With its roots in women’s rights and attempt to achieve the vote way back in the early 20th century, this important day, celebrated on the 8th March each year, shines a light on women working in business and the community, empowering other women, achieving their goals and success while often raising families at the same time.
Read on for some female inspiration!
Lucy Hilson
Lucy Hilson, now 44, began her PR career at just 23 setting up Cosmetic PR in 2014 with no budget, no back up and a newborn baby to care for, living and working as a single mum with just a £5 budget for food each week.
With determination and drive Lucy saved up £800 to buy a laptop and quickly spotted a gap in the PR market for an agency that genuinely understood medical aesthetics, not just beauty or lifestyle coverage, a specialist PR for clinics, doctors and brands working at the highest level.
It was a gamble that paid off as over the years the agency has grown into a leading name in aesthetic-focused communications working with some of the most respected doctors, clinics, educators and brands in the industry.
Lucy says: ‘What started as a business on my kitchen table has become a business known for shaping reputations, building authority and turning expertise into visibility’.
In the last four years, Lucy has taken the business global, setting up Cosmetic PR in Dubai and is hosting the first major aesthetic industry awards to the region, the Diamond Award Dubai at the stunning Atlantis Royal, which will see over 500 of the industry’s most influential clinic owners, doctors, surgeons and brands coming together to network and celebrate their achievements.
She is also launching The Aesthetics Edit, a new platform designed to spotlight expertise, innovation and excellence within aesthetics.
Lucy says: I built the business from nothing as a single mum, trusting my instincts, backing myself and refusing to stay small. It’s proof that anything is possible when you see a gap and have the coverage to step into it and don’t stop!
Learn more about Lucy in our Amazing Women in Business Feature.
SMITA AHLUWALIA
With over 30 years in the beauty industry, 52-year-old Smita Ahluwalia is still as passionate about skin care and beauty as ever. As well as her busy North London clinic, which has clients visiting from all over the world, Smita is a mentor for women in business, working with them to help build their clientele and retail business.
She is a much sought-after lecturer and conference speaker, with menopause as a particular area of interest and a regular judge for Professional Beauty magazine.
A mum of two teenagers, about to sit GCSEs and A levels, when she does get time to relax, it is usually with a little retail therapy. She has also recently set up as a travel counsellor together with a group of friends, so a city break is high on her to-do list now, too!
For more information, visit smitalondon.com
BEA SARICA
After 14 years of teaching, Bea Sarica decided she wanted to be more of her own boss while bringing up her two daughters. While she was pregnant with her second child, she was diagnosed with a thyroid tumour, refusing to terminate, Bea battled through her pregnancy and only after successful giving birth did she go on to have surgery.
‘I had to learn new skills and enter a world where I often felt I didn’t belong, but the result is a life where I’m a lot more present for my children and can give them all they need.’
Despite the challenges, she teamed up with her brother-in-law, Blue’s Simon Webbe, co-founding Webbe Industries Management, and later launched a second company, Level Talent Management, with colleague Leanne Villiers. Now 44 and busier than ever, Bea’s pleased and proud she walked away from teaching to start again.
For more information, visit www.leveltalent.co.uk
VICTORIA LIETCH
‘I love what I do. I started this journey more than 15 years ago, and then in 2016, I became a qualified colon hydrotherapist and was then invited to join RICTACT, the International Colonic Association. The commitment I make to our clients, delegates, and partners is that I promise to always provide you with the very best!’.
After a highly successful career running her own recruitment company, Victoria Lietch turned her attention to the beauty, spa and aesthetic industry, where she identified a massive opportunity and discovered a real passion, going on to set up the Angel Group in 2009.
After extensive research and consulting her many contacts, Victoria launched her first beauty and wellness site. A clinic that was offering a hybrid of wellness and aesthetics, the first of its kind. A trend that continues throughout her career as an entrepreneur, she is an early adopter, always at the forefront of what is coming up, and importantly, she knows what clients want and need even before they do!
Victoria has since developed The Angel Wellness Academy, offering expert and skilled training in many of the treatments that have made Angel famous.
A more recent move is ‘Angel Wellness Partnerships’, which provides opportunities for hotels/spas/salons, retail products and spa machinery to partner with Angel to propel both their commercial and branding reach.
All of the therapists working within the Angel Group are skilled and expert practitioners in their chosen field and are committed to keeping their qualifications and knowledge current and up to date.
For more information, visit angelwellnessretreat.co.uk
DR SHEENA TANNA
Dr Sheena Tanna is the award-winning Principal Dentist and Co-Owner of Billericay Dental Care in Essex. Known for her calm, compassionate approach and her belief that “every smile has the potential to be a masterpiece,” Sheena has built a practice that blends advanced digital innovation with genuine human connection.
After graduating from Leeds University and gaining membership to the Royal College of Surgeons, Sheena discovered a passion for cosmetic and digital dentistry — using technology not just to transform smiles, but to rebuild confidence. Over the years, she’s developed a loyal following of patients who value her honesty, artistry, and attention to detail.
Today, Billericay Dental Care stands as one of Essex’s most forward-thinking practices, driven by Sheena’s commitment to continual learning and excellence. Her achievements include being named Dentistry’s Next Top Digital Dentist 2025 and a Principal of the Year finalist at the Private Dentistry Awards.
As a mother of two and advocate for women in dentistry, Sheena is passionate about redefining leadership — proving that empathy, balance, and ambition can coexist beautifully in modern practice.
You can follow @drsheenatanna on Instagram for insights into digital dentistry, leadership, and the artistry behind every smile!
MARIE BURKE
Maria is a talented botanical watercolour artist based in Glastonbury, Somerset and best known for her highly detailed watercolour paintings of flowers, particularly peonies and roses.
Before becoming a professional painter, Marie trained in both the UK and Sweden and worked as an artistic blacksmith, creating sculptural metal pieces inspired by forms in nature.
Then, after having her two children and finding that working with large metal sculptures became less practical, she began painting, quickly falling in love with botanical and natural history painting.
Stunningly beautiful, Marie’s work focuses on the intricate beauty of the natural world, taking a macro view of plants and flowers to study their dynamic structures, twists and curves at every stage of growth.
This spring, she has been commissioned to produce a range of stamps, 10 watercolour collectable stamps celebrating the nation’s most famous flower, the rose. One of those featured includes the Constance Spry, the first English Rose bred by British rose breeder David C. H. Austin, which launched a whole new era in rose breeding. Available to buy for £13.75 for 10 at Post Offices nationwide, visit marieburke-art.com for details of her popular online watercolour school.
GILLIAN MILLANE OBE
Gilliane Millane OBE is a mother, florist and women’s safety advocate. She ran a successful florist business for over 20 years while raising her three children, Michael, Declan and Grace, with her late husband David.
While battling breast cancer in 2018, her daughter Grace was tragically murdered in New Zealand after graduating from the University of Lincoln with a Bachelor’s degree in advertising and marketing. Just 17 months later, Gillian lost her husband to cancer.
Now Gillian has devoted her time to funding and advocacy, campaigning for change in the law in England and Wales to ban the use of so-called ‘rough sex’, meaning that victims can no longer be blamed for their own deaths.
Together with family members and friends, she has set up the Love Grace bag initiative, which provides women fleeing domestic abuse with essential and luxury toiletries in a bag to give them a sense of a fresh start and dignity. For details, visit @lovegrace_uk
TRACEY WOOLLEY
After leaving school at 16 to bring up her young son, Danny, the Essex-based salon owner and entrepreneur worked hard to graduate as a beautician and help support Danny in his early career as an actor. He went on to win a BAFTA and star in one of the UK’s most popular soaps.
Now, after nearly three decades in the beauty industry and owner of a busy salon, Pure Indulgence in Southend, Essex, Tracey founded an inventive health and beauty aid, The Recovery Pillow, with the help of Deo Beauty.
This specially shaped Pillow helps users recover post cosmetic and surgical treatment, by correcting sleeping position to avoid risk of rolling over and potentially affecting recovery and has been taken on by a range of cosmetic and plastic surgeons and dentists.
Tracey has appeared in the national press and on TV. She says: ‘I’ve always been passionate about everything I do, and The Recovery Pillow has been something I’ve been working on for a long time. It’s so good to see it helping so many people’.
Tracey has appeared in the national press and on TV. She says: ‘I’ve always been passionate about everything I do, and The Recovery Pillow has been something I’ve been working on for a long time. It’s so good to see it helping so many people’.
For more information, visit therecoverypillow.com
FIDES BALDESBERGER
Fides Baldesberger is CEO of best-selling Rubis Tweezer, which was created at a time when there were no quality tweezers in the cosmetics sector. The company’s know-how made it possible to launch a product that finally matched what women were looking for. Steel – this hard, industrial material – should take on a feminine touch, and precision should play a role in the cosmetics and beauty world.
Today, the Rubis cosmetic tweezers are considered the “best of the best” by beauty editors and the “Ferrari of cosmetic tweezers” (Bobbi Brown).
Celebrity fans include Emily Ratajowski, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and are used by a Hollywood brow specialist whose clients include Miley Cyrus, Jessica Biel, Olivia Palermo, Erin Moriarty, Nicole Richie and Kristen Stewart.
For more information, visit rubistweezers.com
ELIZABETH GRANT
Founder of global skin care brand Elizabeth Grant, she has an incredible story beginning with a career as a MUA to golden-age Hollywood film stars to suffering a major injury from a WWII bomb blast. It was this tragedy that spurred her on to find a solution, which eventually led her to found what is now a global skincare brand.
Now at the incredible age of 102, she is still very much a part of the business, which is now run with her daughter-in-law and granddaughter. Elizabeth says, “I never set out to create a beauty brand; I was simply trying to heal my own skin. When I was being treated at the doctor’s office, I came across a medical journal that detailed how a certain ingredient was used to treat war wounds. The doctor dismissed me when I asked about it, but I wasn’t willing to accept that answer. I took matters into my own hands, commissioning a friend who was an analytical chemist to formulate a serum using that ingredient. That serum became the very first sample of what is now our best-selling Supreme Essence of Torricelumn, one of the leading anti-ageing skin care products around.
For more details, visit elizabethgrant.com
