In Cumbria host Women in business event at North Lakes Hotel, Penrith

The room was filled with business women from all over the county (Image: NQ Staff)

Held at the North Lakes Spa Hotel in Penrith, the in-Cumbria 'Women in Business' event took place on Friday, October 21 with Newsquest North Cumbria Editor Joy Yates hosting a panel session, which featured six business leaders from across Cumbria.

Joy said: “The feedback from the event has been overwhelming. The posts on social media have been extremely positive and complimentary with calls for a similar event to be staged in the future.

The women wore pink in aid of Breast Cancer Awareness (Image: NQ Staff)

“The panel was described as ‘insightful’ and the event was said to deliver plenty of advice and humour.

“The North Lakes Hotel was a perfect venue for the event and the gin samples from Cumbria Distilling Co also went down very well.”

Attendees were treated to samples of orange, raspberry and dry 'Carlisle gin' supplied to the event by the Cumbria Distilling Co.

Mike Little from Cumbria Distilling Co. provided samples of Carlisle Gin at the event (Image: NQ Staff)

Businesswomen had the chance to network over breakfast before listening to some of the county’s leaders share their journeys and experiences.

The event was a follow-up to the response from the September Women in Business edition of in-Cumbria.

It was an opportunity to hear from some of the businesswomen featured, as well as other female trailblazers from across the county.

Lots of selfies were taken throughout the morning (Image: NQ Staff)

On the panel were Gill Haigh, Managing Director for Cumbria Tourism; Rebecca Graves, NRL Director; Jayne Moorby,​ Head of Marketing ​at Oxley Developments Co Ltd; Suzanne Caldwell​, Managing Director​ at Cumbria Chamber of Commerce; Joanna Gray​, Partner and Head of Audit & Assurance ​at Armstrong Watson and Dianne Richardson,​ Chief Executive​ at Britain's Energy Coast Business Cluster.

They talked about a range of topics from who were their role models to who inspired them and if they followed any daily mantras or pieces of advice passed down from family and colleagues.

Gill Haigh said: “It was an honour to be invited to be part of the panel.

"It turned into a really great conversation, between the panel and the audience, discussing, sharing, learning and ultimately supporting one another. It was also great to meet lots of new faces and hear their own inspiring stories. It was such an energising morning.”

The event was 'engaging' with the audience asking the panel many questions (Image: NQ Staff)

Emily Wood, Head of Outside Sales at Newsquest Cumbria Local IQ said: "'To have so many incredible business leaders together like that, was a real treat and an incredible privilege. We’re delighted to be able to host and hear from so many of the the county’s female ‘Trailblazers’ and have them share their wisdom with such a receptive audience. An absolute pleasure to hear their individual and collective advice and be inspired."

The next in-Cumbria monthly networking event will be held on Thursday, October 27 at The Halston In Carlisle, from 5pm.

A networking breakfast was enjoyed before the panel session (Image: NQ Staff)

The event will feature Soapbox Sessions with business representatives given 90 seconds to showcase their companies.

Those taking part this month are Zara Myers from Harness Change; Scott Reynolds from Lakeland Fleet Management; Mark Pannone and Zoe Billings from Adapt & Evolve Consultancy and Phil Leigh from Innovate UK EDGE.

Many open and important conversations were had (Image: NQ Staff)