Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare blog

In an ideal world, I would have spent the day in bed recovering from the weekend, being brought endless cups of Earl Grey tea and tasty titbits to eat on a tray. However, life rarely works as we would have it does it? so I was up early and (after a generous application of Brightening Treatment to restore a healthy glow to my sleep-deprived skin) off to the Inter Continental Hotel in London to attend the annual Women of the Year Luncheon. This famous event has run for more than fifty years and I am very honoured to have been invited for the last couple of years. Inside the ornate ballroom, hundreds of women from all walks of life assembled for the event. I sat next to Joanne Davies, author of the book Chocolat, amongst others, and we found we had a love of Africa in common as she supports a great international charity called Medicin Sans Frontier, and in particular their work to combat sleeping sickness in The Congo. I told her all about my recent travels in Kenya and about the co-operative of Berber women we work with in Morocco who provide the argan oil for our Superskin Concentrate (UK) , (USA) . Other fascinating women present included Moira Cameron, the first lady Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London; Rachel Barrie, the first female Scotch Whisky Master Blender and Rose Hacker, at 100 years old the oldest columnist in the world! But the real stars were three inspirational award-winning campaigners, whose tireless work to improve the lives of others left me feeling very insignificant indeed by comparison.

The first award went to Jasvinder Sanghera, a British woman who fled an arranged marriage when she was just 16 and was ostracised by her family who live here in England. Although Jasvinder escaped, her sister Robina was not so lucky and died after setting herself on fire rather than continue living with her arranged ‘husband’. Jasvinder highlighted the plight of the many hundreds of young muslim and hindu girls, some as young as 11, who are taken out of their British school and put on a plane to marry a man they have never met. Many are subsequent victims of domestic violence and those who refuse to marry may be killed by their own brothers of fathers in so-called ‘honour killings.’ The number of girls and young women affected each year in our very own country is quite shocking – and Jasvinder’s brave and pioneering work in setting up the charity Karma Nirvana in Derby has made a significant difference to hundreds of women. Her belief and courage opens a window of opportunity to many in need and I look forward to reading her book on the subject, Shame, published by Hodder.

The second annual award went to Sister Frances Dominica, a wonderful Anglican nun with the most naturally smiling face I think I have ever seen! She is a pioneer in the hospice movement and founded the first children’s hospice in the world, Helen’s House, in 1982. Since then, she has gone on to inspire many others in hospice care for life-limited children and she continues to dedicate her life to fundraising as well as lecturing on the care of children and young-people with terminal illness. She is an exceptional woman, who has helped and influenced people all over the world both personally and professionally.

The third award was presented to a truly global pioneer, Rose Molokoane from South Africa. Her story began in Oukasie, one of the most infamous slums in South Africa, where she was born and raised. She is now the national Chairman for the 80,000 member South African Homeless People’s Federation and a board member of Slum and Shack Dwellers International (not a club any of us aspire to belong to). The vast majority of members are women and she encourages them to pool their tiny savings and negotiate with the government for new homes and sanitation. She’s already helped procure 15,000 new homes in South Africa and has inspired and helped many other impoverished communities around the world, including throughout Africa, South America and Asia. I was struck by her courage and determination to become one of the most internationally recognised grassroots activists involved in housing issues. She also has a feisty sense of humour. When asked what the word ‘woman’ means, she replied “Well Organised MAN”, which, given the assembled audience, went down very well! You can read more about Rose’s work and her landmark award on www.homeless-international.org.

Uplifted, in awe and inspired I left the lunch and went up to John Lewis in Oxford Street to witness a landmark moment in our own brand’s history. We’ve just started a two-week promotion in the store and have been given a special central area in the middle of the John Lewis beauty hall just inside the Oxford Street entrance. Excitingly, we also have a huge window right by the main doorway, which looks totally fantastic and heralds our arrival in London’s West End. It really does look terrific – do come and see us if you can and meet some of our team face-to-face in the store. The only problem the John Lewis team face with us now being on their shelves is the frequency with which they need to keep re-stacking the fast-emptying shelves…