GDST Alumnae Networking Evening — with Financial Times Journalist and Podcaster

On Thursday, 12th September, we had the pleasure of welcoming over 50 alumnae from 20 GDST schools to our networking event at the GDST Head Office in Victoria.

The evening featured a keynote speech by Nottingham Girls’ High School alumna Isabel Berwick, a seasoned journalist with over 20 years of experience at the Financial Times (FT). Isabel, who currently specialises in workplace, management, and leadership issues, hosts the FT’s Working It podcast and writes a weekly newsletter for FT subscribers. She recently published her book, The Future-Proof Career.

“Accept that there is no control, and stay curious, alert, and open-minded.”

Isabel shared some valuable insight from her own experience and her research writing her book, offering practical advice on handling challenging colleagues and bosses, looking sideways as well as ahead, and embracing the concept of a ‘squiggly career.’ Reflecting on her education, she fondly described her fellow alumnae as “more like family than friends.” Isabel emphasised the importance of having allies in the workplace and working together to build each other up. Her thought-provoking session concluded with insightful questions from the audience, and she encouraged them to “accept that there is no control, and stay curious, alert, and open-minded”.

Following Isabel’s session, guests enjoyed further opportunities to connect with fellow alumnae and had the chance to purchase a copy of her book.

The evening was a great success, embodying Isabel’s own words: “don’t call it networking, call it building and connecting.”

The GDST Alumnae Network

The GDST Alumnae Network is the largest organisation of its kind in the country. There are over 100,000 GDST alumnae from across our family of 25 all-girls schools and the network is increasing every year.

Find out more about the GDST Alumnae Network