Past events

We know that the challenges of the 21st century are not easy to solve—from poverty and global warming to terrorism and ethnic strife. Today’s problems require ‘moral leaders’ with the long-term commitment and character to navigate the unknown and bridge divides between rich and poor, public and private, business and philanthropy, shareholders and stakeholders. Through sharing her own journey from a Biomedical Scientist to Impact Investing to being a Mum-preneur, Ambika will provide an opportunity for you to take a journey within and connect with your own authentic Moral Leader.

A Consciousness Coach, International Speaker, Co-Founder, Leader, Mum-preneur. At Acumen, a pioneer in the impact investing sector, Ambika manages Partner engagement across Europe, resource mobilization and revenue generation across multiple sectors in developing markets. Simultaneously, Ambika leads the online health transformation platform she co-founded with her husband, Ronnie Rich, FITBANKER, committed to put an end to lifestyle-induced diseases. A Biomedical Scientist by qualification with a PhD in Obstetrics & Gynaecology, specialised in normal and preterm pregnancies. A global citizen who has lived across 4 continents. Dedicated to personal development and service to humanity, she is constantly investing in discovering her True Self through spiritual education from ancient Vedas. Her legacy is Love, the core essence of what it is to be Human.

Roula Khalaf is the deputy editor of the Financial Times. In this role she provides strategic direction for the FT’s editorial coverage and its large global network of foreign correspondents. An award-winning journalist, she also writes a weekly column on international affairs.

She was promoted to foreign editor came after she served for more than a decade as the FT's Middle East editor, overseeing the launch of the FT's Middle East edition and leading coverage of the financial crisis in the Gulf and later the Arab spring. Before that she was a staff writer for Forbes magazine in New York, where she focussed on corporate reporting accounting. 

Khalaf holds a masters degree in international affairs from Columbia University. She appears regularly on national and international TV and radio.  She was named foreign commentator of the year at the Editorial Intelligence Comment Awards in 2016.

We will be discovering wines from The Mediterranean to complement the Middle East theme.

Geeta Sidhu-Robb is an author, inspirational speaker, CEO and Founder of Nosh Detox and Board Apprentice to Invesco Select Perpetual Trust.  Her frequent appearance on Radio and National TV has given her a strong media profile as an expert on Natural Health Solutions.  Geeta gave up her career as a corporate lawyer to set up her own business, Nosh Detox in 2008, after her son’s severe food allergies, eczema, asthma and anaphylaxis as a baby led her to retrain as a Raw Chef and functional nutritionist.

Geeta describes herself as a health coach and nutritionist with a holistic understanding of how nutrition affects body functions.  She has applied this passion to help over 15,0000 clients treat everything from problem skin, weight issues and digestive problems to coping with stress and fighting infections.

Geeta has taken home Entrepreneur and Business Women of the Year awards in 2010, 2011 and 2014. Her strong skills in business development and her entrepreneurial acumen have seen Nosh grow from a start-up to a multi-award winning wellness empire that now consists of a group of companies including Nosh Raw and Nosh Infusion.  July of this year saw Geeta launch the very first Nosh Infusion Clinic in the exclusive Harvey Nichols, London.

We will be exploring some organic wines

Born in Poole, and raised on the edge of the harbour, a passion for the sea developed at a young age, sailing in dinghies, moving on to captain team racing teams at a national level, then coaching the first women’s Arabian offshore race team in Oman, racing throughout Arabia. Sailing the Atlantic 5 times, racing in inshore and offshore regattas in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. Skippered the women’s team ‘Atlantic Endeavour’ in the 2016 Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, a 3,000 nautical mile rowing race from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua in the Caribbean. Sarah is now considering her next challenge…

Her two charities:

https://www.mind.org.uk/
https://www.womenforwomen.org.uk/

We will also be discussing English wines as a companion to this very English lady

Florence Cathiard gratuated from the Institut d’Administration des entreprises and fron the Institut d’études politiques (IEP) of Grenoble. and was a member of the French Alpine Reserve team. She then started a career in business and became the Vice-President of Mc Cann Erickson Europe & Director Mac Cann France.

She then completely changed her career to be the co-owner with her husband Daniel of Château Smith Haut Lafitte (Grand Cru Classé de Graves) since 1991, of Château Cantelys, Château Le Thil, Château Beauregard (Pomerol) and Château Bastor-Lamontagne (Sauternes). She has also created something truly unique with Les Sources de Caudalie (Palace Hotel, restaurants, SPA)  and Les Etangs de Corot (hotel, restaurant, spa) 

In addition to all this, Catherine is a member of l’Union des Grands Crus and Vice-Chancelière of the Académie du Vin de Bordeaux, , Counselor of Foreign Trade of France since 2010, Président of the Conseil Supérieur de l’Oenoturisme (“Wine Tourism Council”) since 2014.

Catherine has also  published two books books around wine (« Art de vigne » and « Autour d’une bouteille avec Florence et Daniel Cathiard » ).
She is also a Chevalier de l’ordre national du Mérite des Arts et Lettres et du Mérite agricole and nominated in 2014 as Chevalier dans l’Ordre de la Légion d’Honneur and has been recognised as a Leading Woman Entrepreneur of the World (2000).
 

It should have been a unique tasting experience with Grace Belgravia Club

The Club has closed this sunday 17th of February: 

https://www.gracebelgravia.com/

We will no longer hold that event and feel deeply sorry for Grace Club that was a wonderful heaven for women.

Laurence and Anne
 

Ayana Misawa is a fifth generation winemaker working at Grace Wine in Yamanashi Prefecture, about 100km west of Tokyo and north of Mt Fuji.

Trained in Japan, Bordeaux and Stellenbosch, and having worked in Argentina, Chile, Australia and France,  Ayana is now the chief winemaker at Grace Wine. However, being one of the very few female winemakers in male dominated Japan, is not easy. While Ayana is determined and confident, she is also sensitive and making wines matching her character: powerful yet full of delicacy and grace.

For a change, we will be trying to differentiate and guess between different sparkling wines. Some will be easier than others, but we might slip in some surprises...

And to increase the stakes for this competition, we will offer a bottle of sparkling to the winner team!

This will be a good test of our noses and taste buds. We will also briefly review the different methods and different grapes employed in sparkling production.

Julia Elizabeth King, Baroness Brown of Cambridge, DBE FREng FRS FInstP CEng is a British engineer and crossbench member of the House of Lords, who was the Vice-Chancellor of Aston University from 2006 to 2016.

Julia will speak to us about the House of Lords, its role in scrutinising legislation, including Brexit, and why she believes in the value of an unelected chamber. She will also explain the process for applying to become a member of the Lords.

We will be discovering Chilean wines.

Tessa Bamford is a consultant in the Boards Practice at Spencer Stuart. She also serves as a non-executive director of two FTSE100 companies: Ferguson plc, the world’s leading distributor of heating and plumbing products to the professional market and Barratt Developments plc, one of Britain’s largest homebuilders.

Before joining Spencer Stuart, Tessa was a founding director of MerchantCantos, an online corporate communications company serving many FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and international businesses. Previously she spent 18 years as an investment banker in both the UK and US, first with BZW and then with Schroders.

We will explore Eastern European wines