Anna Woods is one incredible human, after leaving her executive level role in fashion retailing in 2020, she has trail-blazed as a thought leader, driven by how she can better serve the industry and bring about much needed change. And if I am being honest, it is bloody exciting to see her disrupting an industry that is notoriously so harmful to people and planet.
Anna is a feminist, tearing up the patriarchy that dominates her industry. I learned from Anna that only 9% of CEOs in retail are women. Just taking a moment..............NINE PERCENT!!!!!! And yet women make up 68% of the workforce and as consumers, women represent 85% of all purchasing decisions.
How is she doing this? She is doing this in a multifaceted way, with all coming back to her core mission of wanting to leave things in a better place than she found them at the start of her career in fashion retailing.
She is a Retail Entrepreneur, Leadership and Business Coach supporting ambitious females and brands to lead with courage and compassion. She’s developed a unique approach to taking female leaders on a journey to understand the systems and context, working with emotion and thriving with objectives in a results driven environment. She offers self power sessions and 1-2-1 coaching which you can find out more about here.
And she is on a mission to create sustainable change in the fashion industry by launching Positive Retail, which has a gorgeous store on Addington Street in Ramsgate and sells online too. Positive retail is elevating the experience of reselling fashion through considered curation of collections, building community and leading people to becoming more conscious consumers.
With Positive Retail she has proven that amazing results happen when you dare to create a values driven, heart led brand. In under a year it had been voted ‘One of the best 50 independents in the UK’ by Sunday Times style magazine and featured in ELLE, RED & Drapers. She now has 2 courses to serve and support other purpose led retail entrepreneurs.
I feel so deeply connected to Anna's mission, as I believe that the denial of the feminine is harming people and planet, that minimalist living is the antidote to hyper-consumption and radical disruptive work like this is the antithesis of the patriarchy. We need an unfaltering commitment to reawakening our connection to and healing nature and an economy designed for people and planet, not just linear profit.
It is my heartfelt joy to support Anna's work with her branding photography.
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