Connecting Women in Business
Event details
This event has taken place.
Description
Join us for a powerful event celebrating International Women's Day! *Student Event*
Explore leadership paths and key issues facing women in business and entrepreneurship. Develop essential skills like innovation, strategic thinking, and resilience to thrive in any career.
Key topics we will be discussing include:
Defeating imposter syndrome, managing self-advocacy and authentic leadership.
A safe space to share ideas, ask questions, and empower your journey.
This is an open event - all students are welcome.
This event may particularly appeal to women, trans and non-binary people.
The agenda includes:
- 10.30am - Refreshments and arrival
- 11am - Welcome (From our partners Women in Business)
- 11.10am - Managing self-advocacy - Build your own achievement tracker to build visible progression with Co-founder, Jessie Auguste, from Glowing in Tech
- 11.50am - Break
- 12.00am - Confidence in your career - with Talent Development Manager, Laura James, from Enterprise Mobility
- 12.30pm - Lunch and networking (Including University Societies)
- 1.00pm - My experience of leading the first female racing team, Founder Presentation with Ami Jerger from AJ Racing
- 1.15pm - Panel discussion and live Q and A, with CEO, Amy Brereton, from Enactus
- 1.50pm - Closing remarks and event end
Guests are welcome to attend all or part of the event.
We will be joined throughout the day by an expert panel of speakers.
Founder of Glowing in Tech - Jessie Auguste
Glowing in Tech is a community driven platform, inspiring, empowering, connecting, and encouraging those underrepresented and underserved in tech.
Founded by two Black women from non-technical backgrounds who first hand faced a lack of resources, representation and encouragement when looking to launch a coding career. Glowing in Tech aims to create a safe, empowering and fun space that makes the tech industry feel more inclusive and accessible.
Jessie Auguste is a Software Engineer at CybSafe, Co-Founder and Co-host of Glowing in Tech and part of the Leadership Team for Coding Black Females.
I have delivered talks for companies including LeadDev, codebar, General Assembly, Docker, Girls into Coding & Daily Dev. I have hosted and delivered courses on behalf of CybSafe and Coding Black Females. I am passionate about equality, diversity and inclusion, and spend time volunteering with organisations that help underrepresented people get into the technology industry.
Jessie Auguste
Alumni Founder
In her masterclass, master the art of self-advocacy. Walk away with a custom Achievement Tracker to make your career progression visible, measurable, and undeniable.
Founder of AJ Racing - Ami Jerger
AJ Racing is the UK’s first and only all-female owner-driver kart team. Our drivers compete in competitive kart races at a national and soon to be international level as we support their progress up the motorsport ladder. Most of our drivers are aiming to compete in F1 Academy and beyond!
Ami graduated from Sheffield in 2023 with a Bioengineering MEng with a year in industry.
I spent lots of my time here in the Formula Student lab after missing my karting so went more down the motorsport engineering route rather than the medical side of my degree. After completing my placement year at Mercedes F1 as an electronics engineer, I returned to Brackley (near Silverstone) after I graduated to work on the Mercedes Applied Science X INEOS Britannia America’s cup project. I hadn’t even thought of running a business until I had the idea over Christmas 2023 so it’s been an adventure full of learning! I now work at McMurtry Automotive 3 days a week after gradually reducing my hours as AJ Racing grows.
Ami Jerger
Alumni Founder
CEO of Enactus - Amy Brereton
Amy Brereton is the Chief Executive Officer of Enactus UK & Ireland, a leading charity dedicated to developing the next generation with the responsible leadership to change the world. With a career defined by a passion for social impact and youth empowerment, Amy leads a movement of student changemakers, academics, and business leaders who are tackling the world’s biggest challenges through the development of responsible leadership skills.
An alumna of the University of Sheffield, Amy’s journey began as a student member of Enactus Sheffield. That first-hand experience of the transformative power of social action from the perspective of both a student and a leader - provides her with a unique and authentic lens on the sector. It shaped her career and defined her belief that when young people are given the skills, confidence, and agency to make change, they truly have the power to change the world for good.
Under her leadership, Enactus UK & Ireland continues to bridge the gap between higher education and the world of work. A passionate advocate for female leadership, Amy is a dedicated mentor to the next generation of changemakers. She is excited to be back on campus to share her story, reconnect with the University of Sheffield community, and support the incredible young people shaping the future of business.
Role Overview: In her role as the CEO, Amy provides strategic leadership for the Enactus UK & Ireland network, overseeing operations, building corporate partnerships, and ensuring the organisation delivers high-impact responsible leadership training to thousands of students across the country.
Talent Development Manager - Laura James
After starting out in fashion, Laura James’ career journey took an unexpected turn when she joined the Graduate Management Training Programme at Enterprise Mobility, leading to rapid progression through multiple leadership roles. Within six years she’d had five promotions and was the Area Manager for a region on the Northeast of England, overseeing several branches, more than 50 team members, and multi‑million‑pound assets.
Two periods of parental leave brought new perspectives on resilience and balance, followed by a return to operational leadership while navigating the realities of working parenthood. A growing interest in people development then guided a move into recruitment, and later into Talent Development.
Today, the focus is on designing and delivering training to strengthening capability, developing future leaders, and championing a culture of continuous learning.
The conference is in partnership with Women in Business Society.
Find out more about their activities throughout the year.
Read more about the success of last year's event
