Our Empowering Portraits Collection - International Women’s Day
For International Women’s Day, our BWC Women’s Network has joined forces with our Creative Clinical Photography and Design team to create an Empowering Portraits series, celebrating four representatives who share their stories with us from across our Trust. The Portraiture Project includes four artistic portraits and an additional video interview with each representative about their journey at our Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Trust, expressing the importance of determination, resilience and building those important relationships.
Along with our Empowering Portraiture Project, our Women’s Network hosted its International Women’s Day special session for our colleagues, creating empowering conversations around equality both within and outside of the workplace. In the Women’s Network Special, our Co-Chair and Chair representatives for the Network were also revealed along with our Network Sponsors. We’re pleased to announce that Clare Atkinson, our Staff Ambassador is our new Chair for the Women’s Network, alongside Emma Smith, our Health and Wellbeing Facilitator who will be joining Clare as Co-Chair. Women’s Network ally Steve Cumley has joined us the International Women’s Day as our new sponsor for the Network.
One of our representatives Dr Sakeena Samar shared a poem written by Edgar A. Guest, that helped her to stay strong during challenging times when she first joined our Trust six years ago, travelling overseas to begin her career with the NHS.
Dr Sakeena shares in her interview with our Clinical Photography and Design team,
"When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit."
We’ve had the pleasure of getting to know these motivational characters throughout the day, highlighting the importance of diversity, standing in the face of adversity, and embracing your identity. We’d like to say a big thank you to our four women for supporting us in our International Women’s Day Celebrations along with the creativity of our Clinical Photography and Design team, and the collective support of our new Women’s Network.
You can view all of the Empowering Portrait project videos here via our International Women’s YouTube playlist.