Strong Female Minds of Goodhood

Lisa: Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Greta Gerwig, Lena Dunham, Miranda July - they're all great at telling stories with characters I see myself and my friends in. 

Natasha: Georgia O'Keeffe, for escaping to the desert to create her own world. 

Helen: In terms of recent news, Greta Thunberg springs to mind. To be so worldly and passionate at such a young age is pretty impressive. 

Millie: My little sis! She’s 15 and teaches me so much about her era that I would be clueless to otherwise. She’s the future!

Hannah: I was watching a short series Vox did recently called ‘Explained’ and they had an episode on Designer DNA. There was one woman - Jennifer Doudna, who pioneered the technology that makes it possible to edit genomes in cells. That was pretty extraordinary. I think females have often struggled in certain career sectors, some more so than others, and science is a big one of them. Another would be chefs, I think female chefs are amazing. I love watching things like Chef’s Table and you get people from Nancy Silverton in LA, Christina Tosi in NYC to Jeong Kwan in South Korea. It’s interesting as in the industry I’m in and have always wanted to be in- Fashion, it’s much harder to think of suitable role models, or at least for me, anyway. It’s hard to differentiate between superficial selling provocatives and people who genuinely care.

Laura: I’m obsessed with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the moment – she’s the youngest woman ever in Congress and she’s really stirring things up. Any woman that takes on Trump on a daily basis deserves recognition.

Jo: Hilda from Hildafolk.

Aya: My mum in my heart! Sorry, she is not a current public figure, but she is still a great current female role model for me. 

    'Mother of American modernism'. Artist, Georgia O'Keeffe

Lisa: I've always worked in fashion, which is statistically a female-dominated industry, so it seems only natural for a management team to reflect that. I guess it might surprise some people, I'm sure it's totally different across industries. I think the Gender Pay Gap Reporting now officially shows us what we all knew, that most women effectively work for free from mid-November, largely because they are underrepresented in boardrooms.

Natasha: It’s rad. They’re rad. 

Helen: I think it is brilliant and I am happy to be part of a team that values female creativity and decision making.

Jo: I often look around our meetings at work and I feel proud of all the intelligent, hard working, dedicated women sat around me. I also feel the same way about the men who work at GH too. To be a female heavy company wasn’t a conscious decision, people have got to where they are in Goodhood on merit, regardless of their gender, and we would never operate otherwise. At Goodhood we have always looked for ego-free, down to earth, resilient people with proactive, hard working attitudes, people who are able to juggle, multitask and think on their feet. I guess these are perhaps traits that women are especially prone to so that’s probably why there are so many women here. Going forward I have a genuine commitment to making Goodhood an easy place for women to work as they progress in their careers while having a family life. This is really important to me. I have two kids, I run a home and run a business, I want to make it as easy as possible for our women at GH to have families and kids and be able to continue with their careers at Goodhood, so we will support in every way we can, there might even be a Goodhood creche one day hopefully...

Millie: I’m super proud to be a part of it.

Hannah: I think that’s great. Departments are altering and we’re growing rapidly so it’s good to have some really strong new female minds to have a different insight, especially into the womenswear section- as we were all customers before employees.

Aya: I feel privileged to be a part of this company as a FEMALE :)

Laura: I’ve been very lucky throughout my career to work so closely with so many smart and inspiring females. And when you’ve experienced first-hand what can be achieved, it makes it a very exciting place to work.

Natalie: I think its great we have a balance of male and female minds so we have a varied perspective and different opinions towards growing the business. 

Helen: I’ve always worked in quite male dominated professions and it took me quite a long time not to second guess myself and learn to ‘lean in’ in professional conversations. I think it’s really important for women to have a sense of professional community to ensure female voices are heard

Millie: It means being able to have opinion and be listened to, as anyone should be.

Aya: I believe it's to be equal. 

Natasha: It means standing proud and supporting the women around me. 

Lisa: Freedom of choice.

Hannah: I really like this term, I think it reinforces how far females have come in their stance for equal rights. It makes me proud to be a small part of this fourth wave of feminism, using digital platforms to have a say in equal rights.

Natalie: Empowering females to be best they can be. As a child I was called a 'tomboy', but I was just a girl who enjoyed outdoor activities while wearing the occasional dress. 

Laura: Knowing and being taught that we can achieve anything, and being given the same opportunities to do so as the guy standing next to us.

Jo: Freedom of choice, freedom of speech, level playing field.

Lisa: I've just moved to Bow, so I'm enjoying learning more about the womens suffrage movement and the pretty radical women behind it - Sylvia Pankhurst ran the East London Federation of Suffragettes from what was an old bakery a couple of doors down (I think that's cool). Winning the vote was a pretty key milestone, but I'm still holding out for when tampons are no longer classed as "non-essential luxuries".

Natasha: Gaining the right to vote. 

Helen: Iceland’s paternity law was an interesting one. It helps men be more involved at home and reduces the risk of women being penalised for taking maternity leave.

Millie: I read about the 102-year-old lady in Australia who became the world’s oldest skydiver. She did it in memory of her daughter who died of Motor Neurone Disease. 

Hannah: Speaking in a completely dumbed-down sense, I think anytime a female has responded to Piers Morgan on Twitter. He is so wound up about anything women do, it’s glorious to see people rejoicing about his total idiocy.

   Mother/Supporter of the Suffragette movement c.1920

Aya: Ok, the 50 grand goes to those countries to support women that has period stigma. Maybe I watched too many documentaries...

Natasha: A 100ft pink resin vagina - fly it to middle east and land it in the middle of Saudi desert.

Helen: A trip round the world and all the records I can’t afford 

Lisa: It's not frivolous, I just really want a dog.

Jo: I think I’d have to share the wealth tbh.

Hannah: Give it all to my mum, the greatest woman alive! 

Natalie: Seeing as its international Women's day and a frivolous purchase I'd choose a bunch of female mates, give them all a Boots gift card, to use for the purchases which cost a fortune but as females have no choice to buy...!! Happy International Women's day!!