferry, followed by a networking session and roundtable discussion on “Taking Risks for Career Growth” moderated by our President, Thaima Samman, and joined by a distinguished panel of thought leaders and professionals!

We rounded off the day with a networking reception with the GlobalWIN delegation joined by more than 100 participants!

   

On the 10^th and 11^th of October 2019, our members, talents, and friends met in Barcelona for one of our big gatherings of the year to explore the topics of The Future of Work and Digital Health.

We started on Thursday evening with a Welcome Afterwork at the office of Osborne Clarke and we continued on Friday with high-level discussions and networking sessions at the headquarters of Grifols S.A. We rounded off the day with a visit and cocktail at the Grifols Museum.

During this event, we also kicked-off the 5^th edition of our Women Talent Pool program and were extremely happy to welcome the 39 new participants!

Following the Welcome Remarks, Dorota Krasnodebska-Wnorowska, Innovation Trainer, Certified Strengths Coach & Strategic Consultant began her training for the participants of our Women Talent Pool programme and talents of Orange. Through a presentation and various exercises, the training allowed for a time to reflect on the participants’ strengths and how they may better exploit their assets and potential.

  
WTP participants during the training session

“The future of Europe is digital, and women cannot be left out” were among the words of Mariya Gabriel, EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, who joined us for the launch of the 4th Edition of our Women Talent Pool (WTP) programme and met with nearly 90 WIL members and guests. Among them were the 46 selected talents that she will accompany as Godmother of this edition throughout the 18-month programme.

Group photo of WTP participants 

To read the Commissioner's speech, click here. 

   

Following WIL Breakfast Debate at the European Parliament with Michel Barnier, the EU’s Chief Negotiator for Brexit, some of the participants and alumni of our Women Talent Pool programme* joined WIL Board members at the occasion of a lunch meeting to discuss about career development issues and future developments of our Women Talent Pool program.

We were happy to welcome to the lunch:

-         Raluca Anghel, Head of Office, European Parliament (WTP)
-         Virginie Battu-Henriksson, Press Officer, Foreign Affairs and Security & Defense, Council of the European Union (Alumni, 2^nd edition)
-         Debbie Marks, General Counsel, Orange (WTP)
-         Rita Motta, Counsel, Latham & Watkins LLP (Alumni, 2^nd edition)
-         Audrey Scozzaro, Senior Manager, Government Manager Europe, Qualcomm (WTP)
-         Sigrid Windmolders, Corporate External Legal Affairs Attorney Microsoft Belgium & Luxembourg (WTP)