Brummell is proud to announce this year’s list of 30 Inspirational Women in the City, all of whom have been selected for their impressive career achievements as well as their outstanding efforts to lead positive change in their workplaces and beyond. Tackling important issues such as gender equality, diversity and inclusion, for this year’s list, Brummell is celebrating women who are establishing new ways of working and thinking, while encouraging and inspiring others to do the same. These women are thought leaders in their respective fields and driving forces for significant institutional progress. The judging panel, comprising three highly regarded industry professionals, reviewed a longlist of peer-nominated candidates and applied rigorous shortlisting criteria to select the top 30. The inspiring women listed come from a variety of career backgrounds and City-related fields, but each is an example of how determination, innovation and drive will bring with them success and change.

Monica Afi Akapo
Outsourcing Senior Analyst, Fidelity International

Following more than five years in Ghana’s goldmining industry, Akakpo pivoted her career, relocating to London alone to earn a master’s degree in Finance with Business Management. She is currently an outsourcing senior analyst at Fidelity International, leading the alignment of intragroup material outsourcing procedures with EBA and FCA regulations. Growing up, she faced challenges due to undiagnosed dyslexia, only being diagnosed during her master’s. Akakpo is passionate about raising awareness of neurodiversity and mentors 70 girls in Ghana, inspiring them to see their unique abilities as superpowers. She recently founded the Black Women Golf Network, aimed at bringing Black women from all industries into the sport.

Kizzy Augustin
Equity Partner, Head of Health & Safety/Criminal Regulatory Team, Mishcon de Reya

As equity partner and head of the Health & Safety/ Criminal Regulatory Team at Mishcon De Reya, Augustin also co-chairs the EDI Board’s Race Equity Committee. She is also an award-winning solicitor advocate who defends companies involved in regulatory investigations and prosecutions. Voted one of the 15 most influential H&S professionals, she has twice set up criminal regulatory practices within City law firms. Outside her day job she holds non-executive director and trustee roles for four UK industry organisations, and mentors Black and ethnic minority students and lawyers via multiple networks. She is also a champion for the retention of women in senior positions in the workplace.

Daria Preston
Change and Transformation Manager, Bank of England

Preston co-leads the Bank of England’s Fertility, Pregnancy and Baby Loss employee resource, and serves on the Parents Network SLT, advocating and influencing policy change. In 2021, she launched a policy providing up to one month of fully paid miscarriage leave for pregnancies under 24 weeks, benefiting hundreds of employees annually. She volunteers time with charities such as Tommy’s and Petals to host learning sessions, and she is currently organising an industry roundtable on fertility and baby loss. She was named a 2023 Emerging Leader finalist for Forward Ladies and a 2024 Inclusive Leader finalist for Women in Banking and Finance.

Yvonne Bajela
Partner, LocalGlobe and Latitutde

A leading figure in venture capital in the UK, Bajela is a partner at LocalGlobe and Latitude. She is also a founding member of Impact X Capital LLP and an investor in companies such as Wise (previously TransferWise), Flutterwave and Marshmallow. She currently sits on the board of Innovate Finance and is a member of the London Hub of Global Shapers World Economic Forum, a community of young people driving change. As a strong advocate for entrepreneurship and leadership, she has been featured in numerous publications, including Forbes, Management Today and the Financial Times. In 2020 she was listed on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe Finance list, along with a position on Forbes’ 25 Leading Black British Business People To Follow.

Mary Bowie
Lead Legal Counsel UK, Verisk

An insurance lawyer with over 16 years’ experience, Bowie is also a qualified leadership coach and DEI advocate, with expertise in developing governance for ESG, emerging tech and AI. She recently started in a new role at Verisk, a US-headquartered Nasdaq data analytics software and solutions provider. She was named an Insurance Business UK Elite Woman in 2022 and 2023 and served as chair of the Inclusion & Diversity Committee at the Insurance Institute of London. She is a trustee board director and Grants Committee member of The Insurance Charities, providing grants and interest-free loans for those in need of means- tested support. She has also recently partnered with other lawyers to explore “Wellness in Law”, promoting wellbeing in the legal profession.

Suzan Boylan
Job Architecture Relationship Manager, Barclays

Boylan has held a number of roles across Barclays, as well as multiple leadership roles across employee resource groups (ERGs), including mentor for Disability ERG, champion of the Gender Careers workstream, lead for the Gender Allies workstream, co-lead for the Black Professionals and Gender Reciprocal Mentoring programme, co-chair for the London Military Network and data lead for the HR Diversity workstream. She also led the roll out of a virtual internship mentoring scheme to support interns with over 70 pairings and broader offerings to over 500 individuals. Outside work, she sits on her local Community Board, focusing on bringing new communities together and driving discussions on diversity demographics.

Sharon Thomas
Founder and Managing Director, Black Counsel Forum

With over two decades’ experience in the legal sector, Thomas has held leadership roles that include director at Accenture and associate general counsel for Europe at Genpact. Her passion for equality sets her apart as a true champion of social-impact entrepreneurship. As the founder of the Black Counsel Forum (BCF), she has established a powerful platform for Black legal professionals to connect and learn. She has created a thriving community that offers mentorship, career opportunities and support. BCF has transformed the legal landscape across the UK and Europe, with the flagship annual conference drawing industry luminaries and fostering invaluable networking opportunities.

Kate McGoey
Head of Life Skills, Barclays

Joining Barclays in 2013, McGoey now leads the Barclays LifeSkills programme, providing employability and financial skills to young people. Drawing on personal experience navigating chronic pain and fertility challenges, in 2018 she co-founded a working group to support colleagues living and working with reproductive health conditions such as adenomyosis, endometriosis and PMDD. This group quickly grew to 1,000 members benefitting from peer support and expert-led events. Now the co-chair of the gender network’s Women’s Health Working Group, McGoey has raised the significance of women’s health to members of the Barclays ExCo, resulting in dedicated listening groups, improved awareness and new guidance for line managers.

Christina Choudhury
Head of Strategy, Planning & Execution, UK Corporate, Barclays

As a senior director, Choudhury has a vast amount of experience spanning both public sector and financial services. Beyond her day job, she was a founding member of a DEI taskforce, reducing bureaucracy plans to support culture and inclusivity. She sits on the Women in Payments EMEA advisory board, amplifying the profile of top talent and connecting women at all levels, and additionally is part of the Mastercard Strive initiative supporting small businesses in an advisory capacity while mentoring in and outside of Barclays. Passionate about creating high-performing teams, she has supported early careers and several of her team to achieve internal promotions in the past few years, as well as setting up a PA development programme.

Ellie Corroyer
Strategic Advisory, Barclays

Corroyer is passionate about helping others succeed despite challenges. As a graduate, she regularly shared her experiences as a young female in finance, leading student career sessions and joining as a speaker for Barclays Early Careers cohort. She previously led team wellbeing challenges, fundraising about £6,000, and co-led the Strategy DE&I initiative. Following this, she was one of 22 analysts selected for a leadership development programme. In 2023 she joined WiN UK and has since been promoted to lead WiN’s Business Management team. She also represented on a DEI panel for 2,000 graduates and supported the International Women’s Day campaign, including moderating a panel discussion addressing financial barriers women face.

Caroline Escott
Senior Investment Manager, Railpen

Escott leads the global stewardship programme across £35bn AUM for Railpen, and is one of the UK’s youngest pension trustees at the Standard Life Master Trust, where she also chairs its Investment Committee. She created and leads the $5trillion AUM Investor Coalition for Equal Votes, is a board director of the Social Market Foundation think-tank and was chair of NextGen, leading an organisation dedicated to creating a more diverse pensions sector. She was one of Financial News’s 50 Most Influential in European Sustainable Finance in 2023, Investment Manager of the Year at the Women in Pensions Awards 2022, Investment Woman of the Year at the Women in Investment Awards 2019 and won Best UK/Europe Pensions Paper 2019 for her illiquid investments paper.

Sharniya Ferdinand
Enterprise Community Strategy Director, NatWest Group

Ferdinand currently leads on implementing NatWest’s national strategy for supporting diverse business owners. She also works with Aston University’s Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship and sits on the university’s Accelerating Impact Advisory Board. She co-leads NatWest Group’s Racial Equality Taskforce, leading the community pillar, and sits on the group’s Ethnicity Advisory Council supporting the development of colleague-focused DEI strategies. She also co-leads Black Visibility is Power events and is a judge for the Black Talent Awards. She is a multi-award winner, most recently being recognised on INvolve’s HERoes Future Leaders List 2023 and on Career Masterclass’s STRETCH List 2024.

Yeniva Massaquoi
Senior Associate, Latham & Watkins

Massaquoi is an award-winning lawyer with extensive experience advising multinational clients in raising capital for multi-billion-dollar cross-border transactions. She was included in INvolve’s 2023 Top 100 Women Future Leaders list and won Rising Star of the Year at the IFLR Europe Awards. As Global Leader of Latham’s Women Lawyers Group, she spearheaded professional development training, mentorship and community-building initiatives for female lawyers at the firm. Prior to this, she was London chair of Latham’s Black Lawyers Group, followed by two years as global chair of the group, establishing a number of groundbreaking diversity initiatives. She is also active in gender- and broader DEI-related pro bono work.

Tali Grozin
Customer Strategy Manager, Barclays

Grozin strives to foster an inclusive and supportive workplace through her leading role in the Barclays gender network and being part of her local DE&I pillar. She supports numerous events, including the International Women’s Day (IWD) career progression workshop and a Women in Tech panel event, promoting equity within the financial sector. She was also selected as a Barclays champion for the Female Founder 2024 programme, where she served as a mentor, strategic advisor and trusted sounding board for aspiring entrepreneurs. Passionate about mentoring young people from underrepresented backgrounds, she has supported two early-career professionals in advancing their career journeys as part of SEO London’s Beyond Barriers programme.

Ize Idemudia
Managing Director and COO, International and Global Investment Management Legal, Morgan Stanley

Idemudia has driven the strategy for MSIM’s legal coverage and operating model as the division has grown from $400bn to $1.6tn in AUM, while helping to build the legal coverage model across Europe to ensure greater alignment with the post-Brexit strategy. She sits on her division’s D&I Steering Committee, the firm’s EMEA Race to Action Group and the Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Lab Investment Committee. She was recognised in Powerlist ’s 25 UK most influential people in finance, law and fintech list and was recently the winner of the Black British Business Award for Senior Leader in Financial Services. Idemudia is also a passionate champion of gender and race equity and inclusion.

Eleanor Kaye
Managing Director, Newton Venture Program

Kaye is managing director of Newton Venture Program, a collaborative effort between LocalGlobe and London Business School, providing world-class education and fellowship programmes for aspiring and practising professionals in venture capital. Her primary focus is on diversifying the VC ecosystem, making it a more level playing field for people from overlooked backgrounds, by training the tech investors of the future to back the companies of tomorrow. It is her mission to make the practice of venture capital and technology transfer widespread and accessible, ensuring the next generation of venture investors represents the world we live in. Beyond her professional commitments, she devotes time to mentoring and local impact initiatives.

Shauna Roper
Global Head of DEI, HSBC

Roper has been a trailblazer in embedding inclusivity at HSBC. She co-founded EmpowHER, an entrepreneurial programme built entirely using technology at zero cost. She also designed a hybrid sponsorship programme integrating executive coaching on the Black experience, which resulted in 50 per cent of Black women advancing to director-level roles. Her UVP in creating inclusive programmes drove a further 35 per cent increase in women’s promotions through a global sponsorship initiative in one of the most competitive sectors in banking. She also acts as counsel to the Group Executive Office and advisor to the Holdings Board on the Black employee experience and ESG, and she serves as a UN Women UK delegate.

Charlie Bronks
Group Head of Sustainability, Crown Agents Bank

Bronks has spearheaded Crown Agents Bank’s transformation, embedding Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles at its core. As group head of Sustainability, she developed the bank’s sustainability strategy and led its B Corp certification, playing a key role in its transition to a PLC. With extensive experience in financial services, international development, and fundraising, she bridges the public and private sectors. She serves as a Board Trustee for the UN Global Compact Network UK, as an Advisory Board Member at ESGmark®, and Co-Chair of the Payments Association’s ESG Working Group, driving ESG progress in the payments industry.

Katarzyna (Kate) Kowalska
Premier Banking Manager, NatWest

Kowalska is a Premier Banking Manager at NatWest Group, with over a decade of experience advising affluent and high-net-worth clients. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion and co-leads Wealth Gender Network, an internal employee resource group, advocating for gender equality and supporting career progression. She holds Women in Business accreditation and dedicates her time to empowering females through education, networking and financial guidance, helping to bridge gender financial gaps and foster better financial decision-making. Kowalska is a part of the #IAmRemarkable community of facilitators, hosting workshops and empowering everyone to celebrate their achievements. She has recently been named Financial Adviser of the Year 2024 at the Women’s Recognition Awards.

Hannah Kupoluyi
Founder, Speaker, Business Coach and Podcast Host, All Women’s Network

Hannah Kupoluyi established the multi-award- winning All Women’s Network, a community that now supports thousands of women across various industries. Her “Birth Your Vision” programme has mentored over 100 women, helping them to start their own businesses. In addition to her professional successes, she is a business coach, speaker and thought leader, advocating for women’s rights and equality. She is also involved in community schemes addressing critical social issues, and recently launched the EmpowerMums initiative to support mothers facing living challenges and financial hardships. The programme aims to help them start side-hustles that foster financial independence and enable them to provide for their families.

Ola Majekodunmi
Founder, All Things Money

Majekodunmi is a personal finance expert and founder of online platform All Things Money, designed to provide young adults with empowering and informative financial tools and tips on topics such as budgeting, saving, investing and mortgages. Since starting the platform during lockdown in 2020, she has amassed 35,000 followers, launched a personal finance podcast with over 140,000 downloads, sold over 1,000 copies of her ebook and hosted four live events. Alongside this she has hosted over 100 workshops for the likes of Asos, NatWest, Accenture and ITV, bringing personal finance education into the workplace. She has also featured in the Financial Times, The New York Times, the Guardian, and Elle, as well as on BBC News and BBC Radio London.

Adora Nwodo
Founder and Executive Director, NexaScale

Nwodo is an engineering manager and multi-award- winning woman in tech working at the intersection of cloud engineering and developer platforms. She is also on the Advisory Board for the VR/AR Association Nigeria and DevNetwork, and serves as a global youth ambassador for Theirworld, where she contributes to the United Nations SDG 4 to ensure “inclusive and equitable quality education for all”. She is the founder of NexaScale, an edtech non-profit providing simulated work experience for over 10,700 tech enthusiasts. She is the author of three books: Cloud Engineering for Beginners, Beginning Azure DevOps and Confident Cloud. Since 2018 she has spoken at over 180 tech events (physical and virtual) globally.

Nneka Orji
Senior Director, Alvarez & Marshal

As senior director at Alvarez & Marsal, Orji brings 14 years’ experience in advisory and industry roles. She was chief operating officer at Morrinson Wealth for three years, and prior to this spent almost 10 years in management consulting at Deloitte and Accenture, including a secondment as chief of staff to the Deloitte UK chair. She serves as non-executive director at BusinessLDN and is a trustee at UK Youth, where she sits on the Board. A passionate mentor and champion of social mobility, she mentors with the Social Mobility Foundation, GAIN (Girls Are INvestors), Women of Colour Global Network, Bridging Barriers and EnCircle. Her many accolades include winning one of Black Women in Asset Management’s Forty Under 40 Wealth Management Awards in 2023.

Jess Rad
Founder and CEO, The WomenHood

Rad is the founder of The WomenHood, a platform devoted to progressing gender equity by destigmatising the challenges of womanhood. She strives to create gender equity at work and home by supporting women and marginalised genders to better understand their own bodies, minds and neurobiologies to increase confidence and self-advocacy. She does this through workshops, content and community. She also created a local community in Brighton and Hove which acts as a powerful hive mind, enabling over 300 women to support each other. A proud parent-carer and ADHDer, Rad now delivers talks, workshops and programmes to organisations to close the gender gaps across women’s health, money, neurodiversity and relationships, and drive neuroinclusion.

Heeral Shah
Head of ESG Strategy & Propositions, Wholesale Lending, Corporate and Investment Banking, Barclays

Shah is a seasoned banker with vast experience, recently leading the UK Debt Structuring team within Wholesale Lending at Barclays, Corporate and Investment Banking. Outside of her day job she is hugely passionate about DE&l and the power of the financial sector to create lasting contributions across gender, ethnicity and socio-economic agendas. She founded the Asian Professionals Resource Group (of which she is executive sponsor) making Barclays a more inclusive employer for colleagues of Asian descent with a focus on intersectionality. She serves on the Finance Committee of the Alzheimer’s Society, is a member of the Worshipful Company of International Bankers and a member of YPO.

Harshitha Shivakumar
Senior Technical Consultant, IBM

As the youngest lead on a crucial public sector project, Harshitha heads a highly visible client-side team of 70 members and is driving large-scale complex deliveries for the UK government. Her outstanding technical skills and visionary leadership have earned her numerous national awards and internal accolades at IBM. As a trailblazing innovator and passionate advocate for women in technology, she is recognised as a Diversity Champion for driving positive change in the tech industry. She proactively delivers technical learning and coaching and is known to “make the complex simple”. She plays a key role in IBM’s attraction and hiring campaign by developing and implementing DEI-focused events at universities which have resulted in a significant increase in the number of women and minority ethnic hires at IBM.

Louise Brown
Business Management Director, HSBC

Recognised as one of The 10 Most Influential HR Executives to Follow in 2024, Brown is celebrated for her role as a strategic partner specialising in the entire People life cycle. As the chair of City HR, she is responsible for steering, guiding and overseeing the strategic, governance and developmental aspects of the association. Her role on the board places her at the forefront of stewardship for the association, where a primary focus is ensuring its ongoing relevance and sustainability. Serving as both ambassador and advocate, she actively engages with the team to facilitate and implement the effective execution of the association’s strategy. She also uses her voice to raise awareness about neurodiversity, in particular ADHD, dyslexia, autism and OCD.

Shobitha Shivakumar
Security Consultant, IBM

Raised in India, Shobitha always had a passion for technology. She completed a placement as an IBM technical analyst, obtaining the highest client- satisfaction score and emerged among the top 10 European analysts. She has received several awards internally and externally for her holistic contribution and incredible impact. She worked to transform the security posture of numerous large clients and was the youngest member to lead the finances of multi- million-dollar projects and assist senior leadership with maintaining healthy profits. She has inspired others by being an ally and she has proactively introduced several D&I initiatives such as publishing videos, creating a community for early professional excellence and ethnic minorities, mentoring and speaking at events to build an inclusive workplace.

Sophia Ufy Ukor
Founder and CEO, Violet Simon

As founder and CEO of media company Violet Simon, whose mission is to close the gender narrative gap, Ufy Ukor helps to amplify women’s voices through the use of storytelling, fostering inclusion, representation, equality and a safe space where women’s voices are heard. Her 15-year entrepreneurial journey spans law, fashion and PR, as well as a professional qualification as a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Her work has been recognised by global platforms that include the BBC, UN Women UK, Global Citizen, WeAreTheCity and Forbes, and she has garnered awards and accolades for her excellence in media, alongside being a TEDx speaker. Ufy Ukor is recognised in numerous powerlists as an influential changemaker and inclusion champion making a significant impact across the UK.

Dr Michelle Ulor
Music Psychologist, DJ and VC/Startup Consultant

Ulor is a professional with expertise in music, wellbeing, research and startups. With a PhD in Music Psychology, she is highly sought after in academic and industry circles. She has collaborated with organisations such as BBC Radio, Soho House, Design Hotels and NTS Radio, contributing to pioneering research, DJ performances and strategic consulting within music and health. She also has extensive experience in the startup and venture capital sectors, working with mental-health companies through Zinc Venture Builder and delivering training programmes at London Business School. She played a key role at Newton Venture Program, designing and leading educational programmes blending academic knowledge with practical industry insights.

We would like to thank our expert panel of judges who, using their extensive knowledge and wealth of experience in the City, selected this year’s Inspirational Women from an impressive longlist.

Rupal Kantaria
Partner, Oliver Wyman

Kantaria is a partner at Oliver Wyman in the Financial Services practice based in London, and head of the Oliver Wyman Forum UK. She co-leads the Oliver Wyman Forum’s CEO and non-executive community Leadership Reimagined, which provides a senior, confidential peer-to-peer discussion forum across public, private and not-for-profit sectors. She has almost two decades of experience in consulting and extensive management experience, serving as COO for Oliver Wyman’s EMEA insurance business. She is vice chair of the 30% Club UK and co-leads Oliver Wyman’s Social Impact programme. Kantaria joined Oliver Wyman in 2003 and holds an MA in Economics and Management from Cambridge University.

Jacqueline Onalo
Human Rights Lawyer and Executive Coach

Onalo is an award-winning human rights lawyer, executive coach and leadership development trainer. She is a barrister and solicitor of England and Wales as well as an advocate of the Supreme Court of Kenya. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), and a trustee of several charities including at Comic Relief, where she chairs the People and Culture Committee. She has designed a holistic youth leadership programme focusing on employability, career, entrepreneurship, life and active citizenship skills, which she has successfully delivered to hundreds of university students. She is also an acclaimed international speaker, whose insight has been valuable on various forums including the UN and the International Ombudsman.

Candida de Silva
Managing Director, Portfolio Specialist, International Equity Team, Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM)

With 24 years of industry experience, de Silva joined Morgan Stanley in August 2019 after 11 years at BlackRock, most recently as head of the UK Charities & Endowments business. Prior to that she worked at Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Mellon. She holds an MA in Modern Languages from Cambridge University and a postgraduate diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing. She was highly commended in the category of Fund Saleswoman of the Year in the Investment Week Women in Investment Awards 2021 and selected as one of Brummell’s Inspirational Women 2023 for pioneering positive change in their workplace. She leads retention efforts for MSIM EMEA’s Diversity Focus Committee and is a trustee for a girls’ educational foundation.