Building each other up: the women who inspire, lead, and support one another

Director of Development and Partnerships Danni Barnes introduces the amazing women of National Energy Action.

In the work we do, the challenges we face are big. Fuel poverty is complex, and the solutions require persistence, expertise, and an unwavering commitment to change. But if I’ve learned anything in my time at National Energy Action, it’s that we work hard to bring out the best in each other to make things happen.

I am incredibly privileged to work alongside inspiring women every day who lead with purpose, advocate fiercely, and lift each other up every step of the way. They don’t just push for change in policy and practice – they create it in the way they work, in the support they give, and in the way they challenge the status quo.

This International Women’s Day, I don’t want to talk about myself. Instead, I want to introduce you to some of the women who inspire me every day. Their voices, experiences, and insights speak volumes about the kind of leadership we need more of – collaborative, fearless, and deeply rooted in a drive to make things better.

Heather Critchlow, Head of Development

‘International Women’s Day is about coming together to show solidarity and support for women and girls everywhere. I feel incredibly proud to work at National Energy Action and to witness the collective strength, understanding and genuine unity demonstrated by all the incredible women who I’m fortunate enough to work alongside. Knowing how much we women all value and respect each other helps to ensure we bring out the very best in ourselves and shows that nothing should hold us back. Happy IWD 2025 to all of the amazing women in my life!’

Jo Boswell, Project Development Manager

‘I’ve always known that my employer has been an advocate for women but events in my personal life at the end of last year highlighted that National Energy Action not only talk the talk but walk it as well. The support I received from colleagues (scrap that, friends) has been amazing and enabled me to fulfil my work role and regain lost confidence. Girl power is alive and well!’

Danielle Butler, Project Development Manager

‘International Women’s Day is a time to reflect, celebrate, and continue to push for change. I think about the single mums, like mine, who work tirelessly to keep their homes warm, fridges stocked, and their children not just stress and shame free, but carefree and happy. More than one in four lone parent households are living in fuel poverty and more than 85% of lone parent households are headed by women. Tackling fuel poverty has many gendered aspects and this needs to be a critical consideration in the way we deliver support, partner, advocate, and build evidence.

‘Gender in my working day, however, is something I rarely think about. How fortunate. But that shouldn’t be a privilege – it should be the norm.

‘Fact is, the women I work with are incredible. They’re kind, strong, and so smart, dynamic and effective at what they do that I am in awe every single day. Across our whole organisation. We encourage and support and lift one another up. We are forgiving and patient. We lead with kindness. We listen. We learn with and from one another. And I am immensely proud of us.’

Jamie Rosenburgh, Insights and Impact Manager

‘What does International Women’s Day mean to me? On one level, I stop, and I look around me. At work, I realise I am inspired each day by the women I work with. We show strength, determination, and confidence in ourselves and in what we do. We support one another, lift each other up and work in collaborative solidarity. And we do so alongside male allies. I am thankful that my place of work offers flexibility, is responsive and respectful of personal need and circumstances, and helps its employees to achieve work-life balances that work for them. And then I realise, is that something I should be “thankful” for? Shouldn’t it just be the norm?

‘I think about the good we do as a charity and the support that we provide to people who are often experiencing the direst of circumstances. And I note that every day, I see how the burden of the injustices arising from structural inequality fall disproportionately upon women, and on children. Even more so if you are a single mother. Even more so if you have a disability. Even more so if you are a woman of colour. The weight of those overlapping inequalities bears heavy on my mind. It’s never just about working to resolve one issue in isolation. There is so much work needed to tackle the multiple root causes of inequality in our society, before we can turn to one another in agreement and say that women do not face a higher risk of detriment because they are women.   

‘At home, I stop, and I look at those around me. I feel the love and respect I have for my mother and grandmother before her – the admiration I feel for their strength and determination to make a good life for themselves and their families, and the fierceness of their love. I feel proud of them. They are my heroines. But there is also the realisation that they should never have had to commit acts of heroism just to lead a normal life or reach an acceptable standard of living. It should be the basic minimum that any woman, any person, can expect.

‘I see my own daughters and revel in the freedom they have – the freedom to think and to grow and to be whoever they want to be. I celebrate their passion for life, marvel at their curiosity and inquisitiveness. And once again I am thankful that they can pursue the things that interest them. One of their favourite bedtime books is “Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls”. Yet it always makes me uneasy, the thought that we need to pre-empt the discrimination and the challenges they are likely to face as women in the wider world by building in them an ingrained belief that they can be anything and do anything. What if that was just the norm? If we didn’t have to teach it, because it just “was”? But it is needed. They still come home from school saying that someone has said that girls can’t be astronauts or boys can’t wear sparkles. And we have to work to challenge that each and every day.

‘I am thankful to have a husband who shares equally in our domestic tasks, who is a true partner and who gives equally as a parent. He would openly acknowledge that I still bear the majority of our familial mental load though. He is aware and tries to overcome it. But we battle with the socialisation we received, where mental loads falls automatically upon women, because it’s how we are raised to think. And then, I think again, should I really have to be “thankful” for such a husband? Shouldn’t it be the norm, the minimum that we expect from our partners?

‘This International Women’s Day, my message would be: let’s keep working together to not be thankful for the things that should be the basic minimum, the norm, for every person in our society.’

Lesley Tudor-Snodin, Head of Advice

‘International Women’s Day 2025 and there is still so much to do. When I look back to my teens in the 90s and remember what we were up against I can see how far we have come, but dear me it does feel like we are going backwards at times, and it is difficult not to feel disheartened right now.

‘I am a feminist, though I might not always get the arguments right. I am strong, though sometimes I cry when I’m angry. I am passionate, though this can be used against me if we are not on the same side, and I feel deeply. Over the years, I’ve had to consciously decide whether to embrace these emotions with all the overthinking, heartache, disappointment, and frustration they bring or to armour myself. The armour didn’t work. I was left feeling disconnected, depressed and lonely. I needed to recognise that feeling all the feelings and being vulnerable was being myself. And, yes, this brings the hard bits, but it also brings joy, laughter, connection, strength, support and allies. It brings a sense of wholeness. I needed to get to a place where I was able to recognise that being me is actually pretty cool. I am pretty cool. I still seek validation that I am doing things right, but not approval. I would not have got here without the women in my life walking by my side and encouraging me to see this.

‘At work I head up the charity’s advice service and an all-female management team. This is a service that was created and built by the women now in charge of running it (including myself) and it is a service which is recognised for its compassionate, non-judgemental expertise in supporting the most vulnerable. The service was built on need. It was built on intuition and doing the right thing, our way. It is still growing and evolving. We are still learning. If something doesn’t work then we regroup, come up with new ideas and we try again. When this service started, it was four women, a desk phone and an 0800 number. We are now a team of over 90, spanning across departments.

‘The women I work alongside are incredible. We are all so different, we don’t always agree, but ultimately, we support one another. We are not in competition with each other. We champion each other’s successes, knowing that when one of us thrives we all benefit. We care for each other. If one of us struggles we rally around and provide protection and support until she is ready to stand on her own again. We recognise that we are stronger together, and together we can do anything.’

Maureen Fildes, Advice Line Manager

‘It feels as if every day of my life I’ve moaned! Periods, spots, boobs, hormones, beauty, childbirth, weight, menopause, ageing and being alone.

‘In reality, I’ve experienced life, love, education, children, grandchildren, friendships, diets, gym endorphins, travel, more love, music and a thrill for living.

‘I love being me, I love being a woman and there’s not a day goes by where I wish to be anyone or anything else. We rock!’

Nicky Swetnam, Head of Programmes

‘My mother, like many women of her generation, gave up paid work when she had children and, although she did some part-time work later, she did not pursue the career for which she had studied and qualified. She tells me that she has never regretted this decision and would make it again if she had her time over. She acknowledges though that this choice meant turning away from what she could have achieved professionally, had she continued to work.

‘By contrast, I returned to work after both my periods of maternity leave, choosing to pursue my career as well as bring up my children. Different choice, different time. Both entirely valid.

We have come a long way in a generation – the automatic assumption that a woman will give up paid work if she has children is much less dominant now than it was then. However, the to-work-or-not-to-work choice remains primarily a choice which women make. Is it a luxury to be a stay-at-home parent and not need to work? Is working and bringing up a family trying to “have it all”? Is it selfish to want to pursue my career? Do working fathers wrestle with these questions? Some do, of course.

‘I wouldn’t change the choices I made – they resulted in a balance which works for me and for our family. Finding a balance between bringing up a family, building a career, and earning an income is both a responsibility and an opportunity. I look forward to the day when the choices involved in finding this balance fall less automatically on mothers and more usually on parents, regardless of gender.

‘What if we were to normalise the term “working parent” instead of “working mum”?’

Laura Beesley, Local Authority Co-ordinator

‘It’s easy in a frantic world to forget to mark International Women’s Day. Dare I say, in the UK right now a lot of people feel like we’ve achieved equality of the sexes (my husband certainly thinks so).

‘But I also think that International Women’s Day means different things at different times in our lives.

‘For me at present, it gives me an uncomfortable reminder I’m living a double life, and not the cool kind in a spy drama, either! I’m a loving mother who tries her absolute best for her two sons, and I’m just a human who feels passionately about amplifying the voice of people who are in crisis, fighting for a platform for people to speak truth to power, and ensuring checks and balances on the power we grant our elected officials.

‘If I’m honest, most days I don’t feel like this double life is working. I definitely don’t have the fancy clothes or hair they have in the films.

‘I can pull off a great presentation and then arrive late for nursery pick up. I can finish drafting that blog, but I forgot to clean the football boots and buy the ticket for the school disco.

‘So instead, I spend the day playing with my sons, feeding them healthy food and telling them I love them, but after they’re in bed I get that sinking feeling because I haven’t packed my bag or planned what I’m going to say for that work event tomorrow.

‘I want my four nieces to grow watching me and their mothers working hard and with purpose, and for my two sons to want to have relationships with women just like that. I’ll continue to play my part in living and breathing that reality for them, and in time I’ll come to see if it’s worked, but first I have to go finish that Peppa Pig puzzle.’

The strength of a movement isn’t just in the work itself – it’s in the people behind it. I work alongside brilliance every day. The women I work with are leading the way and doing so with generosity, resilience, and a firm belief that progress is something we create together.

So today, on International Women’s Day, I want to say thank you. To every woman who pushes forward, who brings others with her, and who makes this work not just possible, but powerful.

And if you take one thing away from this blog, let it be this: look around you. Who are the women who lift you up? Today is the perfect day to let them know!