IMAGE CREDIT: Laura Murphy
Prime Minister’s Office
10 Downing Street
LONDON
The daily Points of Light award recognises outstanding individual volunteers – people who are making a change in their community.
WayfinderWoman
711. Laura Murphy (Hailsham)
Laura Murphy, from Hailsham, is the founder of ‘WayfinderWoman’ a place where inspiring working women inspire other women.
After her experiences of struggling to get back into the workforce after a career break to raise her children, Laura set about creating a supportive community to provide advice, training and assistance where it is needed.
WayfinderWoman‘s many events, speaker sessions and conferences provide a springboard for budding entrepreneurs and unemployed women alike, with everything from confidence building workshops, to master classes on the practical steps needed to get a new business off the ground.
Laura and her team are currently working on a project entitled ‘Revealing Women of Influence in Eastbourne’ with the Heritage Lottery Fund which will enable them to train women up in research, website design and presenting.
In a personal letter to Laura, Prime Minister Theresa May said:
“Through ‘Wayfinder Woman’, you have created a pioneering and successful model in which inspirational women are helping others build the skills and confidence they need to realise their potential as budding entrepreneurs.”
Laura said:
“I’m so excited and honoured to be receiving this accolade for my work in supporting women to overcome the barriers that are preventing them from achieving within the workspace. It’s a testament to the wonderful support I too have received from the team since WayfinderWoman began three years ago. Thanks to them we’ve come a long way in a short space of time. So far we’ve helped over 600 women by providing free or low cost workshops, seminars, support groups and our acclaimed motivational annual Conference. We also run a drop-in centre which offers one-to-one support, advice and an empathetic bridge to employment.
We’re so proud of the women and how they are overcoming personal barriers and building up their self-confidence. They are now forging their way ahead within the workspace: some volunteering alongside us or other community groups, others becoming employed and more who are setting up their own businesses. It’s been a privilege to work alongside them and hopefully this recognition will spread the word allowing us to grow WayfinderWoman even further and faster.”
