TODAY marks International Women's Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.

As part of our coverage, we decided to shine a light on just a small selection of our inspirational Cumbrian women.

Grace Dent

Grace was born and raised in Carlisle. She is a columnist, broadcaster and author, and restaurant critic for The Guardian. Grace is a regular critic on the BBC's MasterChef UK and has appeared on Channel 4's television series Very British Problems.

Grace Dent has written 11 novels for teenagers, and her first non-fiction title, How to Leave Twitter, was published in July 2011. Grace took a recent trip back home this last week to celebrate Casa Romana's 30th anniversary.

Helen Skelton

Carlisle's own dancing Queen, Helen Skelton, was a finalist in Strictly Come Dancing 2022. However, the star celebrated a new major achievement in collaboration with mental health charity, Mind.

Helen Skelton says: "I have always believed you get out of life what you put in. I am just a big believer in making the most of opportunities however scary they may seem at first."

Sajdah Ghafoor

Sajdah Ghafoor, who runs HDM Spice Shop in Carlisle with her husband Abdul, was honoured for services to cultural awareness and integration and granted an OBE.

She founded Multicultural Cumbria, an organisation which aims to create a 'truly multicultural' Cumbria and wants to "break down barriers and promote cultures by sharing our similarities and celebrating our differences" according to its mission statement.

Margaret Bravo

Another honoury member on on our list is Margaret Bravo, who works at St Peter’s Pre-School in Stanwix.

Mrs Bravo has been described as “a superb teacher and outstanding woman. Her teaching style is warm and memorable, and each child has come on leaps and bounds. She is caring towards children and parents and has a heart of gold.”

Mrs Bravo, who has received many other awards, said previously: “I am delighted but it’s for my school, my staff who have been so loyal. My late husband was also a huge support to the school.”

Mrs Bravo dedicates many of her nominations and awards to her late husband, saying: “My husband did a lot for the school as well, I could not have done any of this without him.”

Beatrix Campbell

Beatrix Campbell, also an OBE is a writer and activist who has written for a number of publications since the early 1970s. Her books include Wigan Pier Revisited, Goliath: Britain's Dangerous Places and Diana, Princess of Wales: How Sexual Politics Shook the Monarchy. She has also made films, including Listen to the Children, a documentary about child abuse.

Carlisle born and raised,  Beatrix has been committed to the women's liberation movement since 1970, and was worked on and towards women and women's issues.

Lauren Smith

Lauren is a English badminton player. She competed for England in the women's doubles and mixed team events at the 2014 Commonwealth Games where she won a bronze and silver medal respectively. In 2016, she represented Great Britain at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

India Willoughby

Former ITV border newsreader Willoughby is a well-known advocate for trans rights in the media and made history when she became the first transgender national TV newsreader in 2017.

India was also the first transgender co-host of an all-women talk show Loose Women on ITV.

Laura Cooper

Laura leads a busy life,  a former family lawyer, now working for Multicultural Cumbria, co-ordinating asylum seekers and refugees and a district commissioner for the scouts.

She was recently packing goods donated to Polish Shop Dino in the old Iceland store destined for Poland. She said she has always wanted to help people for as long as she can remember and her children are learning this too.

"It is the Scout promise, to help other people."

Alla Stoica

Alla Stoica has been tirelessly campaigning and raising money for Ukraine over the past year. She grew up in Ukraine and is a former nurse now working in social care, she moved to the UK nearly 17 years ago, making her life here after meeting and marrying Alex, who runs a local restaurant. They have two daughters, aged four and seven.

Yet in her heart, Alla is a proud Ukrainian. After watching the horrors as the war unfolded, she kickstarted her fundraising campaigns.

Lisa Brown

Labour councillor, Lisa founded Carlisle's Affordable Food Hub, which is operated by Carlisle Community Help. She recently has pledged that the new council will work to provide free school meals for every school age child in the authority – saying that the new budget is the start of a path to ‘tackle inequalities’ in Cumberland.

Louise Atkinson

Labour Carlisle City Councillor, President of the National Education Union and teacher, Louise Atkinson, leads a busy life under her titles but has campaigned for teacher welfare throughout her work.

Julie Jones

Julie Jones has worked with Jamie Oliver, won the Observer Food Monthly best Instagram feed and been named as one of the country's most influential bakers by Waitrose Food Magazine.

Julie Jones is a wonderful Carlisle success story. A trained chef, Julie is a wonderful Carlisle success story. The author realised she couldn't pursue the demands of a top flight culinary career whilst caring for her young family and her Mother, who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of dementia.

Instead, she started using her baking skills as a form of therapy with her Mum; spending hours together in the kitchen creating pastry sensations.

Jill Glencross

Alongside running a funeral directors, Jill was crowned Cumbria Woman of the Year 2022. Jill, who was born in Carlisle, spends her spare time working on several key community projects, whether it be as a patron of the Carlisle Youth Zone or the hard work she puts into organising the Christmas 'memory tree' for families who have lost loved ones.

Angela Good

Community Leader, Angela Good,  worked tirelessly supporting her community during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Angela mobilised a significant response from the two rooms occupied by the South Workington Youth Partnership - a youth, disability and community charity. She continues to work with her community and was awarded the Peter Scott Award for Outstanding Contribution to Charity.