Trade puts best foot forward on runway

The world is a challenging place at the moment and the travel industry is again grappling with the fallout.

But in tough times it is even more important to celebrate moments of joy, and this week I was honoured to do that in the company of some truly incredible women.

Over the past three years, Travel Weekly’s Inspiring Women events have offered female leaders a place to exchange ideas and learn from outstanding speakers from outside our sector.

And they have also created a wonderful opportunity to nurture and support the young women who will step into those leaders’ shoes in the future.

This week we brought together 200 guests for the inaugural Inspiring Women Fashion Forward event in association with Intrepid Travel, supporting the circular economy, creating an opportunity for our rising stars to build a work wardrobe at a reasonable cost, and raising thousands of pounds for the Intrepid Foundation.

We were fortunate to hear from two brilliant speakers in British Fashion Council director Karen Blackett CBE and Glittersphere founder and former Google head of travel Nishma Patel Robb.

But as Karen and Nishma told me on the night, the real stars of the show were the young women who represented themselves so well as they networked with some of the industry’s most influential female executives.

In challenging times it can be easy to dwell on the negatives, but our industry has proven time and again it can navigate choppy waters and bounce back stronger. Looking around the room on Monday evening, I was as certain of that as ever.

Comment originally from Travel Weekly, April 30 edition