On the 23rd September 2021 we welcomed WIL Members, Talents, Alumni and selected guests for our first in-person event in nearly two years: a networking dinner in the beautiful city of Milan. This was held in partnership with Aument Coin and hosted by WIL Board Members Emanuela Palazzani and Enrica Acuto Jacobacci, with a virtual welcome by WIL President, Thaima Samman, and Aument Coin COO, Antoanela Chiritescu.

Despite February being the shortest month of the calendar year, we couldn’t think of a better way to make the most of it and get ready for the upcoming spring season than our afterworks!

Our local gatherings, addressed exclusively to the participants and Alumni of our Women Talent Pool program (WTP), bring up great opportunities to network and exchange fresh ideas in a pleasant atmosphere. As the saying goes: networking is sharing!

And with this purpose we kicked off the month with two afterworks in Paris and Brussels on the 4^th and 6^th of February 2020, respectively.

 

Left: participants in Paris. Right: participants in Brussels.

These afterworks allowed the participants and alumni of our WTP program to strengthen their relationships and gain different perspectives, but also to introduce our network to our guests, to UCL Alumni in Paris and to Brussels Binder in the European capital.

Thank you to all the attendees for your participation and to Emmanuelle Bautista, Counsellor for Services and Investment at the French Permanent Representation to the EU, and participant of our WTP program, for the great support in welcoming the participants  of the Afterwork in Brussels.

We look forward to seeing you soon at our upcoming events!

Our Members met again in Paris for a dinner on the 28^th of January 2020, in the framework of our regular exclusive dinners launched in November 2019 in the city of lights.

WIL Members, Guests and WIL’s Project Manager.

This get-together allowed the WIL Members based in Paris to catch up and exchange (but also to face the cold!) in a casual and pleasant atmosphere, giving a warm welcome to a few guests and making them discover our network. A great evening of exchanges both at a personal and professional level!

We hope that you are enjoying this initiative so far and that we will see you again at another Members’ dinner in Paris or Brussels!

Following a first exclusive Members Dinner in Paris in November 2019, our Members met this time in Brussels for a dinner on the 21^st of January 2020!

Group picture of the participants.

This gathering allowed the WIL Members based in Brussels to catch up and exchange in a nice and relaxed atmosphere. The diversity of attendees, which welcomed a few guests and Members from the network ‘Françaises d’Europe’, led to great exchanges both at the personal and professional level.

We hope that this first dinner in Brussels is only the beginning and will lead to more such gatherings in the European capital!

With Christmas just around the corner, there is no better way to get into the season’s jovial mood than to come together!

The participants and alumni of our Women Talent Pool (WTP) program met on the 3^rd and 5^th of December, in Paris and Brussels for a Christmas Afterwork.

 

Left picture: Participants of our Afterwork in Brussels. Right picture: View of the participants in Paris.

Two great occasions to catch up in an informal atmosphere, share their experiences of the program, and introduce our network to other women’s networks, such as Femmes de Santé in Paris!

Thank you to all the attendees for your participation and to Emmanuelle Bautista, Counsellor for Services and Investment at the French Permanent Representation to the EU, and participant of our WTP program, for the great support in the organization of the Afterwork in Brussels.

We look forward to seeing you soon at our upcoming initiatives.

  

Left picture: View of the participants in Paris. Right picture: Abigail Rowan and Siobhan Millbright during our Afterwork in Brussels.

Thanks to the initiative of our members Milena Harito, ORANGE Chairman & CEO’s office, and Myriam El Ouni, Group Head of Sales for Financial Services Institutions at Europ Assistance, our members met in Paris for a dinner on the 26^th of November 2019! 

In the framework of a new series of networking dinners for WIL Members only that we are willing to launch in different European cities, this gathering allowed the WIL Members based in Paris to catch up and exchange in a cozy and warm atmosphere just before the Christmas break.

Group picture of the participants.

We hope that the premiere in Paris will only be the beginning and will lead to more such gatherings, also in other European cities!

Following on from International Womens day 2019, the city of Levallois-Perret in Paris hosted their #Experientielle event!

The event offered women in leadership positions the opportunity to share and exchange their professional experiences, discussing both the forward-looking changes that have occurred to enable and facilitate female leadership, whilst also acknowledging the shortfalls that still pertain.

      

The day started off with inspirational testimonials from high-tiered women. Here, different scenarios and experiences of establishing female leadership positions were shared with an audience made up of both men and women. In the form of a discussion and through the reenactment of certain working situations, the audience was provided with an insight into the vital learning curbs women had learnt during their professional pathways. One thing that was acknowledge is that sexism does remain rife within many work settings and as such, more must be done to combat this.

Among these testimonials, two were from our  Talents. The first was from Julie Carrier, Solutions and Sale Manager at Microsoft and participant of the 4th edition of Women Talent Pool programme (WTP). Among other useful pointers, Julie emphasized the importance of finding a mentor who has a different mindset, understanding and maybe even values, as in doing so, she stated, it helps enlarge one’s horizons!

The second was from Myriam El Ouni, Group Head of Sales for Financial Institutions of Europ Assistance , Founder of CleveHR and alumna of our WTP programme. Myriam discussed the importance of taking into account neurodiversity and provided tips on how to improve one’s visibility and social engagement on LinkedIn.

We are very proud of our Talents and commemorate all that they are doing! They set a fine example of female leadership and we therefore encourage them to carry on in their leadership endeavors.

Alongside the many inspirational talks, the event had an interactive element, with workshops and discussions with many inspiring women networks!

Comparatively, the workshops offered were on how to deal with sexism in both in a work and personal setting, how to speak with charisma, how to unearth your strengths, how to implement a network within your company or organization, and much more!

       

Alongside other associations, WIL also had the chance to present its missions, aims and accomplishments with the participants.

The event was a great way to identify and acknowledge how much female talent is out there and how we must continue to support and facilitate one another to continue to grow and flourish, so finally, we can establish complete gender balance!

These were some of the inspiring words shared by our member Ariane Gorin, President of Expedia Partner Solutions, who kindly hosted our ‘Expedia Afterwork in London’, on the 21^st of February 2019 and introduced WIL to the Expedia community!

Picture: Ariane Gorin (left) in conversation with Thaima Samman (right).

In addition to the networking session, the participants had the pleasure hearing Ariane’s testimonial in conversation with our President, Thaima Samman.

Ariane was amongst the first participants of the inaugural Women Talent Pool program in 2012, and today, as one of three women on Expedia Group’s executive leadership team, she is an inspiring example for her career choices, challenges and successes!  

”WIL’s Talent Pool Program was a turning point for me. I was given the opportunity to open my horizons which later helped me step out of my comfort zone! WIL was a nice starting point in uncovering opportunities beyond my immediate professional environment.”

“I have blazed my own trail as a mother, daughter, sister and spouse, because inevitably, they are all intertwined and related – and I aspire to help others to do the same.”

Thanks to our host, Expedia Group, the evening was a great occasion to come together, not only with our members, our talent pool participants, and guests from Expedia, but also with two other women’s networks: Osborne Clarke’s ‘OC Women’ community and the Pink Shoe Club.

 
Left picture: (from left to right) Maggie Semple OBE and Helene Martin Gee. Right picture (from left to right): Enrica Acuto Jacobacci, Emanuela Palazzani and Alessia Gasponi.

Thank you to the speakers and participants, and to Expedia Group for hosting the event!

“There will be quite a few rocky bits along the road. You need something to keep you going. This is why it is crucial to establish women support groups. These kinds of networks really make the difference”, were some of the encouraging words shared by our member Mary Honeyball, Member of the European Parliament, during our ‘WIL and OC Women Christmas Afterwork’, on the 13^th of December 2018 in London! 

On the eve of the Christmas Break, we celebrated not just one but two women’s networks: kindly hosted by our partner Osborne Clarke, the members and talents from WIL Europe had the chance to meet with 'OC Women' network, which has been set up to create an environment that promotes career development for women at Osborne Clarke, with the aim to ingrain gender diversity in all aspects of the business and establish role models at all levels of the organization. 

After a first introductory networking session, Katherine Kirrage, Associate Partner of Osborne Clarke UK and participant of the 4^th edition of our WTP Programme, welcomed the participants from both networks and invited WIL’s General Manager to take the floor and introduce WIL’s network to the OC community.

It was then time to listen to the testimonials from our two guest speakers, our member Mary Honeyball, Member of the European Parliament, and Tish Christias, Head of Legal of Microsoft UK, on what does it take to be a woman leader.

Mary Honeyball, MEP:

“You don’t have to be the most brilliant person, but all you have to do is to be good and work hard. Don’t give up, keep going and you will get there!” 

Patricia Christias, Head of Legal of Microsoft UK:

“This is not easy for anybody, and I love groups like this where you can have an honest assessment. I am here to help anyone who would like to take the next step, because I would like to work with you!“

Thank you to all the speakers, participants and to our partner Osborne Clarke for hosting the event! 

Mary Honeyball addressing the participants

Brussels is known to be the heart of Europe, and it is also a place that often welcomes and unites our members!

On the 28th of November, thanks to our partner SAMMAN Law & Corporate Affairs, we had the pleasure to welcome, in the frame of an informal gathering, some of the participants of our latest EU Breakfast Debate, arriving in Brussels the day before from different European cities!

Following a lively networking session, the participants were offered a training on how to get a best in class LinkedIn profile, by our Alumna Myriam El Ouni, former LinkedIn executive.

Myriam El Ouni sharing some tips with the participants on how to improve their LinkedIn profile.

In addition to the tips and tricks Myriam shared, her continued commitment and contributions to the network, illustrates one of the key ingredients of WIL's success and one of the best ways to grow your professional network: giving back! The more you will give back, the more we can create positive synergies that will enrich the network individually and collectively!

Thank you to all the participants, to our partner Samman Law & Corporate Affairs for hosting the event and to Myriam El Ouni for contributing greatly to the event's success!

  
Left picture (from left to right): Anca Caruntu and Racha Abu el Ata. Right picture (from left to right):Clémentine de Guillebon and Sabine Abello.