Businesses come together to celebrate women leaders in Milton Keynes

Founder of pet taxi franchise Pets 2 Places, Claire Harris, took home the prize in the #None of the Above category, which recognises women outside the IT, science and maths fields

Founder of pet taxi franchise Pets 2 Places, Claire Harris, was one of the women honoured at the Women Leaders Awards 2019 on 11 October. The event saw hundreds of leaders from businesses, charities and the larger Milton Keynes community gather at the Hilton, MK Stadium. Celebrating the achievements and success of women living or working in Milton Keynes, the awards honoured 14 women for their contribution in their respective fields, both employed and volunteers.

The awards are the pinnacle event for Women Leaders UK as part of its purpose of promoting gender equality and diversity for public benefit. This year, the event saw Cindy Rose, CEO of Microsoft UK, deliver an inspiring keynote speech encouraging all to support young women to pursue careers in what have been male-dominated industries.

Harris took home the prize in the #None of the Above category, which was created this year to include women in businesses outside of the IT, science and maths fields the awards are generally aimed at.

“Winning this award means a lot to me,” said Harris. “Not only because it is a specific women-only award, which I feel there is still in this modern world a long way to go to bridge the gap between equality in top positions in companies but also because as a woman in a male-dominated field (taxi services), I feel proud to have achieved everything I have done.

“Not only to have been the first person in the UK to have created a pet taxi franchise but in fact to have been the founder of the world’s first pet taxi franchise is amazing. I hope I can inspire others to go for their dreams no matter how big or small.

“If you believe in yourself you can achieve great things.”