For the eleventh consecutive year, WeAreTheCity is thrilled to unveil the shortlist for the 2025 Rising Star Awards, celebrating the outstanding achievements of over 230 remarkable individuals. With Royal Bank of Canada as our headline sponsor, and with the support of our esteemed sponsors, we extend heartfelt congratulations to all our shortlisted candidates.
The Rising Star Awards attracted over 1,200 nominations from across the UK this year, showcasing an extraordinary calibre of talent. The judges all noted that the standard of entries was truly exceptional, reflecting the growing momentum for greater female representation across all industries.
These are just a few of the incredible women on this year’s shortlist.
“Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is continuing to deliver on our Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Roadmap and bring our Purpose Framework – Ideas for People and PlanetTM to life. Supporting the Rising Stars Awards is a great way to support our Purpose while celebrating and showcasing incredibly talented people and organisations across multiple industries and we are delighted to be headline sponsor for the sixth year.”
“The calibre of entries for this year’s Rising Star Awards has been nothing short of phenomenal. These incredible individuals are not only excelling in their careers but are also inspiring change and driving impact within their industries. They are the future leaders, innovators and changemakers we need. I am immensely proud to celebrate their achievements and wish them the very best in the final stages of the awards.”
The Rising Star Awards also celebrate senior leaders and allies through our Champions and Men for Gender Balance categories—recognising those who actively support the female pipeline.
This year’s Men for Gender Balance category includes:
In the Champions category, we spotlight:
All shortlisted individuals will be celebrated at a special rooftop networking event at RBC on 28th May, where they will connect with fellow nominees, sponsors and judges. The final Rising Star Awards winners will be announced on 4th June, followed by our prestigious awards ceremony on 10th July at The Londoner Hotel, Leicester Square.
The winner of the Company of the Year category will be announced at the ceremony on 10th July.
We express our sincere gratitude to our esteemed panel of judges and generous sponsors for their continued support in recognising and celebrating these outstanding individuals:
Abisola Barber Sherwood, Akua Opong, Ania Rontaler, Athena Lamnisos, Becky Lodge, Dr Byron Cole HonDBA, Carol Ann Whitehead, Ceri Stokoe, Charlotte Sweeney OBE, Claudia Pellegrino, Dane Pedro, Dave Savage, Dr Diahanne Rhiney BCAe, Dionne Condor-Farrell, Ekta Soni, Eleanor Mills, Professor Funke Abimbola MBE, Georgina Worrall OBE, Harriet Lam, Harveen Chugh, Jane Karczewski, Janthana Kaenprakhamroy, Joann Akomolafe, Joanne Monck OBE, Katharine Dunlap, Lisa Goodchild, Lucy Chamberlain, Nishma Patel Robb, Maicon Fiuza, Paul Sesay, Rachel Collins, Richard Pickard, Rob Neil OBE, Dr Sally Penni MBE, Sam Cooper-Gray, Commander Sam Kinsey-Briggs MBE MA, Samantha White, Sara Ager, Stephen Gill, Lieutenant Colonel Sulle D Alhaji, Professor Susan Vinnicombe CBE, Tash Pennant, Thorrun Govind, Toby Ellison, Tracey Groves, Ulrich Stark and Dr Victoria Kinkaid.
*Please note: Shortlisted individuals are invited to enter our public vote, open from 29 April – 13 May 2025. The number of public votes has no impact on category winners; these are selected by our judges. There is no public vote for Champion, Company of the Year, Global Award for Achievement, or Men for Gender Balance categories.
We would also like to thank our incredible sponsors who power our work to find and recognise these incredible individuals.
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