The Woman Who...

From the age of 10 Sharmadean knew what she wanted to be when she grew up: a woman who was in charge of her own destiny. Fast forward 20 years and now as a seasoned businesswoman and founder of the wildly successful female networking platform, The Stack World, Sharmadean has not only found her calling, she’s helping thousands of women to find theirs. In this episode we look at the rise of one of Britain’s most inspirational black female entrepreneurs: from the runaway success of her WAH nail salons to the conception of beauty booking platform Beautystack, to the inexorable rise of The Stack World; Sharmadean is on a crusade to raise all women up to higher ground. 

At the turn of the century, whilst wealthy women were preoccupied with socially acceptable pursuits such as needlework and gossip, Irish journalist Lilian Bland was busy hunting, fishing, practising jujitsu…and building her own plane. In this episode we uncover how a postcard from her uncle inspired the unconventional and fearless Lilian to construct The Mayfly (as in it may fly) the first plane in the world to be built and flown by a woman.

From working class primary school teacher to international fashion icon, Westwood’s rebellious style has made her a defining force of British style and culture for over 50 years. In this episode we’ll discover how Westwood burst onto the scene with her shop SEX in late 70s and how her provocative designs helped to define the punk scene, eventually cementing her place as an architect of British cultural history.

Ellen Terry was the most celebrated actress of her age. Starting as a child actress in the late 1800s Ellen went on to steal the limelight in dozens of theatre productions in the UK and America. Terry was a leading lady for over 30 years but her private life was almost as colourful as her professional one. In this episode we explore the remarkable life of one of Britain’s first celebrities - unlucky in love but adored by the masses. 

In 1960s London, the publishing industry was a closed shop until Margaret Busby came along and started making waves. In this episode we discover the remarkable story of Britain’s first black female publisher who after meeting her business partner at a party, set up the A&B publishing house, and went on to launch the careers of dozens of writers, and over the next 40 years becoming one of the most influential publishers in the UK.

As one of the first female barristers in the 1920s, Helena Normanton blazed a trail through the courts. The first woman to lead a case at the high court, the first woman to obtain a divorce for her client, the first to prosecute a murder trial. And in this episode we discover how Helena’s achievements improved the lives of generations of women despite a hostile press and suspicious male colleagues who threatened to scupper her meteoric rise.

Cookery and competition aren’t easy skills to master but Ruth Hansom has perfected both in her brief but stellar cooking career. In this episode we’ll be turning up the temperature as we explore the rise of one of Britain’s youngest cooking prodigies: from cookery contests as a teenager to working at the Ritz, creating ‘makeaways’ during the pandemic to running her own kitchen. And all of it before the age of 25.

Without Daphne Oram, most of the music we hear today would not exist. Through her ground breaking sound experiments working as a BBC Studio Engineer in the 1950s Daphne became the founding mother of electronic music. And in this episode we discover how a mystical experience set her on the path to musical greatness and how the establishment resisted her progress every step of the way...

Michaela Coel is a creative force to be reckoned with. Award winning screenwriter, actor, producer, singer, and with her genre shattering TV series ‘I May Destroy You’ she is also a distinctive voice who has made audiences on both sides of the pond, sit up and take notice. In this episode we’ll discover how a shy young girl from East London made history as the first black woman to win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series and who turned down a million dollar deal so she could keep creative control.

These days hundreds of fashion brands compete for our attention…and our business, but in the early 1900s there was one name in women’s fashion that had truly global appeal. The label was Lucile, and the woman behind this burgeoning couture empire was Lucy Christiana. 

In the first instalment of this series we discover how a penniless single mother rose to become the foremost fashion designer of her day, how she dreamed up the pre-cursor to the modern fashion show and how a fateful trip aboard The Titanic almost cut her career short.