“Financially independence gives you the ability to protect yourself when life happens, to stand on your own feet and say alright I can do something about it without being helpless.” -- Priyanka Chopra⚡

Good morning,

I hope you are well!

My friend Nina sent me this article from WIRED on “Planning a feminist ad campaign? Get your house in order first”. It takes the example of investment firm Aviva. As part of their latest campaign they tweeted to encourage women to save more and shared that over the course of their lifetimes, women face a financial shortfall of £223,000 in earnings and £106,000 in pensions. Yes we know that.

Sounds like a good campaign? Checked the box? Well maybe not when you don’t genuinely care: Aviva is reporting a gender gap - i.e. it pays women less than men (about 27% according to the article) “with more women working in lower-paid jobs than men, who dominate the more lucrative roles”. Companies including financial institutions see a lucrative marketing opportunity when it comes to women & money but their approach is not authentic.

On Wednesday night I was invited by Eventbrite to celebrate us - women and makers - who organised events for IWD. The general feeling there too was that companies are jumping on the opportunity to do something for IWD by creating campaigns to help women, but do they really believe in what they are preaching? Do it for yourself first, lead by example - and remember IWD should not be a one-off but something we should celebrate all year long.

#Our Own IWD Event
We celebrated IWD on Friday with author and journalist Laura Whateley and diversity champion Bev Shah. It was amazing to see so many of you there. The recording will be available very soon. In the meantime, here are a few photos!

Have a good day 💓!