8 inspiring women we should all know about

After learning how many teenagers miss school because they can’t afford sanitary products (currently about 137,700 each year), Amika started the not-for-profit campaign group, Free Periods. Their goal was to get the government to provide free sanitary products to school children from disadvantaged backgrounds. And in 2019, their hard work paid off.

Since then, Amika’s been working to destigmatise periods, so that girls no longer feel embarrassed or ashamed of them. And in her recent book Make It Happen, she shares her tips on how to be an effective activist. You can follow her on Instagram @amikageorge and learn more about the Free Periods campaign here.

When Rochelle was just 14, she started a blog to help herself deal with her father’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis, then death. Then when she was 26, she was left to look after her younger siblings after her mum had passed away from a brain tumour. Through it all, she kept up her blog to help anyone else going through something similar.

Following the success of her blog, Rochelle has written her own book called Handle With Care, which combines practical advice with humour for those who are caring for a loved one. The release date is March 4th 2021 but you can check out Rochelle’s website here or follow her on Instagram @rochellebugg today.

The first UK Black Pride Phyllis (also known as Lady Phyll) hosted back in 2005 was a day trip to Southend-on-Sea with a group of other Black lesbians. Now, it’s Europe’s largest pride celebration for LGBTQ+ people of African, Asian, Caribbean, Latin American and Middle Eastern descent.

She started UK Black Pride because she saw the need to create a safe space for minority ethnic LGBTQ+ people, who may feel left out of traditional Pride events. And as well as overseeing the event, she’s is a trustee at Stonewall, has won several awards for her work.

Follow Lady Phyll on Instagram @ladyphyll and on Twitter @MsLadyPhyll.

When Sinéad began studying to become a primary school teacher, she probably never imagined that one day, she’d be teaching people all around the world.

She first started her blog over 10 years ago because - as someone who loved expressing herself through her clothing - she found that brands weren’t considering those with achondroplasia (a form of dwarfism). But now her voice has definitely been heard. She’s since given several successful TEDx Talks and has even joined discussions at the White House.

Sinéad is on Instagram and Twitter, and you can follow her @thesineadburke.

When she released her award-winning debut novels (Purple Hibiscus and Half a Yellow Sun) back in the early 2000s, Chimamanda had quickly become well known on the literary scene. And then she gave her speech The Danger of a Single Story, which became one of the most viewed TEDx Talks of all time.

But it was after she published the book-length essay We Should All Be Feminists that she gained a semi-celebrity status, with fans including Beyoncé and Oprah. It’s perhaps because she’s such a good storyteller, that she’s inspired so many people globally to join the fight for gender equality.

Follow Chimamanda on Instagram @chimamanda_adichie or visit her official website here.

Back in 2017, Gina was enjoying her time at a festival in London when she realised that a man had taken a picture of her underwear from under her skirt. She reported it to the police (with his phone as proof) but was told that no law had been broken, so there was nothing they could do. In 2018, she began campaigning to make upskirting illegal. The next year, it finally became law.

Last year, she published a book called Be The Change: A Toolkit for the Activist in You, a guide to leading a successful campaign, big or small.

Find out what Gina gets up to in her daily life on her Instagram @ginamartin.

Naana has a long history of advocating for women’s rights, particularly when it comes to child marriages and domestic violence. And after joining FORWARD - the woman-led organisation working to end violence against women and girls - she’s helped make an impact across the globe.

While the organisation had its beginnings in East and West Africa, FORWARD runs programmes in the UK too, after finding that around 100,000 women here have been victims of female genital mutilation. Because of her dedication to the cause, Naana has been named one of London’s most influential people by the Evening Standard.

Find out more about Naana and FORWARD’s work on their website.

If Sarah had given up on pursuing a career in science - as she’d been considering while studying for her PhD - the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine may never have existed. That’s because she and her team at the Jenner Institute were the ones that created it.

Sarah has a history of being involved in creating groundbreaking vaccines. Back in 2014, she led the first trial of an Ebola vaccine. And when the Covid-19 outbreak first began, she was in Saudi Arabia trialling a vaccine for the Mers coronavirus. That’s what helped her team create the Oxford vaccine so quickly - she realised they could use a similar approach.

Read more about Sarah’s work on the Jenner Institute website.