Steph (ex advertising gal) fell in love with açai ("ah-sah-ee") when she took off on a solo field trip to the Amazon Rainforest aged 25 to find out all about this mysterious 'superfood'. What she found was that pure, unaltered, premium-grade açai from the north of Brazil was a nutritional powerhouse; healthy omega fats (3,6 & 9), high in dietary fibre and one of highest scoring foods for antioxidants on the ORAC scale. Naturally, açai contains zero sugar and has a neutral, chocolatey flavour which is a characteristic that hadn't yet been promoted in the West - most products being diluted with sugary products and other additives. 

Steph felt compelled to tell the true story of açai and create a brand that sang of it's vibrant origin and nutritional brilliance. 

Boa Vida ('good life') is an advocate for consumption with purpose and sources açai directly from sustainably managed wild açai groves surrounding the Amazon river basin. Using traditional harvesting techniques helps to maintain the natural biodiversity of the forest, maintains a higher quality soil and ensures the sustainability of a diverse ecosystem within the Amazon rainforest. 

Steph and a team of local producers work on the ground during the annual harvest to produce BV's premium & organic range of açai products. You can find Boa Vida's frozen açai packs at Planet Organic and independents grocers across the UK. 

Look out for more products and new store listings in 2019! 

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Two Australian sisters launch a unique, inspiring event and meeting space in Amsterdam - their adopted home providing the city with something truly unique and personal. They quit their jobs and took a lease on a three story building; transformed it into an urban jungle, and are in their second year of business.

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Ariela was born and raised in The Valley of Los Angeles, California. She is the daughter and prodigy of Frances Kiradjian, one of the greatest female entrepreneurs in the travel and hospitality worlds. She grew up traveling the world at 6 months old and began attending conferences as young as 5 years old. She graduated from Oaks Christian High School in 2013 and then ventured to London and Heidelberg to study international business. Two years into college, she decided the most comprehensive and advantageous education she could get was from her mother, and in 2015 she became a full-time partner at The Boutique & Lifestyle Lodging Association. In 2017, Ariela and Frances Founded Stay Boutique, the brand that represents the Boutique Community through events, media, membership and travel guides. On June 6, 2018 Ariela introduced what is considered the world’s newest Industry, The Boutique Industry, where she concentrated the boutique niches of various industries to create one home for them. She and her mother are the leaders of the boutique movement, aiming to create the most inclusive industry in the world.

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Ally set up Brixton Finishing School, in conjunction with Marc Lewis at SCA2, a summer school for talented creative young people who were not able to make it to Uni. It was a fantastic scheme which she intends to run annually and which is receiving immense support from the creative industries. I was involved as a teacher and curriculum lead which was a fantastic experience and was in awe of Ally's vision and determination in getting the scheme up and running.

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Samantha is an outstanding voice for change, creativity, immersive technology and dinosaurs. She started Virtual Umbrella back in 2015, fighting off the adversity of being a woman balancing across the marketing and technology industries. 

Back in 2015, despite still establishing herself, she began working to uplift other women with the "Kickass Women of VR" interview series she wrote for Gadgette. In 2016, she co-founded the "VRGirls UK" group which spurred a growth of equality and representation groups and activities in the UK. Most recently she was part of the committee that wrote the "Vision for Women and Virtual Reality" (http://www.vwvr.org/)

In light of her numerous achievements, I think the thing that make Samantha most badass is that she continues to be kind. Whenever possible she'll lift someone else rather than take an opportunity for herself. She is constantly helping others rather than taking all the opportunities.

She's just a great person in general.

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Gabby is the founder of an amazing organisation, Bloody Good Period, which aims to create a sustainable supply of sanitary protection for those who can't afford to buy them. It is a brilliant effort to tackle period poverty.

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Fiona Grayson, 26, is the Founder of She can. She did. – a platform that through a series of down to earth interviews and networking events, is putting the spotlight on young women in their teens, twenties and thirties, who have dared to go solo and set up their own businesses throughout the UK.

Well aware that she was working her way up in a job that she was no longer passionate about and was hearing stories about many more women in the same position (ie. feeling frustrated and trapped by their current jobs with a recurring weekly dose of Sunday night dread..!), Fi walked away from her career as a Conference Producer aged 24 and launched She can. She did. in August 2017. She now spends her days planning events that bring like-minded young, female entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs under the same roof – She can. She did. – The Midweek Mingle being the result -  and travels the country interviewing them (usually over a large cup of coffee and a plate of biscuits!). Sharing their inspirational stories on She can. She did. her hope is to demystify what goes on behind the scenes to create a successful company sans the sugar coating and encourage more young women that they too can do the same (if they really set their minds to it and work damn hard!).

Fi holds a first class degree in International History and Politics from the University of Leeds and when she’s not typing away at the laptop, can be found head to toe in lycra on a big country run or on dog walks with her Golden Retriever, Hector!

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Sonya won a rising star award in the U.K. 2017 aged only 24, and has since founded Like Minded Females, a females network in London. The network is to encourage females to meet one another during monthly events, such as monthly brunches, support them through societal topics being discussed and expand their network to create a sisterhood. The network launched in March 18, has over 100 LinkedIn members, ran 3 sold out events for brunch and are being noticed by leaders creating change in the industry. This network is disruptive and happy to shout about their cause and build a community! She’s also secured the chairing gig at women in tech silicon roundabout 2018 and is being asked to travel world wide to lead panels, seminars and conferences. Sonya works as a solutions delivery manager for an analytics data firm called Merkle | Aquila and in her spare time, is a keen traveller, foodie and networker. I don’t know how this girl has so many hours in the day and is still smashing her day job and running a network!
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