Today is the day we celebrate women on International Women’s Day.
Some would say that one day isn’t nowhere near as much time for us to celebrate women all over the world, but at least we have once.
We made a conscious decision to not all choose our mums, as we just celebrated them 2 days ago on the 6th march on mother’s day. International women’s day is a celebration of women all over the planet, sometimes we recognise women in power, in business, in charity, music and movies and sometimes its simply a good samaritan that has gone beyond and above the call of duty to help others.
With that in mind, we got the Flavourmag team together and ask them all to choose at least one women that inspires them, in order to add to this special International Women’s Day feature.
So without further ado, here is a list of women that inspire team Flavourmag (this is not an ordered list, just a list).
Leonard Foster founder of Flavourmag, I will start with someone I have been in contact with recently, Jean Hatchet.
Why does she inspire me?
Simply read her twitter bio and you will see this: Radical feminist-Danger to the fabric of society – Professional Hothead- currently working at #YouPeople – Guilty of stuff.
Jean Hatchet, despite numerous death threats and cyber bullying still stands strong in her fight for feminism and equality. Via a few emails to and throw with Jean, she has made me question some of my initial thoughts and has also inspired me with some of the articles she have written on her website and also for Flavourmag. For someone to have the strength and courage to say what they mean and mean what they say in today’s environment is pretty impressive.
Follow Jean Hatchet on twitter and you will see for yourself.
Staff Writer Maggie Tra chose: Lena Dunham
Why does she inspire you?
Lena is everything that I have ever wanted to be creatively. She’s inspiring because she made it into the creative world by simply being herself, and changing the stereotypes of how we see women today. No longer do we have to reference the outdated Sex and the City, but now we have Girls, which more realistic for our generation. Her writing is immaculate, and the fact that she just acts like a human being with her status is beautiful.
Follow Lena on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
Staff Writer Vanessa Carby chose: Fearne Cotton
Why does she inspire you?
She’s always had this energy about her, the television presenter who graced my screen for the first time I can recall in 1998 on ‘Diggit.’ That’s when I was first inspired by the blonde beauty, in those days when I pictured myself in the same position as her. Her career has gone from strength to strength but she’s forever come across as sincere and grounded, so it’s no surprise that she’s heavily involved with charity work.
Having climbed Mount Kilimanjaro for Red Nose Day and then supporting a whole host of charities including CoppaFeel, Macmillan Cancer Support, Prince’s Trust, Comic Relief, Children In Need and more. Quite simply I think she’s amazing at her job and feel like ITV are missing a trick not hiring her as the next X Factor host, she can’t be half bad when she worked alongside the late Sir Terry Wogan on numerous occasions and so she said on working with the presenting legend, “working with Sir Terry was a joy. I’m honoured and appreciative that I got to work with THE best.” Fearne Cotton is a master of all trades and I respect her flair for fashion, having been so involved with her fashion collaborations with very.co.uk over the years.
I think she inspired people from the onset. eluding that you can wear whatever you fancy and she accessorizes her outfits with an array of beautiful body art. Not only can she design but whilst being a mum and a rock star’s wife, she somehow manages to create domesticated bliss with all the food porn she cooks up in the kitchen. You only need to scroll through the presenter’s social media to see she’s quite the chef and unsurprisingly she has a cookbook titled Cook Happy, Cook Healthy released in June.
We love that Fearne can laugh at herself, which is evident on ITV2’s ‘Celebrity Juice’ where show host Keith Lemon can usually be found ribbing the mother of 2 but times weren’t always so easy when she started out and she fell victim to bullying. I think more than her impressive career that’s spanned around 20 years, what makes Fearne Cotton so inspiring is her kind character, her love for others, her passion for what she does and her positive outlook on life. If you need inspiration when it comes to style, cooking and to having bags of attitude then you should get following Fearne.
Follow Fearne on facebook, twitter or officialfearnecotton.com
Staff writer Amanda Lundst chose Malala
Why does she inspire you?
Because of her incredible bravery and commitment to her cause, which is to ensure girls rights to education.
Follow Malala on twitter
And Siana Bangura
There are some amazing women doing extremely important work right here in the UK. One of the many women who continue to inspire me is Siana Bangura; a writer, blogger, and freelance journalist from London, as well as a brilliant activist.
The most inspiring aspect of Rochelle is her work ethic. She seems to incorporate so many industries into her career, immediately presenting that she is very well respected in her profession and presentation. Additionally, this is also highlighted in regards to the fact that she is able to work to such a high standard in a variation of roles, from the likes of singing, to presenting, to being a stylist of her very own clothing range.
It is also extremely admiring how she still remains to balance her work life with her family, Rochelle is key figure who reflects pure family orientation despite her work load.
Exactly the sort of women you would want to be.
Follow Rochelle on twitter @RochelleHumes and visit www.RochelleHumes.com
For a woman of royalty, Kate Middleton continues to surprise the nation with her high-street inspired looks and very human poise. With her fashion and hair styles constantly hailed as an inspiration, it’s her down to earth, humble nature and devotion to motherhood despite her royalty that inspires me.
Follow Kate on twitter @KensingtonRoyal
Why does she inspire you?Beauty writer Tilly Li chose Angelina Jolie
Why does she inspire you?
Staff writer Lex Young chose Meshell Ndegeocello and Sade
Why do they inspire you?
Here are women who put out good music. Music that vibrates the soul. Two women that have kept true to their craft and have managed to reach multiple generations!
Follow @officialmeshelle on twitter and visit sade.com
Regular Freelance from our teen section Sara Cash chose Cheryl Cole
Why does she inspire you?
Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
As a Female Entrepreneur I think it is vital to share knowledge and inspire women to take a leap of faith and create a career through their passions and talents.
I found this inspirational woman through TED Talks. “Women entrepreneurs, example not exception” I was blown away by Gayle and the stories of various women from around the world, creating businesses and jobs for themselves and their families. There was one particular story about Kamila Sidiqi; a dressmaker from Kabul in Afghanistan, who with the help of her siblings and other women in the area created a dress making business under the control of the Taliban.
Women from the area were not allowed to leave their houses or go to school and offices. This amazing story and other stories alike of exceptional females from the world, are inspirational. Women who have a fighting spirit to create a job out of a talent and skillset in extremely dangerous conditions.
Gayle inspires me because she works hard to shine the light on women from around the world. Women who create jobs from their humble beginnings, and despite living in dangerous conditions they continue to change their lives for the better. It just to goes show as a woman we are so powerful and we can create something out of nothing to feed our families, and make a huge differences in our communities. Gayle is one of my heroes!
Follow Gayle on twitter @gaylelemmon or gaylelemmon.com
Debbie Sterling
My second inspirational woman is Debbie a courageous outstanding woman with an engineering background. Who redefined the standards we have for female gender roles. I first heard of Debbie from a Facebook ad, talking about her new toy doll on the market called “Goldie Blox” this doll is so amazing because it teaches young girls about maths and science, through building structures for Goldie to play with. Another key aspect of this product is the different adventure stories that come with Goldie Blox.
As girls we are often imposed the ideas of girly stuff like Barbie’s dolls and everything pink and pretty. However, if a young girl prefers things like building structures and sports, then she is labelled as being a tomboy.
Debbie is breaking down the barriers of gender roles, not only does she represent the 20% of female engineers in a mostly male dominated profession. She is also paving the way for future female engineers through Goldie Blox dolls.
Her enormous success in the last 4 years prior to it’s launch, has catapulted Debbie into an Icon. It goes to show the power and fulfilment you can get by inspiring young girls to believe they can too create, and solve problems within the engineering sector. This hero rocks!
Follow Debbie on twitter @debbieblox or goldieblox.com
