Celebrating The Women At Myriad For International Women’s Day

International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8 every year and is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

International Women's Day (IWD) has occurred for well over a century, with the first IWD gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. Prior to this the Socialist Party of America, United Kingdom's Suffragists and Suffragettes, and further groups campaigned for women's equality.

Today, IWD belongs to all groups collectively everywhere.

In this blog and in honour of IWD, we celebrate the women behind Myriad Associates and Tax Cloud:

Deborah Chapple:

Deborah, as Corporate Tax Director, provides clients with specialist tax and accounting advice.  Her team helps clients achieve their R&D funding by preparing the required financials to support R&D tax relief and grant applications.

Before joining Myriad, Deborah worked in Accountancy and Finance for over 25 years and worked at various companies from provincial practices to 'Big 4' London firms.  She has worked with clients from a range of business sectors advising on both Corporate Tax and Personal Tax for their Directors.

Outside of work, Deborah enjoys spending time with her family and describes herself as a 'foodie'.

When it comes to celebrating IWD, Deborah loves the quote: “In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.” - Sheryl Sandberg

Fen Charlet:

Fen is our Services Director responsible for client support services as well as overseeing all internal functions.

Prior to working at Myriad Associates, Fen launched an online retail business and held senior positions in operations, purchasing and sales. Fen feels her greatest achievement is that she moved to England from France when she was only 24 and to have made England her new home with her lovely daughters, husband and dogs.

Outside work, Fen enjoys interior design, property renovation, furniture restoration and upcycling as well as spending time with her family.

On what IWD means to her, Fen says “I feel that women, in general, have come a very long way since the first IWD in 1911, getting stronger and feeling more empowered by the day. And I certainly know what I am talking about, having 4 daughters myself! The world is their oyster, they are strong, independent achieving ladies and they certainly don’t feel held back by their gender!”

Helen Bartlett:

Helen is our Corporate Tax Associate and specialises in creating and analysing costing schedules for our clients’ R&D tax credits claims and undertakes back-office research to support our technical consultants. Helen also carries out various business support functions.

Helen began her career as a computer programmer in the Market Research industry. After some time writing software to collect and process research data she moved into a more client centred role, designing research projects and interpreting the results. Helen worked in many different industry sectors including transport, retail, food and drink, banking and insurance and in many different countries in Europe, Asia, Australia and South America.

Outside of work Helen likes to run, cycle, swim, walk, read, and listen to music - whenever she's not ferrying her two boys around to their many activities. Helen has also helped organise one of the UK’s largest off-road charity cycle events for the last eight years.

Lauren Olson:

Lauren Olson joined the Myriad Associates team as a Technical Consultant in February 2016 and was promoted to the position of Senior Technical Consultant in May 2018. In this role, she helps clients achieve their R&D funding by preparing technical reports to support R&D tax credit claims and prepares grant applications for UK and EU funding competitions

Before joining Myriad, Lauren worked in technical communication and consulting roles at various software companies. She is a member of the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators (ISTC).

Outside of work, Lauren reads, knits, swims, listens to podcasts, and spends a lot of time outside walking with her two dogs. She’s proud to work with such an amazing group of accomplished women at Myriad Associates. A balanced world definitely be a better world – Happy International Women’s Day!

Kelsey France:

As a Corporate Tax Associate, Kelsey helps clients to achieve their R&D funding by preparing the required financials to support R&D tax relief applications.

Before joining Myriad, Kelsey worked in a top 20 accountancy firm dealing with both corporate and personal tax, she now specialises in R&D. Kelsey has achieved a first-class honours degree in Accounting and Finance and became ATT qualified early last year.

Outside of work, Kelsey enjoys keeping fit by boxing and going to the gym. She also enjoys spending time with her family and friends.

On what IWD means to her, Kelsey says “International Women’s Day to me means a day to celebrate Women and how far we have come. I feel like in some cases women often still get different treatment to men. For example, I often get questioned as to why I do/like boxing as it is a male sport. I do not think it is fair to say it is a male sport because I could train and be just as good as a male boxer. I think that the same opportunities that are offered to men should be available to women and that goes for sports, careers and other cases. We have come a long way but there is still a way to go. I like the quote ‘the rise of women is not about the fall of men’. It’s all about balance.”

To learn more about the team at Myriad visit our about page.