Who We Are
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The Women of Achievement Lunch was established in 2008 by Carol Mitchell to celebrate the achievements and contribution made in many varied fields by women who have Scottish connections. Our goal is to support small, but vital Scottish charities to make a big difference and to have fun doing it.
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Over the last fifteen years we are very proud to have raised over ÂŁ350,000 for Scottish charities. Extraordinary things are achieved by ordinary women every day and we could not have done it without our network, which has grown to over 1,000 Women of Achievement, and our committee who volunteer their time for free.
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What We Do
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Each year we raise money to support a chosen Scottish Charity.
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Funds for each year’s appeal are raised at our annual Women of Achievement Lunch held at the Caledonian Club in London in March, and also through sponsorship, advertising and through generous donations from charitable trusts and our network of ladies.
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Thank you so much for all your support and for giving so generously to these very worthwhile causes.
Speakers
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We are very proud of all the speakers who have spoken at our annual Women of Achievement Lunch. We have thoroughly enjoyed hearing about your achievements, and you have had us in stitches with many amusing stories shared with our network of ladies.
Thank you so much for supporting us.
Samantha
CameronJoanna
TrollopeKirsty Wark
Prue Leith
Ruby Wax
Lady Claire
MacDonaldCelia Imrie
Fiona
ArmstrongEmma
SoamesPenelope
KeithDame Stephanie
ShirleyVictoria
StapletonAnn
WiddecombeSusan
HampshireThe Duchess
of RutlandProfessor Heather
McGregorIndia Hicks
Cath Kidston
Rachel
JohnsonKatherine
Garrett-CoxDame Elizabeth
GlosterThe Committee
Lady Colquhoun of Luss
Francine Douglas-Home
She is married to Tara and they have two teenage children.
She is the Chair of the Governors of a primary school in London close to where they live.
Lady Fuller
Neston is also used for filming including Larkrise to Candleford, Poldark, Agatha Raisin, Persuasion, Four Seasons and The Other Wife to name a few.
Katharine Landale
Lucy Liddell
Claire McCorquodale
Iona Murray
Scottish born and bred, lona was educated in Angus and studied History of Art at Edinburgh University and she dreams of moving back sometime in the future.
She began her career in advertising with nearly four years at Saatchi & Saatchi working on their flagship accounts HSBC and BT. She has now moved to Droga5, winner of international agency of the decade, with the hope to work on their accounts including Amazon, Coke, Barclays Bank and Facebook.
She has a wealth of experience in Financial Services and Telecommunications but hopes to expand this to FMCG and Tech. Her greatest achievement is working on the world's largest global campaign, HSBC airports, currently live globally from Los Angeles to Singapore with 97km worth of artwork!
In her spare time, lona advises small start ups on their branding and marketing strategy as well as being an avid foodie.
Marina Novis, Chairman
She works at SEO London, a diversity charity that prepares students from ethnic minorities and low socioeconomic backgrounds for career success.
Prior to this she spent ten years working in financial services, in Investor Relations at Prudential Plc and before that at PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
Marina also works as a volunteer interview coach at Smart Works in West London, helping provide interview support and coaching to women trying to get back into the workforce.
Carolyn Warrender
More recently she has focused on Retail Consultancy and using skills learnt throughout her career, and is now very active in local politics. She has two children.
Emma Weir
Emma was born and raised in Scotland until she moved to London after school to start her career. She set-up and ran a successful boutique headhunting business for 25 years which specialised within the financial markets and had offices in London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and New York.
She also purchased Arisaig House in 2010 and her sister ran it as a hotel until 2020 when Emma retired. Emma is now running the house and holiday cottages as a rental business and sits on a number of Committees for charities.
Viscountess Younger of Leckie
Prior to this Jennie worked for over 30 years in pharmaceuticals (GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca) and in financial and professional services Deutsche Bank, FTI Consulting. BZW and Kleinwort Benson).
She is married to Viscount Younger of Leckie, a Government Minister in the House of Lords, and they have three grown-up children.
Alexandra Robson
Alexandra has a commitment to public service. She loves the decorative arts and charities that improve educational opportunities. She stood for Parliament in 2005 and has had various roles in the Conservative Party including Local Councillor and Cabinet Member for Education in Hammersmith and Fulham, the Policy Unit, Director of Women to Win to encourage more women to stand for Parliament and Head of Business Relations. She is currently a Trustee and on the Board of the Museum of the Home.
The Duchess of Argyll
Eleanor runs Inveraray Castle and Gardens in Argyll with her husband Torquhil. The castle is (usually) open to the public from Easter to October and is one of Scotland’s most popular attractions as well as being used for various films and television programmes including Downton Abbey and Landscape Painter Of The Year.
Eleanor is also Chairman of the Historic Houses Tourism Committee, on the board of the Historic Houses, President of the Georgian Group, Patron of Richmond’s Hope and Prior-elect of the Order of St. John in Scotland.
They have three children, Archie, Rory & Charlotte.
Previously Eleanor worked for Charles Barker Public Relations and Weber Shandwick.
Lulu Benson