Women make up around 70% of the global events workforce but their stories, leadership, and influence are often underrepresented. The 70% is a weekly series celebrating the women shaping the events industry. From rising stars to seasoned leaders, each profile shines a light on the career journeys, challenges, and perspectives of women working across all corners of the sector.
In this week’s edition we speak to Kathryn Winfield, general manager at The Mermaid, London.
How many years have you been in the events industry?
I can’t quite believe I’m saying it, but I’ve been in the events industry for 17 years now (closer to 20 if we’re counting my time putting on events at uni!) After an amazing summer spent working in sales at Buckingham Palace, my passion for living and working in the dynamic, thriving, effervescent city that is London began. Then, after studying a module on event management during my entertainment marketing degree, I knew I’d found my professional home. I also loved performing arts throughout my education, so it’s no surprise I’ve ended up in an industry with a flair for creativity and putting on a show!
Nearly two decades later, and having led teams to success at some of the industry’s most iconic venues including The Mermaid London, BMA House and De Vere Venues, it’s still an industry that feels like a community, and one it’s difficult to walk away from.
How do you balance professional growth with personal commitments, and do you think the industry is evolving in terms of work-life balance?
This is tough. Events is not a nine-to-five job, it’s an industry that’s 24/7, and I have to be strict with myself to ensure I prioritise wellbeing. In 2023, I was diagnosed with Dilated Cardiomyopathy, a heart condition, and this brought home to me the importance of work-life balance. Before then, I would so easily slip into the habit of checking emails when on holiday, for example, and then fret I wasn’t there to support, but now I really make the effort to switch off. For example, Monday night is carved out, sacred, non-negotiable ‘me time’, where I go to a weekly reformer pilates class. Taking this time helps me reset and clear my head, and I find the next day, when I come back to my desk, I’m re-energised, motivated and can more easily find solutions.
Events has a long way to go to make work-life balance the norm. As an industry that thrives on in-person interaction, working from home is difficult, but there is more that can be done to support this balance. For example, companies could offer greater flexibility with hours, facilitate access to mental health services, provide wellbeing courses that encourage passions outside of work, and make sure employees take their holiday and their breaks. While these may sound like small (and simple) changes, they can make a big difference to how people feel, and they put the building blocks in place to create more lasting and impactful change going forwards.
How do you see the events industry evolving in terms of diversity, equity, and inclusion?
At the hospitality level, I think we’re doing well, but there needs to be improvement in diversity at the senior level. Events is such a welcoming industry, but we’re not showcasing to young people all that they could achieve or putting support in place for people to go higher. Embracing the educational piece is crucial to this. As an industry, we need to be speaking to young people, helping them to understand the varied and exciting roles available in events, and listening to what support they might need to make this possible.
Training to support people to go for higher roles is also key. It’s not about capability, it’s about confidence, and mentoring programmes, such as Fast Forward 15 (FF 15) and Elevate, play an essential role in boosting that self-belief and empowering people to progress. Having been a mentee on the FF 15 programme myself, I know just what a life-changing and inspiring experience mentoring can be, and it’s why I’m so passionate now about paying this forward as a mentor myself on the Elevate programme.
What advice would you give to young women looking to enter and succeed in the events industry?
The best advice I could give any young woman would be to get a mentor. This might be formally through a mentorship programme. It might mean reaching out to people you admire on LinkedIn. Perhaps it’s asking your university to match you up with an organisation. However you approach it, it can be immensely reassuring to have someone to talk to who isn’t directly involved in your day-to-day career/education.
People wrongly assume that mentoring is about helping someone to look for another job but, it’s not, it’s about supporting and empowering people with where they are right now. As women, we often have that voice in our ear telling us that we’re not good enough, but mentoring can provide a counterbalance, giving you that supportive, helpful, encouraging voice which reminds you not to listen to the other one!
How do you handle setbacks and failures?
The first thing to say is, everyone has them – me included! Sometimes, something as seemingly small as one negative piece of feedback might feel like a failure but, rather than focusing on that, focus on how you’re going to handle it – the best thing to do is try and learn from it, take on board what’s happened, look (often as a team) at what can be done differently, consider how you can provide extra support going forwards, and let the client see that their feedback has been taken seriously.
I think an important reminder for yourself is that there can always be positives in what feels like failure. For example, as a manager, I often worry that I’ve failed when people choose to leave, but I also need to recognise that what I’ve actually done is help them to grow their wings so they’re ready for their next role. While it may be difficult in the moment, failure helps you spread your wings a little more confidently too – giving you that reminder that you’re more resilient, resourceful and adaptable than you give yourself credit for.
Your failures can only define you if you let them, so use them to tell a different story about who you are.
What changes do you think are still needed to create more opportunities for women in leadership?
As I know from personal experience, imposter syndrome is very real. The recent ‘big survey’ by NOWIE showed us that 42% of women leave the events industry after one to four years, and one of the major drivers of this is the demanding nature of the role – this is not okay. Much more encouragement and empowerment are needed if we are to build women’s confidence in their ability to flourish in higher roles. For this to happen, organisations must invest in development opportunities for female employees including internal and external mentoring schemes, training programmes and self-development resources.
To ensure a dynamic, adaptable, innovative and thriving events industry of the future, we need women in leadership roles. And that starts with being open and honest – about needs, about challenges, about barriers, and about what women in leadership look like. I’m General Manager of The Mermaid London, but I also have a heart condition. While that doesn’t stop me, it does mean I have to make adjustments as I get tired more easily, but that’s okay. Women in leadership look like you. Like me. Like all the millions of women around the country juggling health conditions, family commitments, body insecurities and self-confidence issues, to name just a few. Real women (not the made-up ones who intimidate us in our heads) who deserve to be championed, who deserve to be supported, and who deserve to have the opportunity to be everything they can be.