International Women’s Day: Let’s Hear it for the Girls!

We all know that women run the world. We lobby for human rights, capture history through a lens, produce, perform, feed the world, save animals, raise children… you get the picture. At Sassy Mama, every day is International Women’s Day so when TEDxWanchaiWomen launched a campaign to highlight inspirational women in Hong Kong we couldn’t wait to raise these women up even higher and celebrate all their hard work.

TEDx is a global movement devoted to bringing Ideas Worth Spreading to communities around the world and TEDxWanchai Women will be hosting lots of events this coming year! Stay tuned to Sassy Mama for event info so you can attend the talks. Now, without further ado… drumroll please… here are a few highlighted speakers from TEDxWanchaiWomen who are inspiring us to be bigger and better every day!

Archanca Kotecha is a counter-trafficking expert, activist and a UK qualified barrister who kicks ass in court to stop human trafficking. She spent seven years as a corporate lawyer with KPMG and DLA Piper before joining the UN Refugee Agency’s Legal Protection Team in London. She’s currently Head of Legal at Liberty Asia where she has been instrumental in lobbying, advising and shedding light on the reality of human trafficking. We love that she is educating financial institutions, NGOs and everyone around the world about human trafficking and more importantly, what can be done to end it.

Lori Granito is the founder of Go Gourmet Catering, Magnolia Private Kitchen and Kitchen Sync, and the co-founder of Little Burro. Well known for her hearty food, warm personality and entrepreneurship, Lori has touched many people’s lives in Hong Kong through her businesses. She’s credited with bringing Cajun and Creole cuisine to Hong Kong with Bayou Catering and restaurant in 1993 and has a long list of accolades to her name including the 2013 and 2014 Sassy Hong Kong award for Favourite Private Kitchen. You can read more about Lori in our That Mama interview too! When faced with a crisis Lori follows the wise mantra, “Just keep swimming!”.

Jo Farrell is an award-winning black and white photographer and cultural anthropologist who spent the last eight years unbinding women’s stories about their bound feet and lives during the Cultural Revolution and famine in China. Her work captures traditions and cultures that are dying out and she’s won awards including a Jacob Riis Award, Black and White Spider Award and more. Her solo exhibitions spanned Europe and the United States and her images have been published internationally. We love her website and can spend hours looking through the beautiful black and white pictures.

Meaghan McGurgan is an award-winning theatre Director and Designer and Editor of HKELD. She’s also the Artistic Director for Shakespeare in the Port. Meaghan relocated to the ‘Kong in 2008 to teach drama to special needs and at risk youth in the city and noticed the lack of art criticism in Hong Kong. Instead of performing to an audience that clapped on command she set up HKELD, which is now Hong Kong’s number one theatre blog. We are big fans of her enthusiasm and infectious bubbly personality and love how she’s changing the art landscape at the speed of light.

Su-Mei Thompson is the CEO of The Women’s Foundation (find out how you can support the foundation here!), a non-profit organisation dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls in Hong Kong. She’s responsible for strategic planning, donor relations, overseeing grants and programmes, government relations and community outreach. An alumnus of Cambridge, Oxford and IMD graduate where she was the first woman to graduate on the Dean’s List, she began her career as a Corporate Finance Associate at Linklaters in London before holding senior management positions at the Walt Disney Company, the Financial Times and Christie’s. She is a member of the Equal Opportunities Commission, non-executive director of HKEx-listed Natural Beauty Bio-technology Limited, an advisory board member of Intelligence Squared Asia, a board member of Opera HK and a corporate board member of The Cheltenham Ladies College (phew!). In addition Su-Mei writes on women’s issues for the South China Morning Post and speaks at forums and summits frequently. We’re big fans of the work she does empowering women in Hong Kong while taking care of her little ones!

I’d love to know who inspires you too! Get in touch by emailing me at dervla@sassymediagroup.com with a picture and paragraph of the fab female in your life who you think is an unsung hero that makes Hong Kong a better place. Looking forward to hearing from you!