Sarah Winterbottom and Izabella Ivanovici, the founders of Women in Signs and Graphics, have teamed up with Sam Armstrong of signage consultancy Make it Happen to host a ‘Ladies’ Day’ bootcamp for women involved in the signage sector.
The event, which will take place on 15 December at trade signage manufacturer SignFab’s premises in Leicester, will see attendees given the opportunity to join a women-only signage workshop to learn first-hand how signage is manufactured as well as to share knowledge and ideas that will benefit their businesses in a supportive environment.
The all-day programme will also include demonstrations of techniques and materials that the organisers say would otherwise take months to pull together, and has been designed to support those that are new to the industry as well as established clients and companies.
Ms Armstrong commented, ‘Over three years of training I have had many a conversation with ladies who don’t always feel confident enough to ask questions. ‘As the ratio tends to be one lady to five gentlemen on each course, although I’m delighted to say that in recent times, this is changing. I have a great relationship with Sarah and Izabella and we’ve had numerous conversations over the years about encouraging more ladies into this fabulous industry.
‘This is why we feel it’s the right time to host the Ladies’ Day, which will be a jam-packed day of signs, signs, signs, including the hands on element in the factory, going through more products in one day than most get to see in a year!’
Ms Winterbottom, whose day job is being the managing director of Josero, added, ‘We’re really proud to partner with Make It Happen to deliver this unique Ladies’ Day Signage Bootcamp. Our initial goal when starting Women In Signs and Graphics was to inspire, promote, and encourage women in the industry, and help like-minded women connect and share ideas. What better way to do that than in a practical and creative environment, where women of all levels of experience can roll up their sleeves and learn together?’
Finally Ms Ivanovici, who is also a specialist recruitment consultant at INV Recruitment, concluded, ‘This is a heavily male-dominated industry so it makes sense that the men to women ratio at these workshops tends to favour men. This is why we decided to organise the Ladies’ Day Bootcamp to encourage women to take part in Sam’s brilliant training course, to learn about signage in a women-only environment where we can share ideas and opinions. Hopefully, this will inspire more and more women into the signage industry in the future.’
