Feature: Positions of Power

In an industry brimming with female founders, Rosie Greenaway hears from three experts in food, beauty and health about the unique attributes women bring to the world of business and the inequalities and prejudice they still face every day.

What does it look like to be a woman in business in today’s cut throat commercial world? It looks like the female entrepreneur staying up late to balance the books, write business plans, manage staff, strategize, adapt, monitor competition, battle gender stereotypes, avert crises and maintain a personal life without hitting burnout.

It looks like eight female scientists running R&D at ATTITUDE’s Montreal-based lab, working together without ego, staying humble and respectful to their peers, uplifting each other and creating an environment of inclusivity and support.

It looks like the female founder who consistently heard ‘No’, so she crowdfunded and did it anyway. It looks like the woman making her voice heard in a C-suite of men. It looks like the woman multitasking conference calls on the school run. It looks like Dragons’ Den pitches, award wins, media appearances and smiling through private struggles. It looks like leading with grit, determination, focus, passion, heart and self-belief. 

Women in food

But as Mex Ibrahim reports, it also looks like female finalists on the UK’s best loved food programmes facing discrimination for highly superficial reasons. As co-founder of Women in The Food Industry (WIFI), she hears it all – from accounts of racial prejudice to tales of backlash about a female chef’s lipstick or choice of jewellery.

Founded in 2019, WIFI exists to support women in the food industry – from chefs and nutritionists to food technicians and founders – offering a platform to connect, debate and learn from each other’s experiences. WIFI shines a light on the accomplishments of women in food through networking and panel events, newsletters and podcasts. With names like Irini Tzortzoglou, the 2019 MasterChef winner, among its ambassadors, WIFI has considerable clout among food professionals. 

Offering training and mentorship, WIFI gives women ‘the confidence to feel they can … arrive at the top of their game in positions of power’ – but in an industry dominated by men, Ibrahim says women still aren’t getting due recognition, nor ample financial backing. “Nutrition is one of the areas where there are more women than men. Yet if you think about who is leading … you think of Joe Wicks, the late Michael Mosley.” Behind the scenes at Zoe is head of nutrition Federica Amatia, but, she adds, ‘when you say the word Zoe you think of Tim Spector’.

“If you look at the amount of investment in women-led businesses as opposed to male-led, the numbers don’t stack up. Something like 90p in the pound goes to an all-male founded business; a female founder gets about 8p; Black business will get 2p.”

WIFI’s work highlights disparities in TV – where women are rarely offered lead presenter roles ‘unless they’re Mary Berry or Nigella’ and female chefs are often portrayed as the sidekick. Globally, she adds, women represent the majority of cooks, yet men ‘professionalize’ it. “Does a woman need to be more like a man in order to succeed in this world? We’ve got to stop having imposter syndrome, take credit and be proud.” 

Women in beauty

Buy Women Built said it best: “If you believe in women, buy from them. It’s that simple.” And with the natural products industry bursting with fempreneurs, the options are endless for consumers wanting to support the #SheBuiltThis movement. The Beauty Shortlist is a prime example: female-founded brands dominate with a 90-95% share of entries – plenty of which are graduates of Lorraine Dallmeier’s esteemed beauty school, Formula Botanica. Founder Fiona Klonarides says since she began the awards in 2012, women have ‘consistently walked their talk’. She attributes their success to commitment and a ‘heart-led’ approach to business.

“They put everything into the brand ... They really care, they tend to be meticulous about formulas, they understand the strong emotional affinity we as women have with beauty products, they’re creative, they’re transparent, they’re very aware there’s no Planet B, they’re highly connected to nature – and they’re so aware of the value of the gift of making another person feel wonderful, boosting their mood/confidence through an intelligently formulated hero product.

“The vast majority of female founders are refreshingly ‘plastic-free’ – that’s to say there’s no BS, no ‘get rich quick’ mentality. Of course they want their businesses to thrive, but they’re committed to making beautiful products worth investing in for the long term. And here’s where the emotional attachment comes in: that feeling of getting down to the last drop of a brilliant serum you’ve fallen in love with, or the disappointment when your shade of lipstick is sold out!” 

Women in health

Mention ‘women-led business’ to Heather Jackson, CEO and co-founder of menopause collective GenM, and she’ll tell you: “It’s the future.” Counting The Body Shop founder Anita Roddick among her business heroes, she views entrepreneurship as ‘thinking differently, being a role model, seeing opportunities that others don’t readily see and finding ways to make them happen’.

Jackson applied her philosophy to transforming the neglected menopause market, designing a model which ignited and united brands and retailers to better understand and serve the needs of a hugely overlooked community of women. Creating the now widely recognized MTick symbol, GenM has worked hard to ‘remove fear’ from menopause and empower women.

“Brands and businesses on their own can take steps towards making change, but collaboratively we can make societal change for the better. It is so vital that we come together [to] be the backers of choice, trust and visibility for all women experiencing the menopause.

“We need to uplift women more; just because we’re females, doesn’t mean we can’t create a good business. As female founders we’re just as investable. We have a way to go yet, as even in the world of women’s health, men are still running it.”

By Rosie Greenaway, editor