Businesses Celebrate International Women’s Day at Chamber event

The event aims to inspire and connect women in business across the North East and featured inspiring talks from leading businesswomen who demonstrated the impact of giving, honouring this year’s IWD theme – Give to Gain.

Alison Maynard, Deputy Principal for Curriculum at New College Durham, shared her career journey from student nurse to Inspiring Women in Business award winner, reinforcing the value of resilience, mentoring and taking risks.

Alison said: “A culture of trust, collaboration and shared ambition is important within a business. Growth without quality is meaningless, and leadership at this level is never down to one person, it’s about alliance.”

The IWD 2026 theme, Give to Gain, calls for a mindset rooted in generosity and collaboration.

Give to Gain highlights the power of reciprocity and support. When individuals, organisations and communities give generously and invest in women, opportunities expand, systems strengthen and societies thrive.

Alison said: “Give before you feel ready. Give yourself a chance and confidence will follow. Give others confidence and give yourself permission to grow bigger and take risks. You will gain a future far beyond the one you've imagined.”

She added: “When I look at my career I see moments when I chose to give, and every time I’ve gained something greater.”

Alison is a previous winner of a Chamber Inspiring Woman in Business award. On winning the award, Alison said: “The award recognises resilience, adaptability, courage and leadership. It recognises a woman that didn't follow a straight path but carved her own.”

Second speaker Catherine Marchant is CEO of event sponsor Impact Family Services, which offers support for domestic abuse survivors, and Connected Families CIC.

Catherine reflected on pivotal moments that shaped her career, including the importance of stepping out of her comfort zone and discovering what she was passionate about.

She said: “As a society we largely measure success by what we've got. But if we measure by what we give, about the time, energy, passion we give, then it would be a much better society, and we'd all gain so much more from that.”

Catherine added: “When you're in a charity it isn't just a job, our staff are changing lives every single day. The passion and difference we are making is just incredible.

“We are a small but strong team - 90 per cent of the team are women, at least half of which are survivors of domestic abuse.”

Event host Kay Carrick is Development Team Manager at St Cuthbert’s Hospice and Chair of the Chamber’s Women's Leadership and Social Equity Forum.

The forum exists to support and champion North East businesswomen and shape the Chamber’s inspiring women in business programme.

Kay said: “Based on feedback from members, the focus of the next forum will be corporate social responsibility and the impact businesses have on their local community.”

She added: “I am delighted this is something that the women working in the North East feel strongly about, together we can ensure that we make changes and increase impact. This will ensure that we have happy, healthy, productive workforces and communities.”

IWD is a global day celebrating the achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women's equality. IWD has occurred for over a century, with the first gathering in 1911 supported by more than a million people.

The Chamber’s Inspiring Women in Business Awards, set to open this summer, will celebrate the achievements of inspiring women across the North East and will take place on 27 November 2026.

The Inspiring Women in Business seminar, which supported St Cuthberts Hospice, was held at Grand Hotel Gosforth Park in Newcastle on 5 March.