Nicky Newton-King

"In Women’s Month, I will accept one or two speaking engagements, just as an opportunity for people to ask me the questions they never get a chance to ask,” she says. “Some people never see me; they’ll see me only in the newspaper or on television or hear me on the radio, and they have questions all the way from: ‘what was your life like’ to ‘were you always going to be a CEO’ to ‘what does your day look like’. These questions are not things you read in a newspaper, but once you are available as a female leader to answer those types of questions, it becomes aspirational for others. You break down the barriers. It’s not only aspirational, it’s an attainable aspiration. People see that there’s a person there – that person has done the following things to do that, and that person’s life feels and looks like the following…"

"For most of my life I knew about women who worked hard. From negotiating prices to dinner table conversations – there was no barrier for women. Women could do anything: They had a place at the table. You have to earn that place – Study hard, work hard and put up your hand."