WISH Scotland: Third Birthday Celebration

WISH Scotland Networking Event

Third Birthday Celebrations

Date: Thursday 18th September

Time: 10am - 4pm

Venue: Wheatley House, 25 Cochrane Street, Glasgow, G1 1HL

Please note: No parking, easily accessed from Queen Street Station or local public transport.

Be Inspired, Be Connected, Be Motivated: Join WISH Scotland for our third birthday celebrations

Join us for WISH Scotland's highly anticipated 3rd birthday event on Thursday 18 September 2025, back at Wheatley House, Glasgow.

Once again we'll have a range of interesting and inspirational speakers combined with an opportunity to meet a range of women from across the Scottish housing sector (and eat great cupcakes).

Our keynote speakers:

Dame Irene Hays DBE - Dame Irene Hays was born and built her career in the Northeast of England, becoming Chief Executive of both Sunderland and South Tyneside local authorities, she has also worked in Whitehall where she was Director General for Local Government and Regeneration including the housing portfolio, in the Department of Local Government and Communities.

Dame Irene is owner and director of Hays Travel and has chaired the company for 16 years. Her late husband, John Hays, began the business in 1980. Irene and John were hailed as ‘heroes of the high street’ in 2019, when they acquired the Thomas Cook estate and offered jobs to nearly 3,000 people. Proud to be headquartered in Sunderland, Hays Travel is the UK’s largest independent travel agent and was voted the nation’s favourite at the British travel Awards 2023, when it was awarded gold in the Best National Travel Retailer, Best Travel Agency for Cruise Holidays, and Best Retailer for Forex/Travel Money categories.

Dame Irene states that the success of Hays travel has been built upon the premise of supporting our people, our customers and communities where we operate.

She has held positions on the boards of the Academy for Sustainable Communities, BBC, Sport England, The Football Foundation, and the Department for Education. 

Laurie MacPherson - Laurie MacPherson is a Career and LinkedIn mentor who has supported over 1000 people to find work over the last 10 years.

For the last 6 years, she has used LinkedIn to promote her business, and also supports others to use LinkedIn with practical, impactful LinkedIn training which helps them to raise their profile, establish authority and be seen by others in the industry who they want to work with and for.

Prior to establishing her own business, she worked in employability and managed teams in the retail and travel sectors.

Zara Mohammed - Zara Mohammed is a recognised leadership voice in British Muslim civil society. As the former Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain, and the first woman and youngest to ever hold the post, she has played a pivotal role in inspiring a new generation of leaders and strengthening connections between Muslim-led organisations and wider society. 

Zara has been featured in Vogue's 25 Most influential women in the UK.

Through her consultancy work, she supports CSOs with leadership development, governance, and inclusion, helping build stronger, more collaborative and impactful networks across communities.

Mary MacLeod - Mary came to Gilded Lily in 2017 and has extensive experience of project design & development, as well as managing and delivering community projects including Confidence-Building, Business Start-up, Climate Change and Mentoring programs to name a few. She is responsible for funding and business management at Gilded Lily, ensuring the sustainability of our work.

Mary has worked in the third sector for over 20 years supporting people from marginalised and multi-cultural backgrounds and is very passionate about ensuring Gilded Lily is a place of rich diversity, particularly welcoming women and girls from global majority communities. 

Gilded Lily supports women and girls in Govan and surrounding areas of Glasgow to become more confident, creative, employable and enterprising by providing workshops, training programs and activities in an inclusive, accessible, culturally safe and supportive environment. 

Their aims and objectives are to inspire and empower women to reach their full potential, learning new skills that helps to increase confidence and positive mental health & wellbeing, reducing isolation and barriers to opportunities.

The WISH Scotland board look forward to seeing you on the 18th September, book now to secure your place.

Best wishes,
WISH Scotland