Vanessa Sanyauke is the Founder and CEO of Girls Talk London, an award winning organisation that has engaged half a million women around the world and directly impacted 1,500 women & girls in the UK. Vanessa is also a speaker, presenter and writer based in London. Vanessa has over a decade of experience advising FTSE 100 businesses on Diversity, Inclusion and Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives and policy. Vanessa has worked with over 50 businesses that include The Bank of England, UK Parliament, Facebook, O2, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Barclays, State Street, Salesforce, Vodafone, BT, Ericsson, Allen and Overy, Lloyds Bank, Bauer Media, UBS, RBS Legal, Rabobank, Reed Smith and CMS Cameron McKenna. Vanessa has also been an adviser on Youth Policy to the former UK Prime Minister David Cameron and The former Mayor of London Boris Johnson.
In 2018 Vanessa was listed on the 2018 EMpower 50 Ethnic Minority Future Leaders List, presented by the Financial Times and as a Changemaker on the 2018 Evening Standard 1000 most influential Londoners list. That same year she won an award at the 2018 European Diversity Awards for Best Community Project for setting up the pan-industry project, Step into STEM.
Her speaking engagements have taken her across the globe at institutions such as The Southbank Centre, Glitz Africa She Summit, UN Women UK, Cosmopolitan Self-Made Summit, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Google UK, City Hall, Institute of Directors and Women in Research UK.
Vanessa is a regular visiting lecturer and speaker on Social Entrepreneurship, Corporate Social Responsibility and Diversity and Inclusion for London School of Economics, City University London, Kent Business School, Brunel University and Kings College London.
Vanessa has written and featured in publications such as The Guardian, Stylist, The Telegraph, LOOK Magazine, virgin.com, Confederation of British Industry and Entrepreneur Country. The 16th April 2017 Edition of The Style Magazine Sunday Times Supplement listed Vanessa as one of 10 people changing the workplace for women in the UK.