International Women’s Day

To celebrate International Women’s Day Make is recognising the impressive women we work with

At Make we believe that an equal world is an enabled world. One of the ways we are helping to forge a gender equal society is by celebrating women’s achievements and increasing the visibility of women.

As today is International Women’s Day, we believe it is important to highlight the accomplishments of the women in our lives. We are proud to work with a variety of impressive women on a daily basis and today we have chosen to shine the light on two of our clients.

Mariam Elshafie is the owner of House Babylon, a high-quality linen brand she started herself. Her aim was to encourage people to purchase with purpose and simplify an often confusing retail experience. She told Make that her dream of wanting to start her own business was inspired by her father.

“I grew up in a household where my father was a serial entrepreneur. Seeing him build something from the ground up was fascinating and it instilled in me the desire to take risks,” she revealed.

Although House Babylon is now a prosperous business, Mariam said this doesn’t mean it‘s been easy. She explained that the financial instability that comes with abandoning a steady job to pursue your dream full-time is incredibly daunting. She had to teach herself to become comfortable with making big decisions on a daily basis and learn how to overcome mistakes.

Mariam agrees that it’s important to celebrate diversity in the workplace.

“Making women visible and showcasing their success is extremely important and encouraging for more female participation. This eventually leads to a more egalitarian society, one that is more inclusive and rewarding to its community. On a smaller scale, showcasing successful women is key for young girls to be inspired and gives them something to aspire to,” she said.

The woman that Mariam said has inspired her is Hypatia, a mathematician and astronomer from Alexandria in Egypt.

“She was a thinker beyond her time, a woman that defied all expectations. Plus we both grew up in the same city, which makes her even more exciting for me,” she said.

And her advice for other women who were wanting to take the plunge and start their own business?

“Make the plan, begin to test the market and test your product over and over again. Then, take the plunge. Along the way, help other women.”

Chloe Guest is the marketing manager for Rawr, a beauty salon that is redefining the beauty industry. She started her job in the summer of 2019 and was originally brought in to rebrand the business from Lashious Beauty to Rawr.

To make this possible, Chloe worked closely with a creative agency to come up with everything from the concept and brand name to the tone of voice and brand imagery. They created brand guidelines and helped with the design of their new flagship salon in Rathbone Place and Make helped to build the new website.

“Fast forward to today, I am now working on the roll out of the rebrand, so working closely with our partner, Primark, to establish how this looks in our concession salons in their stores and how we generate awareness of the brand,” she told Make.

Today an impressive 87 percent of companies are committed to gender equality, compared to 56 per cent in 2012. Chloe believes it’s important that there is an equal balance of men and women in management roles, as well as in all workplaces and departments.

“It creates balance as we think and are wired differently. Marketing roles are very creative and I think women tend to have a natural flair for imagination, therefore it is quite fitting for women to be in management roles within a marketing department,” she said.

“Women tend to have empathy and are therefore open minded to bouncing ideas off team members – this is often where the best marketing campaigns are born!”

Although Chloe has had many successes in her career already, this doesn’t mean she hasn’t faced hurdles as a woman in the industry.

“Sometimes being taken seriously can be a challenge. I think for me, this is often the case because I’m a woman and because I am still quite young to be in a management position. Therefore I don’t always have a bank of experience I can lean on as back up to why I think a certain campaign, colour or promotion would work best,” she said.

Chloe explained that the support and influence of her mum was especially important as she is someone she talks to every day. Her cousin, a CEO of a travel business, has also been a big inspiration.

“She absolutely kills it as a woman in business! When I was a little girl I always wanted to be just like her, wearing business wear, high heels and living in London. Currently I am doing the living in London bit only!” She said.

When it comes to her advice for other women who are wanting to take the plunge and achieve their goals Chloe said they should “just do it”.

“The only person holding you back in life is you. Life is far too short to be sitting back and pleasing other people in the workplace.”

Make knows that it’s important for women to be given the opportunity to thrive in an equal work environment. This is why it’s significant that in our office female representation continues to grow.