Tag Archives: Kate Gould

Queen of the City launches season of celebrity bloggers

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Vanessa Vallely, recently touted as “Queen of the City” due to her role in encouraging diversity, empowerment and networking opportunities for women in London, has unveiled a season of celebrity bloggers on the website she founded, www.wearethecity.com.

“This summer we will be treated to a very personal insight into the lives of over a dozen celebrity and guest writers who will be blogging for us” Vanessa (39) explained. “They are all truly inspirational – from the businesses they have founded, to their charity, campaigning and diversity work.”

The first blog is being written by Vanessa herself and future bloggers include award winning garden designer Kate Gould, campaigner against arranged marriages Jasvinder Sanghera and founder of buymywardrobe.com Kal di Paola.

Heba Elawadi (25) is the first blogger to be featured. A young designer whose work blends her exotic North African roots with love of London life, she graduated from The American Intercontinental University in London in 2005. Since then she has gone on to found her own label hebz.com and recently launched bungalowh.com which showcase fashion and lifestyle works by upcoming designers of the future with the support of international brands that are well established and known.

“Heba’s inspiring because she combines a passion for fashion with a desire to give something back, donating to international charities from the collaborations and collections she’s involved with” Vanessa enthused. “She has firsthand experience of the Arab Spring and both the challenges and opportunities that presents for women.“

Wearethecity.com was started with Vanessa’s husband Stewart in their spare time. That spare time is in increasingly rare supply for this mum of two, as she juggles a successful 22 year career in the city with her other passions. Aside from the website reaching a record of 60,000 unique visitors last month, no easy feat. Vanessa is booked to speak across the globe at women’s conferences and is frequently seen in her Pearly coat at fundraising events in her role as Pearly Queen of the City of London.

“We’ve put together this blogging season to celebrate the great successes and passions of women with women, something we’re notoriously bad at doing”.

With such a powerful message and ambassador, it seems likely that Vanessa may become Queen of more than just one city in the very near future.

City women hitting new heights

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A website that set out to be a “little black book” for professional women in London, providing professional development, networking and lifestyle information, is celebrating after achieving a new record of over 60,000 unique visitors and 1.6 million page views in May, up 47% on the month before.

WeAreTheCity.com was founded by Vanessa Vallely, considered to be the most connected woman in London, voted one of the 100 most influential women in Banking globally and a Pearly Queen of the City of London.

“The website was started three years ago to provide the connections and insight that I felt was lacking for London women” Vanessa (39) said. “I’m passionate about empowering women in all aspects of their lives, driving diversity in the workforce and encouraging celebration and sharing of our successes, which women are notoriously bad at. I’m thrilled at how quickly We are the City has become a much-loved part of so many women’s lives.

Vanessa provides content and PR for the website in her spare time alongside a small team, with husband Stewart responsible for technical development of the site.

“Our events listings get 600,000 hits a month so we have just launched an entirely new micro site dedicated to development and lifestyle events specifically for women in theLondon area – events.wearethecity.com ” Stewart commented. “Over the next three months we have a host of other new features coming online including the launch of our Female Job Board, where we intend to partner with Corporates and Recruitment agencies that are passionate about increasing the opportunities available to talented females across the UK. On the lifestyle side, we have celebrity female bloggers, a gallery of user photos sharing snapshots of London living, and tried & tested reviews.”

The celebrity bloggers already lined up include award winning Garden Designer Kate Gould, Entrepreneur and charity fundraiser Charlotte Hogg and Made in Chelsea star Gabriella Ellis.

“We are looking for more women to join our team of “City Guineas” to test and review products, gadgets, technology, fashion and beauty products, bars, restaurants and networking events, providing unbiased reviews back to other women” Vanessa finished. “Anyone interested in volunteering their time or writing for our site should email pr@wearethecity.com to register.”