International Women's Day 2025
Celebrating Women’s Achievements and Empowering the Future
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At Inspiring Women Network (IWN), we are thrilled to celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD), an annual global event that acknowledges and honours the extraordinary achievements and contributions of women worldwide. This year’s celebration will be a time to reflect, recognise, and empower women from all walks of life.
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Our IWD Gala: A Celebration of Strength, Success, and Sisterhood
Our IWD Gala is IWN’s main fundraising event of the year. But more than just a fundraiser, it’s a community celebration. The evening will bring together women from various backgrounds, professions, and experiences, all united by one common goal: empowering women and recognising their achievements.
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Throughout the event, we will honour those who have made a significant impact in their communities and professions. Whether they’ve overcome adversity, achieved greatness in their careers, or simply worked tirelessly to support and uplift others – these remarkable women inspire us all.
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So join us on Saturday 8th March at Chacewater Village Hall for an evening of connection, inspiration, and empowerment.
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Keynote Speaker: Gillian Burke
Gillian is a biologist, presenter and writer, known for her work on BBC Springwatch. She is now the host of If I Ruled the World, the system change podcast that explores how to make the world a fairer place. Whether it’s from the natural or human world, Gillian is fascinated with the universal themes of struggle and loss, defeat and victory, resistance and resilience – this is where her passion for science, soul, and storytelling resides.
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Having earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Bristol, Gillian pursued a career in natural history filmmaking, working her way up the ranks from researcher to producer/director on several Animal Planet and Discovery Channel series, before crossing to be in front of the camera in her mid-40s (a late bloomer).
Keynote Speaker: Bhavna Raithatha
Bhavna is passionate about working with individuals, leadership, HR advisors and EAPS and has helped organisations address their well-being strategies by creating happy, safe and nurturing environments where both employees and the company can thrive.​
She is a highly experienced and accomplished BACP accredited Psychotherapist, Keynote Speaker and Author who has helped over 60,000 individual and business clients with professional coaching support and training.
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Bhavna is also the author of Driven:The Audacity to Thrive in Entrepreneurship - Navigating and Redefining Well-being in Your Business and Life, written especially for business owners navigating the tumultuous world of Entrepreneurship to help them thrive and succeed in their ventures.
Performer: Jessica Quiñones
​Dr. Jessica Quiñones is both an International Flautist (USA born) and a UKCP reg. Music Industry Psychotherapist. Her 25+ years as a professional flautist, teacher and academic have taken her to perform for audiences around the world- from playing at London's esteemed conservatories to Bollywood in Mumbai to Tango in Buenos Aires.
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Dr. Quiñones currently resides in Cornwall where she has an active studio teaching flautists of every musical level and background. In addition, she also has a private psychotherapy practice supporting musicians from all corners of the globe navigate the personal complexities of their artistry.
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For her performance, Dr Quiñones has said the following:
"For the Inspiring Women Network Gala, I am absolutely thrilled to be performing beautifully evocative flute music - written by a global line-up of female composers. Although musical works written by females have often been marginalised in the classical world, I will bring these pieces to life and out of the shadows to shine as we celebrate International Women's Day. The themes of the pieces performed will hold space to celebrate one's homeland, spirituality, and inner landscapes. Let me offer you a feast of colourful sounds, textures and musical shapes in which to immerse yourself."
Performer: Acappella Sound
Acappella Sound are a fun, vibrant and contemporary female acappella harmony group. Meeting at Ladock once a week we practice and perfect mostly 4 part harmony arrangements. We like to sing contemporary songs such as Flowers by Miley Cyrus, Grace Kelly by Mika and Shallow by Lady Gaga, as well as a few older and more classic songs such as Bohemian Rhapsody.
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Most Acappella choruses are highly competitive and hold auditions for ladies to become members, we prefer a more inclusive system and allow everyone who enjoys singing to partake. This hasn’t held us back, in fact it has given us added community pride and allowed us to walk away with trophies from many competitions. We are class winners in barbershop, ladies choir and overall Choir champions for Cornwalls Music festival for 2 years running.
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MC: Louise Canham
By day, Louise teaches English and maths to refugees, asylum seekers and settled migrants and is the ESOL lead at Truro College.​
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While passionate about her job, she equally loves her downtime, spending it swimming, singing and sipping tea with friends.
Sponsor IWD Gala 2025
For just £100, you will receive an A5 page in our programme and give you a shout-out on all our social media platforms, putting you in front of a wide, engaged audience who supports women’s empowerment, culture and diversity, and community initiatives.
Or maybe you'd like to sponsor our special Inspirational Woman of the Year Award?
Show your support by sponsoring this award and offering a beautiful prize to the deserving recipient, like a mini weekend break, spa voucher, or any other thoughtful token that will make her feel appreciated and valued!
This is your chance to:
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Make a meaningful impact on women’s empowerment
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Get your brand in front of an amazing audience
Interested in sponsoring IWD 2025 ? You can contribute straight away via our website, or email us: contact@inspiringwomennetwork.co.uk.
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