'PHENOMENAL WOMEN'
A SERIES OF TALKS AT THE GAINSBOROUGH BATH SPA

Following the success of the 2018 & 2019 'Phenomenal Women' events, The Gainsborough Bath Spa is proud to announce the return of the series for 2020.

The talks will take place between January and November 2020, and will be delivered by a high profile businesswoman who has innovated in her field and achieved widespread recognition. Each woman will talk about the obstacles and lessons she has experienced on her route to success.

Price £15.00. All guests will be welcomed with a glass of Prosecco and a selection of canapés.

The next Phenomenal Woman:



Jessica Siggers
Digital Content Creator

26th March 2020 18:00 – 19:30

The second in the series for 2020 features Jessica Siggers (aka Porthjess). Jess is a Digital Content Creator, social media Community Manager and photographer. Jess helped launch an Instagram community for fellow Bristolian photographers- IGers Bristol–working with the Bristol tourism board and local businesses to promote Bristol’s photography to a global audience. After this, Jess began receiving offers of content creation work from the likes of Pret A Manger, Farrow & Ball, Canon, 02 & Toyota and was featured by the BBC, Time Out, The Chromologist, The Guardian & Mollie Makes magazine. Following a couple of years in the travel sector creating content for BMI, Hilton, National Express, Visit Britain and Mercure Hotels among others, Jess has returned to focussing on her true love–Bristol–and is an Ambassador for Destination Bristol and Bristol Social Media Week.

Book your ticket for this talk



Coming soon:



Vashti Seth
Microfinance campaigner & founder of crowdfunding charity Deki

7th May 2020 18:00 – 19:30

Vashti is an award winning social entrepreneur, visionary and global changemaker with a passion for using business to create positive change.

Inspired by a Tibetan refugee Vashti founded Deki, a pioneering charity that was the first microfinance crowd funding website in the UK. The Bristol based charity has changed the lives of over 60,000 people and currently works in 5 African countries. After 8 years as CEO, Vashti now sits on the board of trustees. Vashti has worked with local, national and international businesses to increase and measure their positive impact.

Vashti has won numerous high profile awards, such as Bristol and Bath’s Business Woman of the Year, IOD’s Third Sector Director of the Year and she has received Honorary MBA from the University of West of England for her commitment to community and entrepreneurship.

Book your ticket for the talk




Natalie Fee
Environmentalist & founder of City to Sea

18th June 2020 18:00 – 19:30

Natalie Fee is an award-winning environmentalist, author, speaker and founder of City to Sea, a UK-based organisation running campaigns to stop plastic pollution at source. In 2018 Natalie was listed as one of the UK’s ‘50 New Radicals’ by The Observer / Nesta and in the same year the University of the West of England awarded her the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science in recognition of her campaign work. She won the Sheila McKechnie Award for Environmental Justice in 2017 for City to Sea's #SwitchtheStick campaign and is proud to have been named Bristol 24/7’s Woman of the Year for 2018.

Her latest book, How to Save the World for Free (Lawrence King Publishing) was released in October 2019.

Book your ticket for the talk




Sado Jirde
Director of Black South West Network

8th July 2020 18:00 – 19:30

Since the moment of her appointment as Director, Sado Jirde has been working on raising BSWN's profile to a leading organisation in addressing race equality and socio-economic systemic barriers to inclusion through high level stakeholder engagement, including the Mayor's Office, LEP, the Universities and others. In doing so, she has been instrumental in the reshaping of the BAME Voluntary sector through the introduction of pioneering development infrastructure to maximise under-utilised assets and build social enterprises capacity. For the past 5 years, Sado has worked towards the development of a placed-based approach to inclusive economic growth, culminating in the design of a BAME Enterprise Hub that features in Bristol City Council’s Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Growth Strategy. In addition, Sado has built strong relationships with funders and stakeholders taking BSWN’s turnover from just under 50K in 2016 to over 300k in 2019. The AMR fellowship would allow Sado to explore the potential of BSWN to move forward as an innovative, technology-driven social enterprise, with a focus on driving economic and social inclusion and diversifying BSWN’s income.

Book your ticket for the talk



“It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.”

~ Maya Angelou


About Business West
A not-for-profit company with 200 staff and a turnover of £12 million, Business West aims to make this area the best place to live, learn and work. 21,000 businesses trust us to help them start, grow, innovate and export - as well as lobby government on their behalf. All profits made are reinvested back into the business in order to achieve our mission. Business West is delighted to be one of the partners of the Phenomenal Women series. About The Gainsborough Bath Spa

The 99-room, five star hotel is ideally located in the heart of the city close to the historical attractions, shopping and restaurant districts, and directly opposite Thermae Bath Spa. The UK’s only hotel to have exclusive access to the natural thermal waters, this historic property is located just a five-minute walk from the Bath Spa train station. In 2018 The Gainsborough Bath Spa was ranked as the top hotel in the UK by the AA. Dan Moon at The Gainsborough Restaurant has achieved three AA rosettes, and features in Tatler’s Restaurant Guide’s top 100 restaurants in the UK.

About Bath Business News
Bath Business News highlights the creative, innovative and entrepreneurial businesses - and those supporting them - in the UK’s leading ‘city of ideas’. Our aim is to showcase the area’s fastest growing and most innovative businesses along with the individuals behind them in sectors ranging from technology and creative/media to finance, law and property

We deliver breaking news, information and analysis through our website, our weekly e-bulletin and special publications. Bath Business News’ strong reputation is based on the fact that we are editorially independent and owned and produced by experienced business journalists working in the West of England.

For more information on our Phenomenal Women events, contact marketing@thegainsboroughbathspa.com