Miriam Gonzalez Durantez is heading up an inspiring mentoring campaign for young women.
Almost 200 women arrived at the Tate Modern's Inspiring Women In the Arts event, a speed networking event in association with BAFTA which connected successful and inspiring women with 850 state schoolgirls who aspire to work in the arts. So far the campaign has recruited over 15,000 mentors for schoolgirls.
The event was headed up by founder Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, lawyer, wife of Nick Clegg and all-round amazing woman, who will also be speaking at Marie Claire's very own @ Work Live event in June. Other mentors included Amanda Berry, CEO of BAFTA, Kelly Hoppen MBE, The Miniaturist author Jessie Burton and many more.
Miriam González Durántez had this to say about the event: 'The fact that so many talented women from all different areas of the Arts have come to give up their time to speed date with the girls today is just another sign of the strength of the UK Arts worldwide.'
'This is not the end of this campaign. We want to have more volunteers - it's only the very first step, and we want all your ideas on how to make the campaign better... I have spent the last year and a half travelling across the country, telling girls that they should fight for their dreams.'
Amanda Berry OBE, Chief Executive of BAFTA said: 'The arts, including the art forms of the moving image, offer an exciting range of roles that should be available to anyone, regardless of gender or background. We are highlighting a number of careers, including areas where women are particularly under-represented across Film, Television and Games.'
The national Inspiring Women campaign is asking women to pledge one hour a year to change young lives by volunteering to talk with girls in school.
Looking for more career inspo? It's not too late to book tickets for Marie Claire's @ Work Live, in association with Karen Millen. A one-day event on 13 June 2015, featuring advice, tips and inspiration from incredible speakers, including Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, Claudia Winkleman, Made.com's Chloe Macintosh, Decoded's Kathryn Parsons and Marie Claire's editor in chief, Trish Halpin amongst others. Book your place here.