WeAreTheCity’s Rising Star Awards are now in their eighth year.
The Rising Star awards were introduced to showcase the UK pipeline of female talent below management and to create female 100 role models across 25 different industries and professions.
Over the year’s, the awards have recognised over 700 women across the UK and India.
In this ongoing series, we speak to our winners about life after winning a Rising Star award.
We spoke to Samantha Gould, who won a Rising Star Award in All Other Industries in 2021.
Samantha is Head of PR and Campaigns at NOW: Pensions, an award-winning workplace pension provider in the UK with nearly two million members and tens of thousands of employers from a wide range of sectors.
A self-confessed pension geek, Samantha has been leading the initiative on the Gender Pensions Gap and Underpensioned campaigns, working with industry peers and policymakers to create a fairer pension system and get an additional 2.8 million more people saving in the UK.
Proud winner of numerous industry awards and shortlisted in the UN Women People of the Year Award, Samantha is a single-mother of one toddler and is fighting for greater equality so that her daughter does not grow up in a society where she is financially at-risk because of her gender.
How did you feel when it was announced that you’d won a Rising Star award?
It felt amazing to hear I had won a RS Award. I was driving my daughter to nursery at the time and a colleague called me to congratulate me (I hadn’t seen your email by this point) and I think I let out a little ‘yelp’. I then rushed home to open my emails and congratulate all the other winners. Such an amazing tribe to be part of and I have tried to stay in touch and keep an eye on what my colleagues I our category are up to.
Please tell us what has happened in your career since winning the Rising Star award?
OK, so this RS Award really set everything else in motion and I am hugely proud that I have won another 6 awards this year! Some of these awards have been in recognition of the work and campaigns that I am doing to promote important issues around pension inequality (particularly women and the gender pensions gap). I was hugely proud to be awarded “Marketer of the Year” at the Financial Services Forum and the Professional Pensions “Women in Pensions” awards. I have also been interviewed in the media and secured hundreds of pieces of coverage for my campaigns. But it all started with RS 😊
What advice would you give to someone else going through the award’s process?
Go for it! Be your biggest cheerleader and put yourself forward for awards and the recognition that you feel you deserve. Don’t hang around and wait for someone else to do it.
What tips would you give to our other members to enhance their careers?
Be true to yourself and your goals. Keep focused on the things that matter to you and don’t ever put barriers in the way, you can achieve anything you put your heart and mind to.
Never be afraid to ask for help and advice too, stay humble and boss your career.
