She Who 2026: ‘It’s about momentum, not just moments’

Daniel Bevan - Editor

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She Who UK has rounded off another successful International Women’s Day (IWD) event, with this year’s edition being bigger and better than ever, and one of the organisation’s co-founders insisting it “isn’t just about moments, it’s about momentum”.

Businessin Wales was proud to be chosen as the media partner for the event.

Speaking ahead of the gathering, Gemma Barnett, Business Development and Marketing Director at Redkite Solicitors, one of the driving forces behind She Who UK, told Businessin Wales the community is striving to be “a catalyst for change”.

Founded by Barnett alongside Hannah Williams, Sarah Jones, Ceri Maund, Sophie Webber and Lauren Thomas, the initiative has grown rapidly, recently welcoming Joanna Corbett-Simmons from Blake Morgan, the event’s headline sponsor, to the operational team.

Partner organisations include Tramshed Tech, PureCyber, The Alacrity Foundation UK, Blake Morgan LLP and FinTech Wales.

Barnett said: “It’s surpassed all of our expectations. The energy in the room was amazing.

“The subjects that we talked about were so important, but I think what’s really exciting is the momentum and to see the growth of the event over the last couple of years.

“It’s really exciting to see the possibility of how it’s going to grow. So what we’re really keen for now is what’s next.

“This isn’t just about moments, it’s about momentum.”

Hosted at the Parkgate Hotel in Cardiff, more than 300 guests were treated to a panel featuring Lucy Cohen, founder of Mazuma Money; Jackie Smith, Red Devil alumna; Helen Williams, co-founder of Breaking Binaries; and former Olympian Christian Malcolm, hosted by Emma Waddingham, founder and editor of Legal News Wales.

The discussion, aligned with the national IWD theme of “Give to Gain”, alongside She Who’s own focus on “Firsts” to celebrate trailblazers who have opened doors for others.

Lucy Cohen said: “You can’t just talk about this stuff for a week in March every year. This is something that should be at the forefront of everybody’s mind all day, every day.

“When you’re moving through your life and you’re observing where you have privilege, where you don’t, instead of either accepting it or being grateful you do or don’t have it, do something about it to invite the next person in with you.

“That’s how we get enough people to make change.”

The panel was followed by a headline fireside chat with Chris Kenna, CEO of Media Stream AI, who shared his experience of growing up in foster care to joining the army and finding business success in data centres.

His latest venture, “Mother”, is described as “ChatGPT made for the UK”. Kenna also focused part of his discussion on the role men can play in helping achieve gender equality.

He said: “It’s always important to have allyship. It’s a female event but half the world is male.

“We need to be supporting in every way we can. History has shown that males have dominated for far too long.

“I wanted to make sure that I could give my voice and my support in every way.”

As the dust settles on an impressive record event for She Who, attention is already turning to events later in the year and making 2027’s IWD celebration even bigger.

Co-Founder of She Who and CEO of FinTech Wales, Sarah Jones, said: “We’ve got lots of ambitions. We all have our full-time jobs as well as She Who.

“We’re looking at mentoring, we’re looking at challenges as we’ve all done various charity challenges.

“[We’re asking] what can we do under the She Who umbrella? Watch this space, there’s lots coming.”

That sentiment was echoed by fellow She Who Co-Founder, Lauren Thomas, who said: “Our IWD event is coming back for 2027, which is crazy to talk about a year in advance, but this is how long it takes to run these events.

“We’ve already had a few sign-ups in the first hour after launching it, which is really exciting.”