FOUNDER AND CEO
PATTERN WORKED: FLEXIBLY ACROSS THE WEEK
Dawn is a performance marketing specialist who founded Boom ENTS in 2012. The agency supports the successful promotion of a wide range of events including theatre, festivals, consumer exhibitions and immersive entertainment. She subsequently launched Boom SPORT to use her talent for entertainment marketing to capitalise on the developing direction of the live sports market. The first female agency CEO to service two industries in this way, Dawn owns and leads the vision, growth, business development, client relationships and delivery for her agencies, as well as managing her 17-strong team. No two weeks are the same; she and her employees benefit from the flexible culture she has created, in which work patterns and working arrangements are equally valued.
GROUP COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR
PATTERN WORKED: 4 DAYS PER WEEK
Etch is a people-first company, whose digital experts solve business problems through simple, human-focused solutions. Shelly co-founded the company with her husband in 2012, and is now Group Commercial Director. Her responsibilities range from identifying new market opportunities and determining the optimal pricing to balance profit with client satisfaction. She is also the part-time Managing Director of New Community Ventures, which is working to bring about disruption in the charity sector. Shelly started Etch as a way of building a fulfilling career without missing out on time with her family. She is equally supportive of her employees’ needs, making the full range of flexible options available to everyone, for any reason.
FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR
PATTERN WORKED: 3 DAYS PER WEEK
Kate left her role in learning and development at Mars in 2014, following the birth of her first two children, and set up her own business. She began by offering first-aid classes to local parents, which proved so popular that she decided to franchise the business. Mini First Aid now has 52 franchises across the UK and Ireland, which train around 1,000 parents and carers every week. Kate’s role includes setting the business strategy, developing class content, and recruiting and training franchisees. She also works on marketing and PR, and on building partnerships with companies such as Mothercare and Mamas & Papas. She actively supports flexible working within her HQ team, and her franchisees value the control over their working lives that this set-up gives them.
FOUNDER
PATTERN WORKED: FLEXIBLY ACROSS THE WEEK
Anna is the brains behind Mother Pukka, a 250,000-follower platform for people who happen to be parents. She used this to launch #FlexAppeal, a campaign fighting for flexible working for all, and regularly speaks out about the need for and value of flexibility. She delivered an influential report to the Welsh Assembly’s Senedd on using flexible working to tackle maternity discrimination and the gender pay gap. Recently, she gave a Tedx Talk on the power of flexible working to break down the archaic 9-5. Away from Mother Pukka, Anna spends time with her two daughters and co-presents a varied, vibrant weekly show and podcast on Heart Radio. It covers everything from serious issues, such as flexible working and gender equality, to more lighthearted topics.
FOUNDING DIRECTOR
PATTERN WORKED: FLEXIBLY ACROSS THE WEEK
Abi launched Spabreaks.com 11 years ago, when her first child was a baby, having spotted a gap in the online spa booking market. She is responsible for the strategic and operational elements of the business, as well as playing an active part in recruitment and leading on marketing and PR. Abi was particularly motivated to create a business which enabled women to fulfil their potential within a role that matched their circumstances. A number of her employees work on a flexible basis, and she is looking to explore the possibilities for other roles within the business. She has won a number of awards since launching Spabreaks.com, including UK Gamechanger of the Year (Wellness) and the FT HERoes Champions of Women in Business Award.
CO-FOUNDER
PATTERN WORKED: 10 MONTHS IN 12
Annie is the Co-Founder of Starling, a cultural insight agency whose clients include Boots, Nike and Pepsico. The role sees her collaborating with academics and radical thinkers across a range of disciplines and markets to deliver trend and innovation projects, as well as directing the future strategy for the business. Annie’s commitment to flexibility drives a culture in which people are empowered to work however, whenever and wherever they like. The office closes for two months each summer, allowing employees to rejuvenate, work on their own projects or spend time with their families – and come back truly refreshed. A former journalist, Annie is the author of FLEX: The Modern Woman’s Handbook, a revolutionary guide to living and working on your own terms, published in April 2019.
DIRECTOR
PATTERN WORKED: 4 DAYS PER WEEK
Deborah is one of three Founding Directors of Totum, the UK’s only recruitment firm specialising in business service roles within the legal profession. She and her co-founders launched the company to place great business talent into law, often at Board level, helping firms transform their legal business models to deliver sustained growth. Deborah and her colleagues encourage their clients to think creatively about using flexibility to support talent attraction and retention. Totum champions inclusivity, both internally and with their clients. Unusually Totum provide candidate shortlists with an equal balance of women and men. Many of Totum’s employees work flexibly in some way, which Deborah believes has contributed to the company’s low attrition rate of less than 5%.
