Recognising International Women’s Day
Today, at Harrods, Rod Tonna-Barthet, CEO at Kyocera Group UK proudly introduced Vanessa Wallace – A GB Paralympic athlete, and GLL Sport Foundation athlete to the stage. Vanessa spoke to Louise Smith, Community Sports Manager at GLL about her journey and success as an international paralympic athlete competing in shot put and javelin games.
Jacquie Rollett, Head of HR ICT at Kyocera was present, she said:
“This year, 2025, the International Women’s Day theme is ‘Accelerate Action’. This theme highlights the urgent need to drive gender equality through bold, decisive actions rather than slow progress and what a privilege to hear firsthand Vanessa Wallace share her journey – a truly inspiring and perfect example of what can be achieved with determination and support.
Each year Harrods takes the opportunity for women and their allies to come together, connect and celebrate the achievements of remarkable women at Harrods Women’s Network event.
Their event marks the start of Women’s History Month in the UK which celebrates the contributions women have made to events through history and society. The event also advents International Women’s Day which aims to raise awareness about discrimination and gender inequality.
Vanessa began wheelchair racing in 2012 and switched to shot put in 2014. A year later she was representing GB at the European Championships where she finished 5th. She attended her first Paralympic Games in Rio 2016 where she missed a medal and came 5th. Vanessa went on to win Gold in the European Championships.
Kyocera Annodata has been a proud sponsor of the GLL Sports Foundation since 2015. They are the biggest independent support programme for athletes in the UK.
Through partnership with organisations like Kyocera Annodata, the foundation is able to ‘Make a Difference’ by providing a lifeline to aspiring athletes across the UK’s community’s grass roots clubs and teams, helping to bring forward the Commonwealth, Olympic and Paralympic medal winning talents of Anthony Joshua, Tom Daley, Darryl Neita and Stephanie Millward, to name just a few.
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