Dozens of Kiwi women - and a few males - gathered at the New Zealand High Commission in central London on March 6th for our International Women’s Day event.

Run by the New Zealand Business Women’s Network and KEA New Zealand, this year’s event championed the theme #EmbraceEquity and encouraged attendees to explore what equity means in our everyday lives. 

After an opportunity for our guests  to mix and mingle, a panel of inspirational Kiwi Wāhine Toa explored what the theme meant to them in their respective fields.

Sometimes it takes two shots at London, before you find the fit that feels right. Just ask Molly Woods, 31, a high-flying lawyer from Hastings, New Zealand, now partner at the renowned law firm Ashurst. Molly practises multinationally on mergers and acquisitions, equity capital market transactions and corporate restructurings. Her promotion to partnership at Ashurst in May 2022, after just over five years with the company, means London now feels exactly the right place for her to be.

After studying politics and law at Victoria University in Wellington, Molly worked as a solicitor for top-tier Kiwi law firm Bell Gully, an experience she credits as being “absolutely foundational”. “In a market that's smaller, you take on senior responsibilities faster than over here, yet with incredibly-experienced, brilliant, qualified people as your first teachers and trainers”, she explains. 

Olympic champion rower Grace Prendergast is ready for a new chapter, having put down her oars for the last time in her professional sporting career to pursue a life outside of sport.

Speaking from her home in south-west London, where she moved late last year, Grace says launching herself into this new phase of her life is both “exciting” and “terrifying”. 

Grace, 30, won gold in the coxless pair alongside Kerri Gowler at the Tokyo Games in 2021  - her second Olympics - as well as claiming silver in the eights. She won her first of 15 national titles in 2011 and finished her career at the top of her game, coming first in the Women’s Pair in the 2022 World Rowing Championships.