The focus on mental health
vacation ahoy!
Welcome to The Chief Brief. Every Sunday, I spotlight global, diverse, and innovative female leaders impacting the world around them. I curate and break down stories from across the world that caught my eye and help you connect with the women you should know, if you don’t already! Welcome to my passion project of building a globally aware and connected community of women leaders.
Your weekly Sunday dose of amazing women changing the world, in your in-box!
Happy Sunday!
I was blown away by the response to last week’s Chief Brief. So, this week I want to introduce you to a few more fabulous ladies, whose work I’ve found inspirational.
The Chief Brief will be on hiatus for the rest of the month of August as I take a much-needed summer break. Writing this week’s newsletter reminded me that good mental health needs regular maintenance, rather than waiting till the ‘check engine light’ comes on.
I hope you all can rest, recharge, find your joy, and come back stronger, full of ideas and energy for the opportunities that lie ahead of us in 2021.
Without further ado, get to know:
The experts on our mental health
Sportswomen like Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka, and celebrities like Megan Markle, Drew Barrymore and Willow Smith are normalising talking about mental health. But these are the women who’ve done the hard graft - researching, understanding and addressing the treatment of our deepest problems.
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett, Canadian psychologist extraordinaire
One of the most cited experts on psychology and neuroscience, Lisa Feldman Barrett knows our brains and emotions better than anyone.
In her latest book ‘How Emotions are made: The secret life of the brain,’ she answers questions we’ve all been facing, especially as we start to emerge from almost two years of lockdowns. Questions like:
Why do emotions feel automatic and uncontrollable?
Does rational thought really control emotion?
How does emotion affect disease?
How can you make your children more emotionally intelligent?
If you want to really get to know that muscle between your ears, how about picking up a copy of her 2020 book, ‘Seven and a half lessons about the brain.’ It is pitched as the world’s first neuroscience “beach read!” One thing is for certain - every page in these books makes you go, a-ha! They also ensure regular people can access Lisa’s research, just like her peers in the scientific community (she has published an astounding 240 peer reviewed papers).
If you had any doubts about her street cred, well it is like no other. Lisa is the Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University and holds appointments at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, where she is Chief Science Officer for the Center for Law, Brain & Behaviour.
I hope you’ll take the time to listen to her latest research and perspective - I found this podcast fascinating!
Hilkka Kärkkäinen, championing depression advocacy
Hilkka Kärkkäinen knows depression. She was a patient of reactive depression in 2002. She took that experience and channelled it into championing patient care advocacy and co-authoring papers with leading researchers like ‘A sustainable approach to depression: moving from words to action,” and the more recent 2020 paper, “How mental health care should change as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Hilkka is president of GAMIAN-Europe, a patient-driven pan-European organisation which represents and advocates the interests and rights of people affected by mental health issues. She is also a Board Director of the European Brain Council (EBC), European Patient Forum (EPF) and European Psychiatric Association (EPA).
Her street cred comes from pure experience. A social worker by profession, Hilkka retired from her job as social ombudsman in Finland’s Sosiaalitaito in 2014, having worked through her career as a Senior Social Worker in Probation and After Care Association in Helsinki. She was also in charge of a Horizon ECHO program for people with mental disorders. She’s also been the executive director of the Finnish Central Association for Mental Health from 1998 to 2002 and president and vice president of Mieli Maasta, a patient association for those suffering from depression.
Breaking glass ceilings
Amanda Pritchard (NHS England)
She’s been manning the fort at the ubiquitous NHS England for some time as its COO, but now Amanda Pritchard has pipped the controversial Baroness Dido Harding, and other corporate candidates for England’s top public healthcare job. The new CEO of NHS England is the National Health Service’s first female boss since it was created in 1948.
Staff and unions have welcomed her to the role. And it’s not surprising considering Amanda is a veteran of the service. She’s not only been COO of NHS England for the past two years, but prior to that was the head of Guy’s and St Thomas’, one of England’s biggest hospital groups for seven years. Under Tony Blair, Amanda also worked in the prime minister’s delivery unit.
Miriam Olusanya (GTBank)
Miriam Olusanya became the CEO of GT Bank (Guaranty Trust Bank), one of Nigeria’s biggest banks on July 14. Miriam is the bank’s first-ever female boss in its 31-year history and is now one of six female bank bosses in the country.
She joined GT Bank as an executive trainee and gradually rose through the ranks serving as GT group treasurer/head, of the wholesale banking division and most recently as the bank’s executive director. GT Bank is the sixth largest bank in Nigeria with a total asset value in 2020 of ₦4.574 Trillion (US$ 11.1 billion). It operates in 10 African countries and the U.K., with a staff of over 12,000.
Caught my eye
David Vs. Goliath
Elected in May, unprecedented political drama may have kept her from the role for a few months, but Samoa’s new prime minister, Fiame Naomi Mataʻafa is now officially the Pacific Island country’s first female head of government. She’s been in the job less than a week and she is already going toe to toe with China, and its belt and road initiative.
PM Mataʻafa has confirmed she will cancel a China-backed port project, but hasn't closed the door completely to the Chinese as she navigates a path for the Pacific nation against a backdrop of intensifying regional competition between Beijing and Washington.
Middle Eastern SPAC
Founded in 2017, Dubai-based mobility company Swvl is SPAC’ing up with the all-female Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital, founded and is led by veteran VC Victoria Grace. Focussed on mass transit, Swvl provides ride-sharing services in emerging markets that don’t always have reliable public transportation and is present in 10 cities in the Middle East and Africa, with revenues in 2020 of $26 million. Swvl expects that number to rise to $79 million during 2021. Queens Gambit has valued Swvl’s equity at around $1.5 billion, which will make it the largest Middle East-based unicorn to debut on the Nasdaq.
Worried about being a Pegasus spyware victim?
I’ve heard from a few friends that they are worried about having been potentially targeted by NSO’s Pegasus spyware. Good news! Amnesty International has kindly put out a tool to help you figure out if you were a victim. The Verge has made it even simpler with a ‘How to’ guide to Amnesty’s tool - just in case you got stuck trying to figure the tech out.
Didi isn’t going private (yet!)
China’s ride hailing juggernaut Didi has denied a report that claimed it would go private just weeks after its flashy IPO to make peace with the Chinese authorities. The company was in the Chinese regulator’s cross hairs just days after it went public in the U.S. for cybersecurity issues and an antitrust probe.
Black Widow Vs. Disney
Scarlett Johansson is suing Disney for the simultaneous release of Black Widow on its streaming channel, along with the film’s release in theatres. Her claim is based on Disney’s purported breach of contract. Scarlett’s pay-check for the film was tied only to the film’s box office performance, which has been significantly impacted by the dual release. Black Widow’s gross currently stands at $319 million globally, while most Marvel movies have grossed upward of $1 billion at the box office.
Disney has fired back at the actor saying, “The lawsuit is especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Disney also did not provide any information about whether Scarlett’s contract was renegotiated so that she could share in streaming rental revenue.
Summer Reads
Books that have made the cut for my vacation bag! (I’ll let you know what I think!)
She-Merchants, Buccaneers & Gentlewomen
This book by Katie Hickman promises to go where no history books will take you. She-Merchants, buccaneers & gentlewomen is a well-researched account of the women that male historians of the British Imperial rule in India forgot. It is a smorgasbord of adventures and eccentricities of the powerful women who influenced colonial India, from the time the East India Company first landed on the country’s shores. It promises controversy for sure. Here is the Guardian’s review.
Grit
Psychologist Angela Duckworth’s TED talk in 2013 was about “Grit” being the hallmark of high achievers. She explained grit as being a combination of passion and perseverance for a singularly important goal. A few years later that TED talk was followed up by a massively successful New York Times Bestselling book (which I’ve been meaning to read for ages!). The book covers a lot of ground - from Angela’s own experiences, to historical insights, modern experiments and interviews with dozens of high achievers (JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon to Seahawks coach Pete Carroll). Grit promises to show us, “what goes through your head when you fall down, and how that—not talent or luck—makes all the difference.” Here is the New York Times review.
The Chief Brief will be back in September!
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