Day: 4 October 2017

The growing success of the annual Women in Media conference in Manchester has resulted in a networking event being hosted in the capital on the 6th of October, which reached capacity in under 48 hours.

The event, hosted at Amnesty International’s UK headquarters, will be an opportunity to meet and network with the industry’s leaders in London next month.

The annual conference in Manchester will take place at the People’s Museum on the 3rd-4th of March with a range of women coming together to celebrate their talents and to encourage women to rise against the political, social and economic injustice that women in media face. This will be the third year of the conference.

However, in those three years some people have been left wanting, as Kirstie O’Mahony, this year’s chair of the Women in Media conference and The Mancunion Editor-in-Chief explained: “freelancers from areas further south than Manchester had made it plain to co-founder Polly Bartlett that, whilst they’d love to attend, they simply couldn’t afford to make the journey. That’s why Polly, along with co-founder Jenny Sterne and previous chairs Elise Gallagher and Gemma Sowerby started planning this networking event in London.”

Kirstie added: “We hope it will not only bring a slice of the action to those who can’t make it to Manchester in March, but also serve as a great promotion for the conference too – get people excited who were already planning on attending.

“Women in Media is an incredibly important event, as it showcases all the fabulous female talent the industry has to offer and allows women who are just about to start their media careers get tips and start building their network.”

The Editor of DIVA magazine, Carrie Lyell, is among the list of attendees.

Carrie worked at the magazine for four years before earning the role of Editor-in-Chief, and is known for her publications, support towards the gay community, and maintaining the high expectations of her role at DIVA. Carrie Lyell was named the first lesbian editor of a magazine, which was seen by many as indicative of a more liberal, progressive and tolerant society.

Speaker and journalist Harriet Minter is a good friend of the conference, and is known for her work towards gender equality. She will also be attending the event. Minter encourages women to stand up to social and economic injustice within different communities,  and calls up against what she believes to be the wrong-doing of male cultures that harm women’s ability to thrive in various industries.

Another attendee, Megan Lucero of The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, “spearheaded The Times'” political data unit ahead of the 2015 General Election — making it the only one in the industry to reject polling data ahead of the election, as stated on her profile page. Lucero’s team brought many issues into the public discourse and won awards for revealing the widespread use of blood doping in the Olympics.

Whilst this event is full, there are plenty of exciting announcements regarding the conference to come very soon. Give Women in Media a like on Facebook to keep up to date.