My International Women’s Day shout-out goes to my daughter Bea who’s had a huge influence on me choosing to specialise in coaching and leadership training in hospitality and making it a better, happier, healthier place to work for everyone, especially women.
In the depths of the pandemic, aged just 17, Bea decided she wanted to be a chef and set off across the country to become an apprentice at The Pig Hotel, near Bath. Her interview was the day before the November 2020 lock-down began, and she was finally able to start as soon as hospitality could reopen outside only in April 2021.
Bea had grown up surrounded by chefs and food producers, being dragged on farm tours and to food festivals as a tiny child while I ran my field-to-fork experience business Food Safari. Trips and holidays always involved going to markets, food shops and restaurants. Perhaps it was inevitable she’d end up interested in food!
At the time we talked about how challenging life as a chef is, especially for women, physically hard work, emotionally draining, incompatible with being a mum, and still often a male-dominated, sometimes misogynistic, chauvinistic world. Like all good teenager daughters, she ignored my advice and off she went. I couldn’t be prouder!
Things ARE shifting and hospitality is becoming a better place to work for everyone with more awareness of diversity, calling out unacceptable behaviour and attitudes and looking after people’s wellbeing.
Women in hospitality make great leaders
And, of course, there are many inspirational women chefs out there, not just the big names you see on TV, but in every cafe, pub and restaurant across the country.
Women make fantastic leaders:
collaborative
empathetic and supportive
good at listening and communicating
creative
driven and determined
tenacious
It’s been fascinating working with some of you in my coaching & leadership workshops, and I look forward to meeting more of you!
Here are some photos of Bea’s early days at The Pig in 2021 and more recently.
