Katie Buckingham, founder of Altruist Enterprises, has been selected in recognition of her personal contribution to society to join 450 women from all walks of life at the special 60th Women of the Year Lunch.
This year’s event will take place on Monday 13 October 2014 at the InterContinental London Park Lane Hotel. The 2014 Women of the Year Lunch sponsors are Barclays, DFS, Good Housekeeping, ITV’s Lorraine and Prudential.
Katie is attending in celebration of her work raising awareness and reducing the stigma attached to mental health.
She is the founder and director of Altruist Enterprises , a company which she set up during her time at the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy. The social enterprise provides mental wellbeing training to businesses and local authorities, to help them identify and support employees with stress and mental health problems. At the age of 17, she set up WATS mental health? a youth project to help raise awareness of mental health amongst young people aged 11-19. This project is now run as part of Altruist and profits made from work with businesses are re-invested into the WATS programme. Katie has worked closely with various charities and organisations including Solihull Council, Young Minds and Time to Change as well as mental health services such as Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
She comments, “I am passionate about tackling the stigma attached to mental health and noticed there was a gap in the market for the training and services Altruist Enterprises provide for businesses and local authorities.
“I feel honoured to be attending the Women of the Year Lunch this October and still can’t believe how Women of the Year found out about me and my work. I’m really looking forward to meeting the other attendees and winners.”
Women of the Year has recognised, celebrated and inspired women of all backgrounds since 1955 and continues to shine a light on extraordinary women through an annual lunch, lecture and on-going foundation work. The annual Lunch brings together more than 450 extraordinary women, all of whom have achieved something of significance. Each guest is regarded as a ‘Woman of the Year’ and represents not only herself, but the millions of women who make a difference every day.
Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, President of Women of the Year, said: “The significance of this year’s Lunch is that it marks 60 years of recognising and celebrating women who have made remarkable achievements. Each attendee and every award winner is special and deserves every ounce of recognition for not only their success, but also their determination to make a real difference.”
Previous attendees of the Women of the Year Lunch have included actresses Olivia Colman and Sheila Hancock CBE; broadcaster and writer Sandi Toksvig; writer and Children’s Laureate Malorie Blackman OBE; Founder of The Everyday sexism Project Laura Bates and TV presenter and journalist Baroness Joan Bakewell OBE.
Exceptional women will receive special awards at the Lunch for being an inspiration to others, demonstrated by their courage, selflessness and dedication. These special Women of the Year award winners will be announced on Monday 13 October 2014.
The Women of the Year judging panel includes a variety of inspirational women including TV presenter and campaigner Esther Rantzen CBE, comedian Sandi Toksvig, journalist Sue MacGregor CBE and several previous winners.
Read her blog on Amazing Day at the Women of the Year Awards.