Female empowerment and career success up for discussion at IWD Conference & Expo 2025

Future Faces manager Sophie Poduval-Morrell recently hosted a panel on young professional women at the IWD Conference and Expo, held at Millenium Point.

Founded and organised by Kasim Choudhry, President of Future Faces and non-exec director of ThinkFest, and Edwin Ladd, it is the largest IWD Conference in the UK and is now in its second year of running.

The event featured a range of panel discussions across the day as well as a free to attend expo hosted by Belinda Kaur.

Sophie hosted the panel on young professional women, centred around empowering girls for career success, the importance of self-care, being authentic, and what is it like to be in a male-dominated industry. The panel included the voices of Nadia Johnstone-Smith, Ibukun Oluleye, Freya Dearman and Ebony Belle.

Nadia Johnstone-Smith is a Private Client & COP Adviser at Quilter Cheviot Financial Planning, as well as last year’s winner of Finance category at the Greater Birmingham Young Professional of the Year Awards.

Ibukun Oluleye is brand executive at Tribera, helping clients to learn about all things to do with brand and strategy.

Freya Dearman is a future trainee solicitor at Lewis Silkin, as well as current vice-president of the Future Faces executive committee.

Ebony Belle is a mental health nurse and practitioner, specialist mentor, founder of Belle-Being, and senior manager at Vision For All CIC.

Ebony said:  "Being a part of the panel was a powerful reminder that our voices and stories drive real change. For me, International Women’s Day isn’t just about celebrating our achievements—it’s about embracing the challenges, championing mental well-being, and building inclusive spaces where every young professional feels empowered to lead. I left feeling heard and uplifted." 

Speaking about hosting the panel, Sophie said: “It was an honour to host a panel of such a diverse range of female young professionals, from legal to well-being, finance and marketing. All our panellists had a different prospective to bring when it comes to advice for aspiring young professional females, but the main message that stood out to me was being truly authentic to who you are whilst lifting each other as we climb that career ladder.”

Listen to the live recording of the panel HERE, kindly supplied by founders and organisers of the IWD Conference & Expo.