Veuve Clicquot announce the finalists for the Bold Woman Award and Bold Future Award

The finalists for the Bold Woman Award and Bold Future Award by Veuve Clicquot have been announced. Now in its 49th year, the double award honours the impact of female leadership, innovation and entrepreneurism across the UK.

The Bold Woman Award celebrates female leadership, honouring inspirational women with an established track record of organisational and personal success. The finalists selected by the panel of judges are:

● Maria Raga – CEO of fashion resale app Depop. Maria has been instrumental in driving Depop forward in its mission to reshape fashion consumption. Under Maria’s leadership, Depop has seen 100% year on year revenue growth, raised $100m in funding and has a community of over 27m users worldwide.
● Prof. Sarah Gilbert – University of Oxford Professor of Vaccinology and co-founder of Vaccitech. Professor Gilbert has over a decade’s experience in developing cutting edge vaccines and led Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine development.
● Dame Donna Kinnair – Chief Executive and General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing. Judges were inspired by Dame Donna’s consistent commitment to the more than 450k nurses the RCN represents, from campaigning for Fair Pay For Nursing to standing up for nursing staff to have access to proper PPE as well as priority access to the COVID-19 vaccine for all staff.

The Bold Future Award celebrates female entrepreneurship and up and coming leaders of the future. The finalists selected by the panel of judges are:

● Sharmadean Reid MBE – Founder of Beautystack, a beauty platform allowing consumers to book talented professionals directly based on photos of their treatments. Beautystack has seen impressive external investment and growth, all while its innovative ‘see it, like it, book it’ approach elevates service providers often left at the bottom of the multi-billion pound beauty industry
● Ebinehita Iyere – Founder of Milk Honey Bees, a safe space for young black women and girls to explore their creativity and gain skills to navigate society. Judges were inspired by Ebinehita’s drive to use creativity to make a significant difference to the lives of the young black girls she reaches through the organisation before and during the COVID crisis.
● Theadora Alexander – Co-Founder of Young Foodies Group, a platform giving up and coming FMCG brands everything required to scale, from consultancy advice and investor matchmaking to a dedicated online supermarket. Young Foodies has become one of the fastest growing communities of emerging consumer names, representing more than 1500 brands with a combined turnover of £300m.

Both awards recognise women who emulate Madame Clicquot’s enterprising spirit and courage, as well as her values of innovation, audacity, fearlessness and drive. The judging panel look for evidence that nominees have excelled across four key pillars, from successfully reinventing traditions and demonstrating entrepreneurial daring, to championing better representation of female leaders and maintaining an ethical approach.

2021 Bold Woman Award by Veuve Clicquot
The Bold Woman Award by Veuve Clicquot is a modern evolution of the Business Woman Award which has been running since 1972; the first and longest-running international accolade for female business figureheads.

The awards continue to take inspiration from Madame Clicquot, a woman whose tenacity and creativity led to entrepreneurial success. Despite a lack of female role models and numerous other social obstacles, she took the brand to the successful champagne house we know today. A massive achievement in a time when women couldn’t open their own bank account, let alone independently run or own a business. Veuve Clicquot wants to support women who redefine success on their own terms and push boundaries for the better of other women in their industry – just as Madame Clicquot did two centuries ago.

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