First Women Live: Dame Stephanie Shirley

A truly wonderful evening spent at First Women Live, hosted by ace photographer Anita Corbin who created the inspiring First Women series of images of women firsts to commemorate the centenary of women getting the vote.

Each of Anita’s photographs tells the story of an incredible woman, and this month we were in the company of Dame Stephanie Shirley, one of the most inspirational role models we will ever have the privilege and pleasure to meet.

After a marvellous introduction from Anita, Dame Steve kept us captivated as she shared her story, from arriving in Britain aged 5 as a Kindertransport refugee, through her earlier life, and going on to found an IT company which until the sex discrimination act recruited women. Highly successful in business, Dame Shirley is a tireless campaigner and philanthropist supporting autism research in memory of her late son Giles, himself autistic.

   

The evening went far too quickly, and we all had lots of questions to ask of this amazing role model. So we were delighted to discover we can get a copy of her new book, especially as all income will go to her Foundation: https://www.steveshirley.com/biography/

You can check out Anita's fabulous First Women images here: https://1stwomenuk.co.uk/

The live exhibition is on tour, and will reopen at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter once we're out of lockdown. See: https://1stwomenuk.co.uk/2019/01/15/the-first-women-tour/