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Winnie Awa is the award-winning Founder & CEO of Carra, and AI-driven digital hair health platform. Building the next frontier of hair care, Winnie is disrupting the status quo and making the £90bn global haircare industry more inclusive.
She has been recognised by the likes of the BBC, Sunday Times Style, Vogue, Harpers Bazaar and Refinery 29. It comes as no surprise that Winnie is highly sought-after as a corporate speaker, covering topics including Women in Technology, Entrepreneurship, Diversity, and Inclusive haircare.
Before setting her sights on entrepreneurship, Winnie Awa graduated with a 1st class degree in Management and Computing, going on to forge a highly successful career as a technology consultant and product strategist at world class companies. She started her career at IBM, then Ernst & Young, and later on NET-A-PORTER, ASOS, and LVMH where she led the launch of innovative consumer technology platforms.
A passionate advocate for inclusivity, Winnie Awa loves dedicates her time to mentoring fellow female entrepreneurs and encouraging young girls to consider STEM subjects. In her roles as part of Glamour Magazine Beauty Power List and Women’s Health Award Judge, Winnie is renowned for using her voice and platform to revolutionise the haircare industry using Tech and Data.
Recently named an InnovateUK Women in Innovation winner, Winnie has been recognised in various publications, cited in the book Palette and having contributed to Looking Beyond The Car In Front.
Global Trends 2024 and Beyond: This talk looks at the global haircare trends through the lens of the powerful multicultural consumer. Winnie explores what is moving the needle in multicultural haircare, aiming to inspire beauty executives with strategic foresight for embedding inclusive initiatives into product development.
Audiences will begin to understand the psychology and behavioural shifts of the multicultural consumer, gain valuable insights into the evolving landscape of multicultural beauty and haircare, and how to look beyond DEI to create a sustainable culture of true inclusivity.
Exploring the Intersection of AI, and Beauty and Haircare: This talk looks at ideas around inclusive innovation, focussing on underserved consumers, data sets, and the transformative power of AI.
Audiences will gain a comprehensive understanding of how AI is transforming the beauty, haircare and wellness industry, will learn practical strategies for crafting bias-free AI platforms, will understand the pivotal role of thoughtful design, and will learn about the critical importance of representative data sets in fostering inclusive AI.
Below: Winnie talks at the Loreal Professional conference about her company and journey
– Entrepreneurship
– Women in Technology
– Diversity and Inclusion
– Textured Haircare
– Inclusive Innovation
– Artificial Intelligence
– Multicultural Beauty
– Beauty-Tech
– Consumer Insights
– Mental Health
– Building a Sustainable Brand
– Overcoming Adversity
Clients include the Royal College of Arts, Unilever, Cosmetic Executive Women, Apple, Multi-Ethnic Hair & Scalp Care Symposium, Glamour magazine, and Frasers Group.
Overall, Winnie Awa’s speaking engagements can have a significant impact on listeners by providing inspiration, knowledge, guidance, and motivation to pursue their goals and make positive changes in their lives and communities. Benefits of booking Winnie as a speaker includes:
Inspirational and Motivational: Winnie’s story of entrepreneurship and success is inspiring and will motivate listeners to pursue their own dreams and make a positive impact.
Expert Insights: With her extensive experience across both corportates and startups, Winnie brings unique insight on what it takes to innovate within large organisations as well as how to disrupt the status quo in startups.
Diversity and Inclusion: Winnie’s fierce advocacy for diversity and inclusion can help listeners to understand the importance of creating a more equitable and just society, and provide proactive guidance on how to do so.
Sustainability: Winnie’s urgent call for personalising the haircare industry is aligned with UN’s sustainable development goals. Her passion for sustainability can encourage listeners to consider the environmental impact of their actions and make necessary changes for our planet.
A winning mindset: Winnie’s authentic experience can encourage listeners to take a proactive approach to managing their own mental health, whilst fostering a winning mindset.
Winnie was a fantastic guest speaker for our client – a high-profile haircare brand team. Super inspiring and engaging, she shared her fresh insights and expertise in beauty and tech innovations to inspire the team. Highly recommend and delightful to work with.
Carla Dowling, Unilever
Winnie, your session was brilliant – so insightful, so thought-provoking, so enlightening. You were magic up on our big Salon Smart stage and provided attendees with stacks to think about. AND you were name-checked by quite a few other speakers – from the stage – afterwards! Honestly, you were MADE for the stage! – and here’s hoping you can stay the day next time.
We’re just super stoked we got to have you for the time we did. I hope you are feeling very proud of yourself, as we are of you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for giving up your precious time to join us at this sell-out event, and for helping to make it so special.
Creative HEAD
Thank you so much for your amazing talk! I know I was inspired and we have already got feedback from people saying they loved it too.
Zoe Lithgow, Frasers Group
Thank you so much Winnie, you gave us such an incredible and truly inspirational start to AcrossRCA multidisciplinary programme.
Tom Snowden, Royal College of Art
Not only was Winnie’s delivery seamless, but she expertly captivated our in-person audience whilst simultaneously engaging our online viewers, ensuring the conversation flowed organically. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Winnie for events and speaker engagements, and I’m always assured that the segment/s will run smoothly.
Donna Dia, Glamour