Top Women in EV May 2025 - Inspiring Retention and Inclusion of Female Talent

Look, I already know what you're thinking - a perfect event for me to attend given my passion and experience in this industry. So, when I was asked to attend Top Women in EV, hosted by Green.TV, I really couldn't say no!

As a product marketer in the industry, I've seen so much talent come and go, and sometimes forgotten. These are often brilliant minds with phenomenal intuition that have been overlooked in their careers. It's no longer the turn of the 20th Century where a career for a woman was increasingly limited - women and gender expansive people are genuinely desiring a fulfilling career to help provide a sense of purpose, community and skill expansion.

So, whether you are in the EV and automotive space, or in any other industry, what do events like these look like and how do they encourage collaboration and connection in just a few hours? Well, I have your answers!

Celebrating excellence and allyship

Top Women in EV is designed to uplift and inspire talent within the automotive industry, and that means celebrating excellence across all walks of the industry. Similarly, it's about recognising allyship for others too - particularly those who advocate for both equality and equity.

The day started with a talk on how to inspire Diversity, Equity and Inclusion within the workplace, as well as how to ensure everyone has a voice. It's important to remember that boasting a gender balance is all well and good, but hiring a range of diverse individuals doesn't mean you tick the box. You have to practice what you preach, which includes ensuring equal pay, standing up against challenging perspectives and understanding some of the root causes behind issues.

The conversation swiftly lead into some of the benefits companies will see by diversifying their talent pool, and some core skills that many women possess. As the next talk was around retaining female talent, it was the perfect canapé discussion before we were lead onto our starters.

Retaining and attracting female talent

After a session around DEI, we were guided to a panel discussion around ways to retain and attract female talent within the industry. Now, these weren't "carrot-dangling" tactics, these were genuine examples many of the panellists had utilised and implemented across their workplaces, as well as some initiatives they were pushing for at their work.

Now, there are some obvious considerations to help attract female talent, particularly around equal pay and advanced maternity pay, but one thing this event made clear was that their counterparts had to benefit too. Equality is great, but equity is the goal after all.

Whilst I'm a big advocate for encouraging more women to enter the automotive industry, I'm an even firmer believer in the opportunities that diversity offers. It's not just about building a solid workforce, but a workforce that enables different perspectives to thrive and a variety of voices to be listened to. You can also enhance collaboration when you bring different minds together, whether that's female, male or gender expansive, LGBTQIA+, neurodiverse, disabled, cultural, race etc. Everyone has a perspective that is hugely valid.

So one of the greatest things for us in this industry is ensuring everyone knows their ideas and brilliance can be celebrated, no matter how you identify.

The panel itself came from a range of angles, including a host of different business perspectives. We had insight from small business owners, larger corporate entities, organisations boasting an equal balance and those offering a much more enhanced package for their employees. It's certainly an interesting space to be entering right now.

Networking and guidance

One of the really wonderful initiatives presented by the hosts was the Women in EV tree. This tree was designed to hold apple-shaped pieces of paper that enabled us to write some love and guidance to our younger selves.

I gave myself the advice I needed to hear and be reminded of eight years ago:

"Don't take no as 'stop'. Take no as an opportunity to learn and explore new things."

I'll touch on this in another blog, but it's something I hugely felt knocked back by at the early stages of my career, and that led me to understand I have rejection sensitivity - a link to ADHD.

It was also phenomenal to see some of the other guidance given by the attendees. Some of my favourite included the following:

"No-one can ever blow out your flame, even if you know they are trying."

"Just be yourself and listen to your gut."

"Trust in the value you offer, because you are exceptional."

These messages filled my inner-child with so much love and joy. Particularly as someone who knows they have an entrepreneurial spark, but just don't have the kindling yet to build the rest of the fire - it's coming!

After our morning session, we ended the event with a long networking session, where I met some amazing people operating in or supporting the women in EV. It was also super humbling to have people recognise me from my LinkedIn content too - mind blown!

I connected with so many brilliant, vibrant and vocal personalities in the industry, who are already achieving such excellence. Honestly, these people have inspired me to chase my dreams and enlarge my spark - they've inspired me to consider how something that feels so impossible to me could actually be a reality.

If it's something I pull off, it could be an exciting few years. As you can probably tell by now, it's something that has lit a fire inside me, and helped me consider how I can.

Final thoughts

Whether you are chasing your dreams in automotive or any other industry, taking the opportunity to connect with likeminded people is a must. Simply speaking to others not only builds your confidence, but also helps reaffirm where you are in your life and what your next steps should be.

If you'd like to follow my journey further, pop me a connection request on LinkedIn and let's chat!