Female Entrepreneur bios

About Our Novi Female Entrepreneurs 2024

Helen Neal

I am the Founder and CEO of HN Communications, a multi-award-winning sustainability communications consultancy and Certified B CorpTM, and specialist sustainability event consultancy Leaders Live.

My two decades of experience in political and social campaigns and communications includes spells working for Nissan, Virgin Atlantic and the UK Parliament.

As an advocate of collaboration and kindness in business, my core mission is to help businesses do more good in the world, which I achieve through my work with high-profile clients including Asahi, Bosch and the Climate Group.

I fulfil this purpose through my role as a highly regarded specialist with the ability to effectively concept and implement relevant sustainability-related policy, strategy, PR and communications.

Jessica Gwaringa

Jessica was born in Zimbabwe and moved to the UK over 20 years ago where she went on to work as a Healthcare Assistant while training to be a Registered Mental Health Nurse.

After working as a Mental Health Nurse, Jessica took on the role of a Care Home Manager, it is from here that she saw the need for high quality agency workers in healthcare and so she started Moonrise 24hr Recruitment in July 2014.

Over the last decade Jessica and her team have seen the business grow and expand into other areas including Domiciliary Care, Supported Living, Complex Care and Childrens Services with the future holding more opportunities in these areas.

Katie Harrison

Katie spent most of her childhood in the small city of Ripon. After secondary school, Katie spent 3-years at university training to be a primary school teacher. At 21, Katie moved back to North Yorkshire and started teaching her first class! As an R.E and PHSE specialist Katie enjoyed teaching philosophy and looking at global issues with the children she taught, producing lots of resources from scratch.

After a few years of teaching, Katie was given the opportunity to work as an education consultant, where she spent much of her time training and supporting teachers and completed a master’s degree in Education. It was at this time when she was spending time with lots of teachers from many different schools that she realised that like her, many teachers were having to produce news-based resources, on their own, that were unlikely to be used again. Following this observation, Picture News was launched! Katie and Rob initially worked from the attic in their home, before moving into office premises in Ripon town centre.

At Picture News, Katie’s roles include selecting and co-writing the weekly resources, planning and launching marketing campaigns and visiting schools for meetings and presentations. Katie has 3 young children who keep her busy when she’s not in the office. When she can escape, Katie enjoys running and travelling!

Lucy Litwack

Lucy Litwack is one of the most experienced executives in the global lingerie industry. With over 20 years’ international experience in lingerie and the retail world, she has worked for a series of luxury and mainstream icon brands including Victoria’s Secret, La Perla and David Beckham Bodywear. Lucy has been CEO of Coco de Mer for the last 10 years, leading an MBO of the business in 2017. Under her leadership, Coco de Mer has grown from a niche business to a global luxury brand reaching new audiences and markets. In 2023, Coco de Mer was awarded the prestigious Butterfly Mark by Positive Luxury highlighting its commitment to creating a positive impact on society and the planet. As well as being a key player within the world of luxury lingerie, Lucy has been at the forefront of developing Coco de Mer’s pioneering pleasure offering, with years of experience helping to curate Coco de Mer’s expertly engineered luxury toy category. In addition to building the Home of Pleasure platform and having a deep understanding of the innovative technology making waves in the industry, Lucy has dedicated her career to catalysing the conversation around pleasure and is a champion of female empowerment. Underpinning Lucy’s goals for Coco de Mer is a deep belief in championing women’s causes. She currently works with multiple NGOs and activists in the fight against FGM, a cause that is very close to her heart, as well as being the Chair of Trustees for The Five Foundation. Lucy is a passionate advocate for brand purpose in the modern media landscape.

Natalie Burkinshaw

Natalie Burkinshaw is the founder of Crush, a creative agency launched in 2003 based in Derbyshire. Natalie’s intuitive understanding of a client brief helps deliver exceptional creative solutions on time and on budget every time. Her exacting standards are second-to-none and are the foundation of our success and achievements as a company.