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learn more about the be bold now 2025 london
Speakers
Lou Nylander
EVENT EMCEE
Marketing strategist and community builder with 18+ years of experience driving impact for global brands in digital advertising and media. As founder of Wildflowers of London, I've built a thriving 800+ member collective that empowers professional women, while leading global marketing teams at PubMatic, AOL/Huffington Post, and Unruly. I specialise in B2B marketing, revenue generation, and team leadership, with a proven track record of transforming complex propositions into compelling narratives that drive growth. Recognition includes Highly Commended for "Profit before Purpose" at Lloyds Business Banking Awards (2023), and serving as a Board Member at Pancreatic Cancer Action. Passionate about democratising marketing expertise and fostering inclusive cultures, I work as a trusted Fractional CMO for purpose-driven startups and scale-ups.
Gail Porter
She’s been famous, she’s been homeless, she’s been sectioned with two guys who both claimed to be Jesus. Life has certainly been eventful for Gail Porter. For the best part of a decade, Gail was one of the most ubiquitous faces on British television, presenting legendary shows like Top of the Pops and The Big Breakfast.
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Born and raised in Edinburgh, after graduating from college Gail moved into TV production, working as a runner, (which often included being an unpaid babysitter to the boss’s children), and all manner of low/no paid jobs as she learnt the craft of television. On the encouragement of a friend, Gail auditioned for a children’s television show in Scotland, and much to her surprise and consternation got the job. She swiftly made a name for herself in children’s television, presenting long-running shows Fully Booked, How 2 and Live & Kicking among others.
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A popular model alongside her television career, in 1999 a nude photo of Gail was projected onto the Houses of Parliament as a guerilla publicity stunt by a “lads mag” to promote their 100 sexiest women poll. The first Gail knew about it was when it was reported and became the topic of discussion on Newsnight, intensifying media interest in her private life.
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In 2004 Gail began presenting the paranormal TV series Dead Famous. It was during filming for the show that she began to suffer from alopecia totalis, causing her hair to fall out. The stress of this and the break-up of her marriage brought underlying mental health issues to the surface, ultimately leading her to be detained under the Mental Health Act.
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Since then Gail has been a vocal mental health advocate and championed many causes. In 2019 BBC Scotland made the documentary with her, Being Gail Porter, which went on to win a BAFTA. A regular attendee since she was a child, Hung Drawn & Portered was her debut show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2023. She’s since successfully toured this stand up show to critical acclaim.
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Gail is an ambassador for several charities and causes including the Samaritans.
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Eleanor Mills
Eleanor Mills is a campaigner, Founder, bestselling-author and award-winning journalist and editor. Her book Much More to Come: Lessons on the Mayhem and Magnificence of Midlife, published by HarperCollins in August 2024 is a Times bestseller and she is the founder of Noon.org.uk – a platform and community of women in midlife, she calls them Queenagers. Eleanor’s mission is to change the narrative around older women in our culture to something more positive and fit for purpose which befits their pioneering status. To do that she became an entrepreneur at 50 setting up noon.org.uk in 2021. Prior to that, for 23 years, Eleanor was a senior executive on The Sunday Times; the paper’s Editorial Director, award-winning Editor of The Sunday Times Magazine, a columnist and she has interviewed everyone from David Cameron and Theresa May to Sheryl Sandberg, Harry Styles and the Dalai Lama. She was Chair of Women in Journalism UK from 2014-2021. She still writes regularly across UK newspapers and magazines, gives regular keynotes for global corporations on gendered-ageism and getting to gender parity and runs programmes within companies to help them retain their Queenager talent.
Stacey Delaney
Stacey Delaney is the Managing Director for UK and Northern Europe at Taboola, the world’s leading performance platform. She collaborates with brands, agencies, and advertisers to facilitate customer acquisition and drive outcomes at scale while supporting publishers with their revenue and audience goals.
As a member of the EMEA leadership team, she takes an active role in fostering an inclusive environment for all employees, particularly advocating for underrepresented communities. Stacey is a passionate advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion. She actively champions initiatives that support women and LGBTQ+ professionals in the workplace. As the founder of Taboola Pride, the company’s LGBTQ+ employee resource group, and a dedicated mentor at Bloom, she is committed to fostering a more inclusive industry.
Kareen Griffiths
Kareen is an Award Winning Mindfulness exxpert and Mindful DJ and she will be bringing a music mindfulness experience to our event. She loves delivering engaging, vibrant mindfulness sessions that help audiences to find calm and focus on what matters most in their personal and working life. Her work has taken her to events all over the country, such as the Manchester Mindfulness Festival, London’s Stylist Restival, Mind Body Spirit Festival as well as playing at retreats abroad in Turkey and Spain. She has been featured in Women's Health, Huffington Post, Stylist Magazine and The Guardian.
As someone who has a passion for music and at its core, its about bringing people together through the joy of sound and using it as a tool to promote mindfulness and a space to be more self-aware and emotionally empowered. Kareen brings fun, creativity and passion to every event to create a safe space for all and is dedicated to helping others find inner calm so that they can thrive in life.
Mae Yip
Mae is the co-founder of ERIC, an award-winning creative careers app supporting over 140,000 young people, built from her own experience of receiving poor career guidance. Starting with no networks or funding experience, she’s raised nearly £1 million and navigated the challenges of being a female founder in a male-dominated space. Mae is passionate about breaking barriers and inspiring more women to start their own businesses--because when women succeed, the world becomes a better place.
Katy Fridman
Katy Fridman built a successful career in senior leadership roles at Centaur Communications, Thomson Reuters, and Microsoft. However, during her first maternity leave, her role was made redundant—at a time when flexible working options were scarce. Frustrated by the lack of opportunities that would allow her to continue the career she loved on more flexible terms, she realized she wasn’t alone.
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Determined to drive change, Katy founded Flexible Working People in 2018. What began as a grassroots movement has since grown into a highly engaged community of over 100,000 people, united by a shared mission: to transform the world of work and support individuals on their flexible working journey.
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Today, Flexible Working People is more than just a community—it’s a leading talent and career support platform. It connects businesses with exceptional talent for part-time and flexible roles while also helping individuals return to work after career breaks, navigate career changes, and transition into self-employment.
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As a respected thought leader, Katy is a passionate advocate for flexible working and gender equality in the workplace, regularly speaking on these topics to drive awareness and action. Her insights and expertise have been featured in The Times, The Guardian, and The Huffington Post, cementing her position as a leading voice in the future of work conversation. She has also spoken at major industry events and has been a panelist at numerous high-profile discussions on the evolving workplace.
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Cécile Douillard
Cécile has a 25-year career in advertising. She is currently the Chief Growth Office, Board Member of technology company specialised in content automation and champion for women experiencing endometriosis.
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Alongside her professional career, Cécile has been volunteering with various non-profit organisations for nearly 15 years.
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She has battled with endometriosis since the age of 12 and waited 18 years for a diagnosis. This has led her to found endOF (www.endof.org), a charity focused on supporting women with chronic pain. During her 4 years leading the charity, Cécile and her team of trustees and volunteers worked to promote the idea that exercise can help manage both physical pain and mental health. The charity’s initiatives included launching a London-based running club for women living with chronic pain, raising awareness through PR and running events, producing two series of a podcast, and leading clinical research on the impact of cardiovascular exercise on hormone levels in endometriosis sufferers (published by BASEM).
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More recently, Cécile volunteered for the Women’s Health Taskforce within a leading global advertising agency, where she worked to implement policies and protect women in the workplace.
Felicity Ashley
Felicity Ashley is an inspiring speaker, mindset coach, and corporate strategist dedicated to helping teams and leaders navigate change, build resilience, and achieve extraordinary success. With a 20-year career in blue-chip marketing, she combines business acumen with real-world experience to empower professionals in overcoming challenges and fostering high-performance cultures.
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Her philosophy—"Mindset over Matter"—is more than a belief; it’s a way of life. Felicity has lived this firsthand, from leading in the corporate world to rowing 3,000 miles across the Atlantic while unknowingly battling cancer. As a working mother of three, she understands the demands of balancing professional ambition with personal responsibilities, making her insights both relatable and actionable.
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Felicity has worked with leading organizations such as Barclays, Aston Martin, Centrica, Baringa, GSK, and Ofcom. Her expertise has been featured on BBC South, BBC Sport, Lorraine, and The Telegraph.
Susana
Valverde Solano
Susana Valverde Solano is the Co-Lead of the Be Bold Girls UK program, where she passionately drives initiatives to empower young girls age 12-17 through workshops relevant to their asks and needs.
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In her day job, Susana serves as a New Business Account Director at Microsoft Advertising. In this role, she leverages her expertise to develop and manage strategic partnerships, driving growth and innovation for clients that have never used Microsoft Advertising before.
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Laura Boland
Laura Boland is the UK Program Co-Lead of Be Bold Girls, where she works to empower the next generation by amplifying the voices of secondary school girls through inspiring, skill-building workshops. In her day job she is a Client Solutions Manager at Microsoft Advertising providing tailored advertising solutions to help clients meet their business goals and get them most out of their investment in the Microsoft network.