IWD 2021: Sales specialist Jessica Williams on creating Tees Valley's first ever IWD festival

For International Women’s Day 2021, Bdaily spoke to women across the North East about adapting to life in the pandemic.

Jessica Williams is the managing director of Just Williams, which this week staged the first Tees Valley International Women’s Day festival.

She spoke to Bdaily about her “newfound respect” for businesses that have survived the pandemic, the impact on the wedding industry and the importance of a supportive network.

As a woman, how have you personally adapted during the pandemic, and what challenges have you faced?

I have always worked at a hundred miles an hour, rushing and dashing from one thing to another, fitting in meetings, events and phone calls and stretching my diary capacity within an inch of its life and screen size… so taking time out for lunchtime walks has been a huge mindset change and one I will continue once we return to the office. The challenges have been relentless during the last 12 months and gone from cashflow, automating processes, IT security, taking our Sales Academy online to broadband capacity, home schooling, inability to switch off and going stir crazy from my home office!

Tell us about the Tees Valley IWD festival! What are you doing and why is it important?

The idea behind creating a IWD festival was down to the level of amazing events already being held across the Tees Valley with women and girls coming together to inspire, discuss and learn from one another. With so many events, it is impossible to keep up with who is running what and to avoid duplication, clashes or multiple invites to events on the same day at the same time. This year’s event is hosted by Teesside University and whilst we haven’t managed to ensure a completely clash free event zone – we have managed to bring a large number of events together under one platform encouraging a wide number of individuals and organisations to support and get involved. Bringing together some incredibly inspiring organisations who are passionate about their people and championing women was at the core, Assist Womens Network, Darlington Building Society and The Girls Network.

This is just the start, 2022 will see the IWD Festival expand and evolve so watch this space!

What opportunities do you feel that the pandemic has created for women, if any?

Geographic restrictions have always presented challenges for engagement across the board, whereas now with the simple and often free addition of online events, exhibitions and a chance to engage with a national and international audience without the travel and cost – we are much better equipped to take advantage of opportunities. New roles which are home based, new networks across the globe and a much more visible online presence allowing that ever elusive work live balance to actually exist whilst having a career, business and all you choose. Womens groups have provided a vast amount of support and created engagement with those often lacking in confidence to attend face to face events with Assist being a prime example of this. Friends, networks and mentors have been created and new businesses launched, hobbies turned into jobs and passions into careers. The sheer resilience many women have faced whilst having to home school and work full time has proven to them they really can achieve anything!

In your opinion, has the pandemic highlighted any gender imbalances in business?

Women are often responsible for home schooling so additional pressures have been evidenced. I accept this isn’t always the case but this has heightened the imbalance and opportunities available to women who have had to multitask on a whole new level. Engaging in conversation in an online setting can also be enormously daunting and with many sectors still under represented in gender equality, additional pressures have also been added.

As we step into a post-pandemic business landscape, how do you think women’s roles in business may change?

Positively I hope! So many women I am privileged to work with and alongside have surprised themselves by how much they can achieve even at the most desperate of times all whilst juggling being a boss, mother, teacher, leader, wife – need I go on! I hope we become more confident, more determined, more direct in our approach and realise that we have to play at the level playing field to create it and lead by example. I have seen more women than ever step forward to support others in a professional and personal capacity, mentoring one another, guiding one another and supporting one another – all skillsets that are utterly transferrable into their multitude of roles.