The 2023 Women of the Year award winners inspire audience

Freeths are proud to have once again sponsored the Women of the Year awards, which celebrated its 41st year of recognising successful and inspiring women at a celebratory lunch at Birmingham Hilton Metropole on 13th October.

The annual awards are a significant celebration of achievement, promoting positive female role models who provide inspiration across all areas of society and the business community.
Securing the accolade for the Freeths Woman with Edge in recognition of her dedication and work to create more access and openness in business, and to encourage more diversity in an industry that is currently male-dominated, is Eleanor Deeley.

Beginning her construction industry career as a child helping at the old Deeley offices with her grandfather, Eleanor is now the Joint Managing Director at a Midlands-based construction and development firm, the Deeley Group.

Lisa Gilligan, Managing Partner of Freeths Leicester office, said: “It was a pleasure to attend this year’s awards a genuinely uplifting and inspirational event. As a longstanding sponsor we marvel at how the WOTY team create such a memorable occasion year after year. At Freeths, we are committed to increasing gender diversity and promoting equality across the board. As a firm, we have an active women’s networking initiative, organising unique events nationwide. This has been supported on many occasions with WOTY alumni as our guest speakers. We also have a strong focus on mentoring and recognise the importance of positive role models. These awards are a great example of the power of celebrating success and the importance of role models to us all. The finalists are all strong, resilient, and impressive women with supportive allies to champion their corner and we congratulate them all”

Hosted by broadcaster and entrepreneur Arti Halai, the glittering event was attended by British television actress and WOTY president Sally Lindsay who addressed the audience, and keynote speaker Maxine Laceby, Co-Founder of Absolute Collagen who shared an insight into her hugely successful, entrepreneurial story.

Sally Lindsay added: “One of the reasons I first agreed to become a part of the awards is because of what WOTY do; they put the ladder down for others and that’s so important to me. From the day I became involved, I have seen women supporting women in this room, passing cards around, making networks and making friends and it’s such an inspiration. Many of our winners and alumni are those introduced to the awards by winners before them, and that continues today with some of our finalists having been encouraged by our directors and ambassadors who felt like it was time for them to shine.”