Soroptimist Pauline Monk is the Dorset Venus Awards 2014 Influential Woman Winner. Poole Soroptimists are incredibly proud of their award-winner member. We can think of no better way to sum up the reasons why Pauline deserves her winning place than the words of Amanda Taylor from VW Breeze, sponsors of the Influential Woman category:
“Wow, well this is all very daunting and unlike on all previous occasions I have been thrust into this limelight, this time I have decided NOT to wing it!
As I’ve shared with some of you previously, Breeze are delighted to be the associate sponsor of such a unique award ceremony that recognises the massive contribution that women make both directly and indirectly into the business world. I am personally thrilled to be here and involved with this crucial recognition of women in the business world and couldn’t be happier to bring along an amazing team of ladies from Breeze so they can see firsthand how important their own contributions are to Breeze and to our business and I just want to say ‘thank you ladies to each and every one of you!!’
Now the judging of this category gave us some real challenges in terms of the nominees. It was critical in my mind that we made this award based on the definition of ‘influential’…. Of which my favourite definition is having the power to cause changes , which initially facilitated selecting our 3 finalists.
From there it’s been testing to say the least. We decided the most appropriate route would be to invite each of our finalists in to hear their stories and help us understand who, where and how these amazing ladies have influenced and indeed continue to influence.
Simple then? Well not quite because really right now I’d like to be giving them all an award but I don’t have authority to – and on this occasion, I think it best not to push those boundaries or I’ll have Tara after me.
So let’s do this…. Now our winner is one amazing lady. It’s almost like she’s been working for this award her whole life. Right from the get go, this lady recognised the importance of encouraging and supporting young women not to simply accept the constraintsand norms that society so readily offered them, but to push forward to become more than they had been predisposed to become.
Her journey has seen her cover rather an immense amount of miles having worked in various organisations over 35 years and continuously using her powers of influence to achieve her desired outcomes, particularly within the world of education. Simply put, changing the mindset of those involved and ultimately the curriculum on offer will have had the most for reaching and unquantifiable influence of all.
Fast forward – retirement! Oh no, this lady had no intention of wasting her skills, her energy or her desire to share her knowledge. Again the beneficiaries would be other women who had been bringing up their children and had been out of the work place. Demonstrating to them and supporting them in terms of how they could and indeed would become successful by developing their personal, social and administrative skills which in turn allowed them to run their own small enterprises.
And still this lady works on – her involvement with the Purple Teardrop Campaign is further affirmation of why she deserves this award this evening. This campaign is raising awareness both public and political, of the plight of women being sold into slavery (mostly sexual slavery) or we can call it human trafficking – whatever it is referred to as, it’s a serious and increasing issue and one that our winner is determined to keep influencing.
Ladies and gents, please welcome our Venus award winner for the most influential lady – Pauline Monk.”