I am Woman

“The industry average within tech is 20% female representation within staff. At Airbox we have, so far, achieved 40%. We are proud?that we are genuinely a female-friendly business and committed to gender equality. We have made sure that women are represented at all levels of the business and strive to ensure that Airbox nurtures and supports women in their careers”. William Moore, CEO added:?”?There is always more we can do, but we see huge benefits as an organization from the cognitive diversity of having a good gender balance.”

On International Women’s Day we wanted to focus on two women in our team who have forged a path outside of work that has both challenged them and created the person who we?value today. It is evident that both Georgia and Aimee love a challenge, in both of their stories we see the connection they have felt to sport and their journey to conquer it. Airbox is fortunate to be inspired by two colleagues who have pushed themselves.

?Oh yes I am wise

But it's wisdom born of pain

Yes, I've paid the price

But look how much I gained

If I have to, I can do anything

I am strong

I am invincible

I am woman

?Georgia Dowdeswell

“I have always had a love-hate relationship with sport. Loved it because I was pretty decent at it. Hated it because I was told that I would never make it in hockey unless I changed my looks. Hated it because I was bullied so badly at school that my teachers let me play tournament matches in lesson time so I wouldn’t get abused by virtually all of my year group. Love it because it has given me so many opportunities that I could never have dreamed of. Love it because it has stretched my horizons, my boundaries and provided so much fulfilment.

3 hours, 3 mins and 14 seconds.?That is how long it took to row 22 miles in a coastal double - that’s a rowing boat with a blade (oar) in each hand. It is also the race record for a women’s crew across Loch Ness in a rowing boat.?You are a master (“veteran”) in rowing by the time you are 27. Olympic rowers are almost always 6” or taller.?So a record time is not bad for a couple of short women in their 50s.?

5 days.?Rowing the navigable Thames from Lechlade to Teddington.?26 miles a day over the hottest days of the summer in 2019. My pair (1 boat, 1 blade each) partner got heat stroke at the end of day 1. I rowed the second length solo in my single when temperatures were touching 100F - the day my 105 and a half year old grandmother passed away. Our boat was almost crushed on day 3 by an errant motor boat whilst we were stood on the side after a portage around a lock. Somehow I managed to lift a fully rigged boat, with blades clear of the water by myself. My pair partner said afterwards it was one of those moments of superhuman strength that you read about in the news.

5 hours, 5 mins and too many seconds.?My first and by far the worst marathon I have ever run. If anyone ever asks you to run a marathon in South Beach, Miami, say no. With 100% humidity and temperatures in the 30s, you start at 06:00 to avoid the heat. It was the most gruelling experience. And I can thoroughly recommend not eating dodgy shellfish the night before. Portapotties are not good at the best of times, let alone halfway around a marathon course.

4 hours 18 minutes to ride the 85 miles of the Etape Caledonia. No epic tales in this one - just sit on the bike, pedal hard, a big cheesy grin and enjoy the views of the Scottish Highlands.

23 hours and 20 odd minutes to walk 100km over the South Downs in the Gurkha Challenge. If my memory serves me right, the altitude gain/loss is the equivalent of climbing to the top of Snowdon and back three times. One team of four: 3 girls, 1 bloke. Guess which one dropped out after losing their 5th toenail at the halfway point.

7 years. I never did change my looks. After almost 7 years of hell, I finally banished the bullying from my school colleagues in the very last match that we played together, weeks before we left school. Our school team never played indoor hockey. Their team was stuffed with representational players up to international level: friends that I played with or against most weeks in club hockey. My team laughed and poked fun at me as I kitted up with all the hardware required for the onslaught that I knew was coming my way as goalkeeper. We drew 0-0. That same person who had said ‘you won’t make it’ blowing the full time whistle. Take that. Motivation for life.”

You can bend but never break me

'Cause it only serves to make me

More determined to achieve my final goal

And I come back even stronger

Not a novice any longer

'Cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul

Aimee Neale

At age eight I wanted to be one of three things: a lorry driver, an astronaut or a professional sailor. I had no idea why or where these aspirations came from but I remember them clearly. When I was eight I started dinghy sailing in the summer holidays, by 17 I got a place on the ‘Tall Ships’ race.?This was when I realized my true love of the seas.?I found a new me and?experienced things I didn’t know possible, it ignited a fire in me, and I wanted more!

I applied to be an Outdoor instructor at ‘Outward Bound’ in Aberdyfi, Wales when I was 18.?I moved from Kent to Wales to teach, train and help young people from inner cities to experience the outdoors.?I was only a couple of years older than most of them, but I was very happy. It was here in Wales that I joined the Mountain Rescue team and also the RNLI both as volunteers. ?I loved it.?My pager would go off and I would go to try and help people in trouble.

In 2019 I moved to the Mediterranean to seek a position as a deckhand/mate onboard luxury yachts.?I was offered many roles as a cook or maid, but this was not for me. Eventually I found a role as a deckhand.?I worked onboard these yachts which took me all around the world, eventually ending up in Miami where I stayed for 2 years.?

During my time in Miami I started racing yachts more and more eventually gaining a place onboard ‘Alpha Graphics’ an all-female crewed 60ft yacht that we raced half way around the world taking 3months called ‘The EDS Challenge’ racing against professional sailors like Ellen MacArthur and other professional sailors.?At this point I had reached one of my main goals in life, and I was ecstatic! However, challenges lay ahead.

Whilst sailing on Alpha Graphics one of the crew. Asia Pajkovska, was lost overboard during a violent knockdown, we gybed around and started to head for Asia. The wind was so strong it was difficult to get to windward of her. I was keeping a look out whilst the crew prepared ropes, life rings, poles and anything else they could get their hands on. Encouraging Asia to swim and stay with us, ‘We will get you!’ Getting close to her was difficult. We managed a couple of times to get right next to her but the boat would accelerate and go away from her again. We must have tried about six or seven times before we finally got a line around her and she was dragging behind the boat. A difficult experience but one that prepared me for my next adventure.

Shortly after the ocean racing I took some timeout, and went travelling with one of my best friends ‘my snowboard’.?Twelve months later I returned to the UK for my best friend’s wedding.?It was during this time I started working for the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution)?I was the first female lifeboat trainer, based on the IOW, Cowes.?I taught theory and practical lifeboat handling including capsizing drills, working with HMCG helicopters and large moving vessels in the Solent.?An amazing job and great opportunity, working with lifeboat volunteers was very rewarding.

Two years later I started working for HMCG, initially based at Thames MRCC in Essex. I worked hard and began teaching and training others in Search & Rescue Mission Co-ordination. ?My HMCG career took me to the role of ‘Tactical Commander’ a role mostly dominated by men.?A role in which I was running and overseeing the entire shores of the United Kingdom to help save life and keep our seas and shores safe.?I am very proud of my achievements and my role held within HMCG.?They did not come easily nor without sacrifice, but when I am told I can’t do something – it ignites a fire in me!?A fire to achieve it, and more!

Thank you to our inspirational contributors and to all the women in the Airbox family who work consistently to help us protect those in the field.

Lyrics from ‘I am Women’ Helen Reddy

Edited by Clementine Perrins

?