The Women in Finance Supper Club is a series of quarterly events which provide a platform for women in the industry to discuss topical events and cultural practices within financial services, from hurdles to available opportunities.
The final Supper Club of the year, sponsored and led by Atom bank, once again combined the ‘pairing and sharing’ format - this time a vodka tasting session paired with platters of pickles.
Atom bank’s Director of Intermediary Lending, Maria Harris, and Head of People Experience Anne-Marie Lister, led the discussion, beginning with a look at Atom’s own culture - one which, in the relatively staid banking industry, has been a breath of fresh air. Lister described the bank’s inclusion of ‘individuality and emotional intelligence’ as part of its hiring practices, opening up a discussion which explored how typically masculine traits are still seen as desirable when hiring or promoting staff.
Attendees - ranging from tech experts working in AI to branch managers for building societies - contributed to an open, honest and exploratory discussion about why financial services remains largely male-dominated, particularly at executive level, and culminated in exploring the concept of ‘lifting as we rise’.
The phrase, which Lister explained she first heard at an ‘I Am Visible’ women in finance event, invokes the idea of ensuring that, even in a competitive working atmosphere, an individual takes steps to ensure that they support and encourage others as they progress through their own career - an idea which, in its essence, fits neatly with the Women in Finance Supper Club ethos.
It was a fitting end, both to a productive evening and to a year of Supper Club events - with attendees sharing their own ways to ‘lift as they rise’, committing to doing so in the future, and leaving with goodie bags, new contacts, and a renewed sense of how to effect change in their industry.
Maria Harris from Atom Bank said:
"It’s always refreshing to spend time with professional women from all walks of life, but today was especially inspiring. We were proud to share Atom’s culture and practices and hope that we can help to shift the next movement in equality in a fresh and inclusive way. There has been a lot of progress with initiatives for women in finance but there is still lots of ways we can improve and help each other. It was an honour to host the Women in Finance Supper Club and we look forward to future discussions."
Amy Loddington, Director of Education at Barcadia Media, added:
“This event was a fantastic and empowering way to end this year’s Supper Clubs - a roomful of women from a diverse set of backgrounds, roles, and levels of seniority, sharing their opinions and ideas - everything we wanted the Supper Club to be when we started them earlier this year. It was inspiring to watch a roomful of women collaborate and share ideas over our vodka tasting and laughter, and I have to thank both Maria Harris and Anne-Marie Lister for their insightful discussion topics and fabulous company! I’m exceptionally proud of what we have achieved in 2017 with the Women in Finance Supper Clubs, and I hope we can continue to build on this in 2018.”
