Women of a Certain Age Panel Event – Monday 20th January 2025 – Event Recap
On January 20th 2025 Women in the Food Industry held an essential panel discussion on “Women of a Certain Age” on the first floor events room at The Lucky Saint. The event brought together industry leaders and experts to explore the critical issue of an ageing population and how older women are regarded in hospitality, the media and the food industry. Alongside the panel the lively audience at the sold-out event shared best practices, explored lived experiences, and started the discussion towards actionable strategies so that women of all ages have the opportunity to thrive in the sector.
Our panel – pictured above from left to right:
Rosalind Rathouse has 50 years of teaching experience both in secondary schools and in her own study-skills practice, plus a huge passion for food and cooking, which led to founding her first food business in the 1980s: Piemaker, making and supplying wholesale pies and cakes to the likes of Harrods, Waitrose and the Orient Express.
With the decline in people passing down home cooking through the generations, in 2003 aged 60, Rosalind decided to combine her enthusiasm for teaching and her love of food to open Cookery School at Little Portland Street. The lasting principles of classic, simple home cooking are principles embedded in the school’s ethos. Rosalind feels very strongly that proper teaching can enthuse even the most unconfident cook. By 2008, the school was thriving, with fully booked classes, courses and corporate events gaining in popularity, so Rosalind took on a second, much larger, kitchen in the same building.
With Rosalind’s knowledge and experience, she has been called upon by the press – particularly the BBC as they are in such close proximity – for her opinion and expertise.
Louise Monaghan has over 30 years experience in hospitality. She trained at Westminster Kingsway College and began her career at The Waterside Inn in Bray before moving to the kitchens of The Boulestin Restaurant in Covent Garden under chef Kevin Kennedy. Her front of house journey took her to Le Gavroche, working for Albert Roux under the guidance of the legendary Silvano Giraldin. She later worked for Albert Roux’s consultancy at The Point in New York State, The Grand Hotel Amsterdam, Boucherie Lamartine and Roux Lamartine in Covent Garden Market. As the bakery buyer for Selfridges Food Hall, she was responsible for selecting and sourcing a diverse range of high-quality products. She played a key role in the running of her family-owned restaurants in Southwest London.
Currently, she collaborates with restaurants and businesses to enhance their standards of customer service and contribute industry insights through reviews and articles, including reflections on her return to Le Gavroche in 2023, three decades later.
Mex Ibrahim (chair of the panel) is co-founder of Women in the Food Industry. After almost 8 years as Head of Social Media & Marketing of the UK’s fastest growing food website, Great British Chefs, Mex has delivered a variety of award-winning digital marketing campaigns & now runs her own freelance social media, content creation & digital strategy business. Passionate about women’s equality & female empowerment, she co-founded Women in the Food Industry in April 2019 which became a Community Interest Company in July 2023.
Anna Szwichtenberg is Director of People at Off to Work hospitality & event recruiters, shaping HR strategies across five regions and overseeing operations for more than 2-3,000 seasonal workers annually. In previous roles, she partnered with senior leadership to deliver transformational HR strategies. At The Standard Hotel, she enhanced diversity and inclusion efforts and designed engagement programs that boosted employee satisfaction by 20%. During her time at Hakkasan Group, she led global talent initiatives, reduced turnover by 15%, and co-developed “Totem,” a communication app that improved team collaboration across departments.
She is passionate about fostering inclusive, people-first cultures and leveraging her background in business psychology to empower organizations and individuals to achieve their full potential in today’s rapidly evolving business landscape.
Kate Howell is a communications advisor and NED, specialising in food, communities and markets. For 12 years, she was Director of Communications and Engagement at Borough Market, where her work was driven by a strong belief in the central part that food can play in creating communities and driving the sustainability agenda. Kate was responsible for building the market’s worldwide brand, developing its printed, digital and in-person communications, increasing engagement, and ensuring that the thoughts of the institution were regularly heard through the national and international media.
She currently sits on the boards of The Mayor of London’s Markets’ Board and is Vice President of Les Dames Escoffier International, a philanthropic organisation supporting women in hospitality.
Radhika Howarth is a London-based author, TV chef, and culinary storyteller who recently debuted her cookbook, Flavours Without Borders: 80 Recipes Connecting Cultures and Cuisines. She is celebrated for her engaging TV appearances, including The World Cook on Amazon Prime and Channel 4’s Double the Money with Sue Perkins, where she marked her 60th birthday on set.
Radhika collaborates with leading brands to create unique recipes and immersive food experiences. Her expertise shines at live events, where she has delivered chef demos at iconic venues such as Trafalgar Square and the Great British Food Festival. In addition to her culinary storytelling, she teaches cooking classes at Divertimenti and serves as a guest chef at the School of Wok. A proud member of the Guild of Food Writers and The Chef’s Forum, Radhika is also the brand ambassador for Hamilton Beach UK and Europe.
Women of a Certain Age panellists – photo by Catherine Sloman
Before the panel our guests enjoyed pizza and a grazing table. Huge thanks to the following female founders for providing some delicious products – Eva Thorne of Garden of Eva‘s award-winning water melon rind pickles & condiments and Natasha Shamji of Seedy Snacks for her award-winning organic, vegan, low carb and gluten free seed crackers. Thanks to Rupa – iphone food photographer of Your Creative Vision for helping us with the styling of the grazing table.
Also a huge thanks to Emma Heal Managing Director of Lucky Saint, the UK’s leading alcohol free beer, who kindly hosted us in the first floor meeting room of Lucky Saint pub. It was a fabulous venue & her team were super helpful.
What was discussed at the event:
How to break stereotypes The focus of the evening was on the skills and strengths of Women of the Certain Age. The panel explored the unique skills developed through their life experience & how they have contributed to productivity, customer satisfaction, and a happier workplace culture.
Improved Recruitment & Retention How we can prevent age bias in hiring by using age-neutral language which focusses on skills and experience. How to build tailored career paths and make health-conscious work adjustments including the growing discussion on menopause.
How to create an Age-Inclusive Workplace Culture What having clear diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) policies means to a business. We discussed mentorship between younger and older employees and what both can teach each other.
The Role of the Media What is it like working in a world that seems to be obsessed with youth when you are older? How can older women be heard? What positive role models do we see? Who is responsible for celebrating the value of experience?
Learnings from Research & Data Research shows that firms with a higher share of employees aged 50+ are more productive. We are facing an ageing population. More than 165,000 workers over 50 joined the hospitality sector in the past 3 years
What Upskilling and Training can mean for your business. We looked at how the food and hospitality businesses can offer training and development opportunities and encourage greater diversity.
Technology – friend or foe? We discussed how we can use new technologies such as AI and Chat GPT, video conferencing and WhatsApp to aid flexible working. We also explored the role of social media & how “Women of a Certain Age” are harnessing new skills to help their businesses and profiles.
Key highlights
This evening was a very inspiring event for all hospitality professionals, HR leaders, food producers, press, broadcast media, and advocates looking to create an age inclusive workplace culture. Along with the panel the lively audience explored the issues and started discussions to initiate change
As mentioned above a free grazing table & pizza was available to enjoy. Plus a wide variety of beverages were purchased in The Lucky Saint Pub downstairs.
Watch this space for more….
Here is a lovely post from Soha Darwish along with photos. Here’s some of what she said: “The discussions were relatable, heart warming and lots of fun. The speakers were just wonderful, I really learnt a lot and felt reassured that my concerns were valid and things are changing into a very positive direction.”
Anna Szwichtenberg & Radhika Howarth
Sohar Darwish & Angela Clutton
Sohar Darwish & Radhika Howarth
Come back to this page for more takeaways and photos from the night.
Some of our supporters
