Celebrating Another Year of the Pour Moi Uplifting Women Awards!

On Thursday 18th May 2023 we hosted the second Pour Moi Uplifting Women Awards, and what an evening it was! Surrounded by an amazing group of women (and men!), including category finalists and their guests, the judges of the awards, influencers, and celebrities we celebrated the night Pour Moi style. Hosted at the Allbright Members Club in Mayfair, we kicked off the night with champagne and canapés. The second year of the Uplifting Women Awards was no different, we were all there to honour all the amazing women that are truly making a difference.

We’ve been a fan of disability advocate, speaker, model and former UWA judge Sandie Roberts for as long as we can remember, so of course we had to invite her back to present the Charitable Champion award. This year she presented the award to Lorraine Lewis, co-founder of the Lewis Foundation. Founded alongside her husband 7 years ago, the foundation sets out to provide care to adult cancer patients in many ways, but one way is through providing individuals with a gift.  A care package that might contain toiletries, puzzles, or a craft set, with the purpose to pass time or provide comfort. Lorraine and her team currently provide over 2,500 of these care packages month to 14 hospitals in the midlands. The award win is testament to all the work that Lorraine has done to provide care to people who need it most.

You may know her as a former Dragon on BBC’s Dragon’s Den and last year’s judge of the Extraordinary Entrepreneur award. We invited Sarah Willingham, one of the UK’s most successful female entrepreneurs and investors back again this year to present the award to Victoria Jenkins. With her background as a garment technologist, Victoria founded Unhidden, an adaptive clothing brand that not only caters for those with a physical disability but is also socially responsible. The made to order adaptive brand is the first of its kind to joining the British Fashion Council. Victoria has won multiple awards and regularly speaks on panels to promote equality in fashion. In April 2023 Unhidden was featured in British Vogue! We wanted to personally recognise Victoria on her work bringing equality to the fashion industry.

Of course, we couldn’t have the UWA without Pour Moi CEO & Founder Michael Thomson presenting the Pour Moi Loves award. This year Michael presented the award to Kat Paylor-Bent. Kat was selected as the Pour Moi Loves award winner because of the numerous hurdles she’s had to overcome. Now despite being fully wheelchair bound, Kat has turned her negative experience on its head and is now an advocate for the disabled community, entrepreneur, model, actor and public speaker. Driven by her love for people and life, Kat continues to support the community and bring awareness. On behalf of all the team at Pour Moi we wanted to acknowledge everything Kat has overcome; she is a true role model to all of us.

If you’re a fan of Married At First Sight UK, you’ll no doubt of heard of experienced sex therapy counsellor, relationship expert and life coach, Charlene Douglas. We invited her to the UWA to present the Young Rising Star award. This year Charlene presented the award to Danielle Gilbert. Danielle has lived with alopecia for most of her life but has used this to really challenge the beauty standards we see online and has now taken Instagram and TikTok by storm. Gaining popularity with the makeup tips and tutorials she was creating; Dani was then able to start raising awareness and spreading her confidence to others. This allowed Dani to launch her own range of Brow transfers and most recently DMuse, a wig company. Her award win is testament to how Danielle has been able to use what she’s been through as a positive force for change.

Gracing our screens and the radio waves for over 30 years, we welcomed award-winning broadcaster and household name, Vanessa Feltz to present the Inspiring Woman award. She presented the award to Jane Kenyon. With a passion for inspiring and empowering young girls, Jane founded the non-profit ‘Girls Out Loud’ Working with schools across the north-east with their mentoring scheme and having personally coached 100+ young girls and 200+ female entrepreneurs she continues to support local communities to change lives. Jane has also fundraised over one million pounds to run the organization so she can reach many more women and girls. A truly inspirational woman, we wanted congratulate Jane on her award win and her continued work on inspiring and empowering countless women.

On behalf of all the team at Pour Moi we wanted to give a huge congratulations to all the winners of the Uplifting Women Awards 2023 and a massive thank you to all finalists and nominees. It’s truly inspiring to hear all the amazing stories of women inspiring, empowering and truly making a difference not just in their own lives but to also everyone they connect with. But we’re not done there! Stay tuned for more exciting updates from the Pour Moi Uplifting Women Awards.