LETTER Editor’s

Iwill always remember my first proper boss. It was during a gap year post A-levels and before I went off to study journalism at university. I wanted to earn some money, but also gain some experience at the same time, and ended up as a production assistant at a B2B publishing house.

This was back in the day when magazines were printed via plates at the printers – yep, I am that old – and part of my job was ensuring that very thing happened on time. The job was a fraught one, and at times very stressful, but my boss was always there to have my back. And what made her stand out even more was the very fact that she was a she: in the management team of ten, she was the only female.

Of course, it's a regular occurrence now that we have female business leaders – my own wife is pretty high up at a major news publishing company – but there's no escaping that sexism does still exist across most industries. At Absolutely, however, we are only too happy to champion our local business heroes, male or female, young or old.

As March welcomes International Women's Day, and of course Mother's Day (hi mum!), we decided to devote nine pages to those women who are inspirational for all manner of reasons. And thinking back to my own experiences, they probably don't even realise how inspirational they are.

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