Celebrating the women that empower and inspire us
March is Women’s History Month – a month dedicated to celebrating the role women have played in modern history. In the spirit of the month and celebrating why women are great, the W&P team wanted to share just some of the women that inspire us and have helped to shape us creatively…
Louise – Client Account Director
Maya Angelou – Poet & activist
“I first saw her on an episode of Oprah when I was a teenager and became fascinated with her and her incredible life. I still have my copy of I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings that my Mum got for Christmas when I was 15. I come back to her quotes time and time again – she was such an inspirational woman who lived the fullest life in spite of every challenge that she faced along the way.”
Karl – Head of Design
Barbara Hepworth – Artist & sculptor
“I initially became interested in the creative sector after a chance encounter with a Barbara Hepworth sculpture on a school trip. We had a break on a visit to Yorkshire Sculpture Park, I was playing football when a wayward kick sent the ball flying towards one of the many alien looking sculptures scattered around the park. I ran over to get ball and glanced at the hole in the sculpture. With the football in my hands, it hit me like a lightning bolt – the abstract sculpture was a woman and the hole in the middle of it was a baby! I’d never really ‘got’ art before, so this connection was extremely powerful and an absolute game change for me.”
Dan – Senior Designer
JK Rowling – Author
“Being a bit of a Potter geek, JK Rowling is a standout for me. Aside from being a great author, it’s her imagination that wins me over. To invent a world while sitting on a train and then for that world to explode into something far bigger than a book is mind blowing. She clearly understood how children think and immerse themselves into a book and also opened the door for adults to be explore and open up their inner child to do it too.”
Gemma – Senior Client Manager
Maggie Nelson – Author
“A fierce American critic, thinker, author and poet, I came across her on my MA reading list and had never read anything like her books – The Argonauts & Bluets – before. Both are pretty esoteric – full of philosophers and artists I’d never heard of, but I loved how she weaves incredibly deep knowledge with the brutal, banal, and tender moments of life, writing in fragments that invite you to think about the gaps between.”
Alex – Senior Client Manager
Marsha P. Johnson – LGBTQIA+ activist
“Marsha P. Johnson was a drag queen in a time when transgender and gender non-conforming people weren’t as visible as they are now. Marsha lived most of their life in the street presenting as a woman and campaigned fiercely for LGBTQIA+ rights and sex workers liberation whilst also providing safe spaces for LGBTQIA+ youth.”
Amy – Senior Writer and Content Manager
Bernadine Evaristo – Author & activist
“When Girl, Woman, Other won the Booker Prize, I thought I’d see what the hype was all about and I instantly fell in love with Bernadine Evaristo’s writing. I’ve since devoured all her previous work. The characters she creates are amazing and I admire the work she does to support the inclusion of black writers.”
Jen – Client Services Director
Zaha Hadid – Architect & designer
“We’re surrounded by construction every day, and given my husband works in the industry it’s something that is very much part of my world. Zaha Hadid was an innovative architect whose buildings were characterised by curved forms and fragmented geometry. She was a female role model in an industry which is dominated by men, being the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize – the most prestigious prize in architecture. Her buildings can be seen across the world and continue to inspire future generations.”
Tom – Trainee Writer
Kim Gordon – Musician & artist
“As my music taste developed when I was a teenager, I got heavily into Nirvana which led me down a path of exploring bands from that era. One prominent band that really stayed with me was Sonic Youth – I’d never heard or seen anything like it. Kim Gordon’s voice and experimental basslines really changed how I see music as an art form and knowing that she played a part in inspiring grunge and powerful riot grrrl music makes her even more cool.”
Damon – Head of IC Strategy and Content
Jess Phillips – Politician
“Having someone like Jess in British politics gives me real hope for the future. With Jess you have someone fundamentally decent, who is prepared to stand by her values and morals and is LOUD. She regularly puts herself in the firing line to call out double standards or hypocrisy and as Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding, she’s an empathetic champion for women, equality and standards of decency.”
Andy – Managing Director
Sophie Scholl – Political activist
“Sophie Scholl remains a source of faith in the power of resistance in all its forms. Sophie was a Munich student, an anti-Nazi activist and part of the ‘White Rose’ group – a non-violent resistance group. As the war started to turn against Germany, Sophie produced anti-war leaflets and left them in public places, speaking truth to the German people. She was sadly arrested and executed along with her fellow resistance friends, but her last known words remain very poignant at this time…”
“How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause… it is such a splendid sunny day and I have to go. But how many have to die on the battlefield in these days, how many young, promising lives. What does my death matter if by our acts thousands are warned and alerted?” – Sophie Scholl (1921-1943)