On International Women’s Day (March 8th 2023) we are celebrating all women. The day celebrates the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women from across the globe and we felt like as a women’s adventure group, we had to join in the celebration!
In 2023 IWD is focusing on the theme of equity and how gender equity needs to be part of every society’s DNA. It is critical to understand the difference between equity and equity and about why equal opportunities aren’t enough. People start from different places, so true inclusion and belonging require equitable action.
Here are a few of the women who inspire our members:
1. Sophie Morgan
Sophie Morgan is a British television presenter and disability advocate who is paraplegic. Sophie is radically changing representation of disability on television – most recently joining ITV’s Loose Women as a guest-panellist – she is best known for presenting the London 2012, Rio 2016, and Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. She has been voted one of the most influential disabled people in the UK and has been working on television for almost twenty years. Sophie also fronts her own Channel 4 series Living Wild; How to Change your Life which returns to Channel 4 this February. She also reports on ground-breaking documentaries such as Dispatches. Find Sophie on Instagram.
2. Rebecca Lowe
Rebecca is a cyclist and activist with a big adventure in her repertoire. In 2015 she set off on an 11,000km (6,835-mile), year-long solo cycle ride from London to Tehran, through Europe and, among other places, Turkey, Lebanon and Iran, a revelatory journey documented in her new book. Rebecca’s book about cycling across the Middle East, The Slow Road To Tehranis now live. Find Rebecca on Instagram.
3. Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Phoebe Mary Waller-Bridge is an English actress and screenwriter. She is best known as the creator, head writer, and star of the BBC sitcom Fleabag (2016–2019), which was based on her one-woman show of the same name and inspired a generation of women. She was also showrunner, head writer, and executive producer of the first series of Killing Eve (2018–2022), which she adapted for television and has been incredibly influential int he TV industry in the past decade, pushing women to the forefront of the programmes she produces and works on. Find Phoebe on Instagram.
4. Amika George
Amika Sara George MBE is a British activist who campaigns against period poverty. She became inspired to take action after reading an article describing how many poor British women missed school due to stigma around menstruation and/or being unable to afford sanitary products such as tampons. At the age of 17 she started a popular petition addressed to Westminster (which gained over 200,000 signatories), and while still in secondary school she founded the #FreePeriods organisation in April 2017. In response to her activism, George has been honoured on the Time Most Influential Teens of 2018 list, The Big Issue Top 100 Changemakers, and Teen Vogue 21 under 21. Find Amika on Instagram.
5. Athena Mellor
Athena is an adventure lover, writer and photographer. She inspires women across the world everyday through her honest and creative opinions on adventure and being a women in the outdoor community. She is now a mother and continues her passion through her blog, YouTube and Ramble Guides. In 2020, she also self-published her first print guidebook to the Peak District and has since sold over 3000 copies. Find Athena on Instagram.
6. Cat Meffan
Cat Meffan is a yoga and meditation teacher, a conscious connected breathwork facilitator and sound therapist. Founder of The Soul Sanctuary app and Soul Sanctuary Cat helps others make positive changes to their lives. As an ex-gymnast and dancer and now yoga teacher Cat has always had a passion for movement, but it was only after numerous other injuries that she decided to look deeper. Cat also talks openly about her struggles with mental health and eczema. Find Cat on Instagram.
7. Lotte Bowser
Lotte is a British writer, speaker and advocate for loss and grief awareness following the deaths of her partner and father to cancer in the past few years. Lotte never planned to become an influencer but following her partner’s death in 2020 she has continued to speak honestly and openly about her grief and has released a grief workbook to help others who are going through the same thing she did. Lotte is a writer for Refinery29 and ITV’s Woo and her work has been published in the UK, US, Germany and Australia. Find Lotte on Instagram.
8. Sophie Hellyer
Sophie is a surfer, model and writer who came to prominence in her teens when she won British surfing titles and then worked with Roxy. She then spent ten years as a Roxy girl, modelling, travelling and surfing around the world. Sophie has since gone on to speak openly about sexism in surfing and set up the Rise Fierce collective, a cold-water community which empowers women through wild swimming and kinship. Find Sophie on Instagram.
9. Danielle Williams
Danielle Williams is the Founder of DiversifyOutdoors.com and the Senior Editor of blogging platform Melanin Base Camp. Her love of adventure sports began in 2006 when the Army threw her out of her first plane. Danielle founded Diversify Outdoors in 2018, a coalition of outdoor entrepreneurs, activists, influencers and non-profits leveraging the power of social networks to promote racial and gender equity. Danielle has been featured by Good Morning America, Mic, Hulu, BBC’s Conversation, Vogue Business, and others. Find Danielle on Instagram.
10. Sally McGee
Sally is a surfer, business owner and activist. She is well respected in the surfing world for her inclusive approach and runs Yonder, a surf school, coaching company and surf brand that is helping to empower a community of surfing women in a region where the scene was slow to develop. She has a background working with the Red Cross and asylum seekers which has informed her nurturing sensibility and she has been defiant kicking back against the stereotypical portrayal of female surfers to “change the narrative of female surfing in the UK”. Find Sally on Instagram.
Who else inspires you? Tell us on Instagram!
