We've scoured the UK to find the most inspirational innovators for Marie Claire's Women At The Top Awards, in association with Windows 10 and Freixenet. Meet Bridget Christie, one of the ten game-changers who have shaped 2015.
Winner of nine comedy awards since she started stand-up in 2003, including the Rose d’Or International, there’s no denying that Bridget Christie is at the top of her game. But it was her groundbreaking show A Bic For Her that really set the world alight. With a 54-date sell-out run and a best-selling book (titled A Book For Her, obviously), the comedian has tackled feminism, women’s rights and the advertising industry with unflinching honesty.
'Apparently, if you can make an audience laugh, they’re more likely to remember what you’ve said. I always downplay what I do, but once, two police officers came to my show and suggested I did a talk to male officers about how they should speak to female victims of assault. I was both flattered and horrified they thought I could be of some use.'
'My show, A Bic For Her, was the perfect storm. I inadvertently wrote a show about feminism when people wanted one. I never planned any of it, I just wrote about things that were important to me at the time. Malala Yousafsai had stood up to the Taliban on girls’ education rights in Pakistan, and won, and she was here, living in the UK – that was incredible, so I wrote about it.'
'It’s nice for your shows to be well received by the industry, but positive feedback from your audience is what it’s all about. The shows are for them, at the end of the day. It’s humbling to see the same people coming back every year.'
'As a female comedian who talks about gender politics, I am a sitting duck. And although online abuse is par for the course for any woman who dares to voice her opinions in public, it’s still not nice when you stumble across it.'
'If another female comedian asks me for advice, I just tell them to do it their own way. Their uniqueness is the thing that will make them stand out, and that is nothing to do with gender – that’s also the advice I’d give to a male comedian.'
Photograph by Alisa Connan