Power 50 Publication - Flipbook - Page 7
Page 7
aside when dealing with industry peers,
suppliers or clients. Even though an initial
and continuous challenge, as soon as
they understood my knowledge and
experience, that dissipated.
People who most inspired me:
There are three people who have got me
to where I am today. My mum, Angie
Mason, who having been in the industry
herself as an agency owner for 30+ years,
was my go-to inspiration and support.
Then there was Chris Parnham, MD at
Zibrant, who understood my ambition, my
drive and my goals, and Debra Nightingale, director at Zibrant, who was a rock
and pushed me to be the best version of
myself.
we've achieved in the way we've adapted
our ways of working. I'm very proud of
what we've accomplished in the last two
years. This period has changed who I am
as a leader and I'm very lucky to work with
some incredible people who have
supported me every step of the way.
Person who most inspired me:
I take inspiration from so many people,
both professionally and personally, and I
always try to learn from them. My best
friend is a huge inspiration to me; she's
overcome so many challenges in her life
and has grown so much as a person over
the years. Her tenacity has been incredibly
inspiring, and it helps that her humour is
as dark as mine!
Emma Coleman
Sarah Cox
VP, The Collective, BCD Meetings
& Events
Deputy Managing Director,
Noble Events
Emma started her events career client
side, securing a secondment into an
events team. From there, she moved to a
small agency and loved the diversity
agency life gave her and that every day
was different. “I moved to BCD as an event
manager in 2009 and since then
progressed through the business in a
number of roles; account director, senior
director of creative, senior director client
services and finally the role that I have
today - VP, The Collective.”
Sarah started out organising sponsorship
and fundraising events for London
theatres. Her career progression has taken
her from conference planning (with IBC
Conferences, now part of Informa), to
running Sibos for SWIFT for three years,
and then into management roles,
overseeing design and project
management teams delivering exhibition
stands at events such as Mobile World
Congress. “I joined Noble Events as
maternity cover for the head of events in
November 2016 and was delighted to be
retained at the end of that contract,
joining the board as operations director
and deputy managing director.”
Proudest professional achievement:
I won an award for being someone who
embodied the spirit of the agency and our
values which was amazing. I'm also proud
of being successful in this role. I've never
seen myself as a career girl, but I found
something in events that I love and that
I'm good at. Like so many women, I've got
terrible imposter syndrome, so saying I'm
proud of myself isn't something that
comes naturally to me.
Biggest challenge:
I was three months into my new role when
the pandemic started, and it has been a
huge challenge in so many ways but has
also been a learning curve. Leading
people through a constant state of
change, when you can't always give the
information or reassurances people need,
can make you feel a bit helpless at times.
On the flip side, there's been so much that
Most memorable moment:
Leading our team through the last two
years has been an extraordinary
challenge. I believe the fact we’re still here
as an agency, growing the team and
delivering fantastic events again, says a
great deal about the leadership decisions
we made and the culture we helped to
foster. I also learnt a huge amount about
my own strength and resilience. It has
certainly been memorable.
Biggest challenge:
My own insecurities! Imposter syndrome is
very real and no matter how many times
you tell yourself that you are entitled to
have your seat at the table there are still
doubts, particularly with so few role
models when I first started out. Traditional
business environments don’t always value
female leadership traits, despite
overwhelming evidence to suggest they
should, and women can mistakenly think
that to progress they need to behave
more like the male leaders they
encounter.
Proudest professional achievement:
Getting my first board-level position was
hard, a role I really felt I had to fight for.
There were no clear milestones for
progression and at times it seemed as
though the role was dangled as a carrot
but with little explanation as to what I
needed to do to earn it. I was the first
woman on the board, which honestly says
more about the state of the world at that
time than about my own skill set, but it did
feel like a huge achievement.
Jennifer Davidson
Founder & Managing Director,
Sleek Events
Jennifer started Sleek in 2015 after gaining
experience through various roles and
freelance contracts on both the corporate
and agency side including Gartner, ITV,
Goose Live and XYZ. “Growing the agency
to be a seriously credible industry name,
planning and managing events for global
brands, has been an incredible journey
and I am so proud of all that I have
achieved so far. For me, building Sleek has
never been about becoming a multimillionaire, but more about enjoying life and
not feeling under pressure financially.”
“One of my key goals is to create an
environment that allows learning
and development opportunities for
all my team members.”
Most memorable moment:
One memory that has always been at the
forefront of my mind was winning the Best
Woman In Business Award in 2019. It was
so unexpected, and I was shocked when
my name was announced.
Proudest achievement
professionally:
Achieving #19 on The Sunday Times Virgin
Atlantic Fast Track 100 of Britain's top 100
private companies with the
fastest-growing sales over their last three
years is my proudest professional
