V Awards Winners Book 2022 - Flipbook - Page 11
OVERALL
Industry Change
Maker Award
WINNER
GABRIELLE AUSTEN-BROWNE
Brand new for 2022, our Industry Change Maker Award is designed to honour and celebrate a stand-out individual
who has truly been a “Change Maker” in our industry, and we’re delighted to announce Gabrielle Austen-Browne as
our first winner.
We asked our nineteen group of agency leaders to nominate the inspiring industry individuals they feel have been at
the forefront of championing our industry externally or inspiring change within it, and the winner was decided by our V
Awards panel of expert judges.
Gabby is a diversity and inclusion expert delivering consultancy, education and training to the events and hospitality
sectors in her role as co-founder of Diversity Alliance. She has written about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for industry publications, guest lectured on Diversity & Inclusion in events and has appeared on many panels speaking about
racial inequality and diversity in the events industry. This led her to co-founding a Diverse Speaker Bureau, dedicated
to nurturing and elevating the voices of people from underrepresented groups and supporting businesses and
organisations to diversify their speaker panels at events.
Currently a DEI committee member at Eventwell, in 2020 she was also made an ambassador for the Fast Forward 15
mentorship programme, with the aim to encourage applications from underrepresented communities. Gabby is also
part of the working group for the REACH Scholarship programme in conjunction with Manchester Metropolitan
University, supporting Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority events management students with living costs, to directly
improve representation and address the talent pipeline at a grassroots level and is a Member of the MMU Events
Connect Advisory Group.
One agency leader said, “Gabby is making industry leaders think and look closely at their own diversity and inclusion
policies. She has been a hugely positive force within our industry.”
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