Tuesday 15th October: Wonder Women, the inspirational women’s network that champions the elevation of diverse women into senior leadership in Television and the Creative industries, has launched the Wonder Women online membership programme, expanding its offering to provide game-changing, transformational career development resources and exclusive access to senior TV and creative industry leaders.
The Community Interest Company (CIC) has designed the online membership to reflect Wonder Women’s core values of positivity, empathy, and connection, providing a positive space for women in the TV and creative industries to be seen, heard, and valued, as well as to connect, share and collaborate with each other within a vibrant community of industry peers to support their career growth.
Sat within the Wonder Women online hub, the membership portal offering covers three distinct areas: NETWORK, LEARN, GROW. Through the Community Networking Hub, Online Masterclasses, and Live Learning, the Wonder Women membership offers a myriad of activities to support the career growth of women currently at mid-level in their careers either in permanent or freelance roles.
The Wonder Women membership benefits include:
- Access to the monthly Wonder Women Power Hour sessions with senior industry leaders. The Power Hour sessions hosted by Founder, Ria Hebden offer an exclusive opportunity to meet with some of industry’s top execs to hear directly from them and to talk with them in a dedicated networking space. Forthcoming sessions include:
- Katie Benbow, Director of Strategy at BBC Studios
- Sarah Asante, Scripted Commissioning Editor, UKTV
- Mandy Chang, former-Creative Director, Undeniable, and previous BBC Storyville Commissioner
- Access exclusive career-enhancing Wonder Women masterclasses that cover a range of leadership topics taught by leading executive coaches and industry experts. Masterclasses currently include various topics such as:
- Unlocking Commissioning & Pitching for TV with UKTV’s Sarah Asante
- Confidence + Finding Your Voice with Anne Morrison
- The Business of Television with Orchard Studios Managing Director, Nicola Hill
- How to Network like a Ninja with Tracy Forsyth
- Storytelling: How to Push the Edges of Traditional Storytelling in TV with Hazel Marshall
- A vibrant Wonder Women Community, where members can network and connect with other Wonder Women members via the exclusive Community hub. The community makes networking easier, to expand industry relationships, hear about job opportunities and find support from industry peers, providing a space for members to approach each other directly.
- Access to early-bird tickets to Wonder Women’s inspirational live events, including the Wonder Women Conference at BAFTA and Wonder Women Live! which are annual sell-outs.
The launch marks a significant milestone for Wonder Women, which started seven years ago as a digital series, fronted by Wonder Women founder and television presenter Ria Hebden. As interest grew, Wonder Women expanded into live events, hosting the annual Wonder Women Live! and Wonder Women Conference, its podcast series and its annual year-long, nationwide mentoring programme.
Wonder Women founder Ria Hebden said: “Every time we host a Wonder Women event, it is reaffirmed just how important it is to have a strong, supportive network to get ahead in this industry. Our vibrant community provides support, inspiration, and shared wisdom, from some of the industry’s most influential and aspirational leaders. This next step of our offering, will support accessibility to thousands of women across the UK to be able to access year-round resources, delivered with the same premium quality of our live events in a new innovative way. It’s hugely exciting.
As the screen and creative industry crisis continues, with women in underrepresented and marginalised groups being affected disproportionately, we see the member site as a strategic intervention to help retain talent from leaving the industry. The growth of Wonder Women is testament to how much this positive digital space and the career development resources are needed to help empower women and boost their career progression.”
The Wonder Women Membership is available now. There are two memberships available: individual and corporate membership, where business leaders can purchase corporate membership for staff members, saving 20% when purchasing 5 or more memberships.
More information can be found here: https://www.wonderwomentv.com/become-a-member
The expansion follows the recent success of the Wonder Women Conference recently held for a second year in partnership with BAFTA, the leading charity and academy for the screen arts which assembled 20 highly influential female industry leaders, trailblazing talent, and on-screen talent from across the TV and creative industries sector for a day of panels, fireside chats, and masterclasses with over 200 delegates. Across the day, leaders, including Banijay UK’s Sarb Nijjer, Prime Video’s Tara Erer, Rogan Productions’ Soleta Rogan, Managing Director, UKTV’s Hilary Rosen, ITV’s Gemma John-Lewis and Amazon Studios UK’s Fozia Khan, discussed tackling the ongoing systemic issues that women from underrepresented and marginalised groups continue to face in the TV and screen industries and how to help women rise above the issues through creating space for collaboration and unity, increasing self-worth and providing a skills uplift.
To be able to continue to offer these invaluable commodities all year-round, the Wonder Women membership will enable the continued empowerment of women working in the screen industries.
Speaking at the Wonder Women Conference, echoing the need to provide a space for women to collectively come together and be empowered by inspirational leaders, leading industry figures said:
BAFTA-winning actor Anne-Marie Duff (Bad Sisters, Suffragette) said: “It’s such an extraordinary thing. We all really help each other. One of the many objectives is…what is it that we can offer each other that will help us all move forward? There is a lot of change happening. Obviously, there’s never a case of parity. It is predominantly one kind of person. But that said, there is movement forward. We’ve got to just keep working hard at it. And the more we make each other feel that we can, then we will. You have to have a very strong sense of self…remind yourself that what you bring to the table is extraordinary, because nobody else will have had that thought, because you are you, uniquely you.”
Speaking about Wonder Women, Tara Erer, Prime Video said: “Having something like this feels so inspiring, that there is a community that you belong to that says the same things, think the same things, but are not afraid to challenge each other. I feel very lucky that I get to be part of it. I feel very comfortable. Even if I don’t know someone, we’re in the same space. I think the fact that this exists as a place for us to come together, talk about real stuff, talk to have fun, enjoy each other’s company. It’s so special.”
Sarb Nijjer, COO at Banijay added: “I think this is a wonderful initiative, and that’s why Banijay supports Wonder Women. It’s about women coming together, that we can have a moment where we can celebrate each other, support each other and network. These kinds of events do a lot for freelancers and seeing diverse leaders. There are women talking about their journey and I think that’s really going to be inspiring for people. Ria does a great job in making it very inclusive.”
Founded in 2017 by television presenter Ria Hebden, Wonder Women was born out of an industry need to build a diverse and supportive community among women from underrepresented and marginalised groups and to share the collective wisdom from the most experienced women in Television and the Creative Industries. Wonder Women’s vision is to inspire, empower and connect the next generation of diverse, female leaders from all backgrounds and identities, through a unique, intersectional approach, that supports their professional and personal development. This is accomplished through a series of activities including the annual Wonder Women Live! and Wonder Women Conference live events, the inspirational Wonder Women TV podcast, the monthly online Wonder Women Power Hour session and a year-long, nationwide Wonder Women Mentoring Programme.
Wonder Women is a Community Interest Company (CIC), steered by an exceptional advisory board of female leaders: Studio Lambert’s Senior Production Accountant Nicole Marie Joseph, Orchard Studios MD Nicola Hill, Systemic Leadership Coach Remi Olajoyegbe, Media Relations Expert Sharon Ezzeldin, Legal Counsel Hayley Brady from Herbert Smith Freehills and Anne-Marie Douglas, Founder & Co-CEO Peer Power Youth.
For more information about Wonder Women please visit www.wonderwomentv.com