Throughout the week of International Women's Day, we have endeavored to shine a light on the amazing work being done by the amazing women within our network of colleagues and clients. If you would like to view insight from our leadership panel or read the advice provided by the great people in our network, please visit our article from earlier in the week. 

In this piece, we wanted to shine a light on a few of the people within Hamlyn Williams that you may not be aware of, and give them an opportunity to shout about their stories!

Vic Doig 

Vic is a true force for good within her community. As a Trustee Director for NW7Hub, she is dedicated to going above and beyond to improve the lives of people within Mill Hill, North West London.   The charity was created to connect the diverse local community and bring together faith groups, associations, charities, and local businesses to create opportunities and further develop the strong sense of community.   In 2017 the charity was awarded the contract to run the Mill Hill Partnership Library.

As part of this contract, they have spent 6 years developing Hub activities within the library and provided countless opportunities for businesses to engage with one another. In the Library space and around the community they run events, provide community support and run a foodbank, which has become an essential lifeline for many within the community.   

On a practical level, Vic is regularly involved in running and planning the events, assisting in the Hub operations, creating, and envisioning new ways to support the local community and attending community meetings. 

 "I am from a background where community is everything, everyone lends a helping hand, everyone gets involved. A community is what I needed to be part of and during COVID, our community needed help so accepting the offer to become a trustee was a no brainer.

Morgan Glassford

Morgan was a dual Division 1 athlete in college which has shaped her into the hardworking and driven person she is personally and professionally.

Morgan attended Temple University where she played lacrosse for 4 years and worked her way up to captain of the team. During her senior year she earned ‘All Big East’ first-team honors as a senior midfielder, a huge accomplishment within the sport. When the lacrosse season ended, Morgan decided she wasn’t done playing sports. She joined the D1 soccer team at Temple, proving her work ethic could make her successful in anything she put her mind to.

Growing up on a consistent schedule of school, sports, and other activities, Morgan quickly became familiar with a disciplined lifestyle. Morgan thrived off competing with herself, believing there is always room for improvement.

Being an athlete has inspired Morgan to strive to improve her strengths and weaknesses. This has helped her to advance her career and expand her role with a new promotion to Global Head of TA. Morgan has taken the mentality of work hard, play hard with into every aspect of life which has set her up for major successes! 

Katie Caudill-Royse 

This past summer Katie joined a non-profit organization, BvB Dallas.

This organization brings young-professionals together to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer’s disease research and support organizations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Founded in 2008 by a group of young-professional women, BvB Dallas was created as a way to honor and remember loved ones who have suffered from Alzheimer’s and related diseases.

Each year the organization hosts a variety of fundraising, educational, volunteer, and fun events for Dallas philanthropists to help eradicate this grave disease, culminating in its flagship event – a flag-football game between the Pink Team & Blue Team.

Shade Hartline – On the Importance of Allyship

Shade is one of Hamlyn Williams’ most vocal and committed equity allies, both within his role as an L&D Executive, and outside the office. The key to allyship is taking it upon yourself to go above expectations and Shade has fully devoted himself to this.

As a volunteer coach for ‘Girls Rugby’, a Portland-based non-profit organization that runs programs across North America that empower girls to learn vital skills and core values such as leadership, empowerment, achievement, respect, and sportspersonship all while enjoying the experience of playing non-contact rugby. Girls Rugby embodies the philosophy of developing participants through sport and understands the positive benefits that participation in team sports has on their lives.

Shade has been competing competitively at rugby since college where he was not only the men’s team Vice-Captain but also formed the college’s first-ever women’s rugby side. Seeing an opportunity to make positive change, he convinced the sports program to allow him and several others to begin coaching a women’s side, which is not only still competing to this day, but has overtaken the men’s team in terms of success.

He credits Girls Rugby with helping him through the toughest time in his life. In 2021 Shade had recently lost his mother and, on the way to a coffee shop to start his remote working day he saw a flier asking for volunteers to coach at Girls Rugby, feeling lost and missing direction in his life, Shade made the call as soon as he sat down with his coffee and has never looked back.

After the call, he undertook training to become a certified USA Rugby coach and was given direction to assist with the transition from coaching college. Whilst he had coached players at a college level, that is very different to coaching 6-12-year-old girls.

Shade credits Girls Rugby with giving him more than he ever expected, with the girls teaching more about himself than he does to them. The program not only gave him direction but gave him space to give back to disadvantaged and underrepresented children with a sport that opened up his own world.

“Without rugby, I wouldn't have learned leadership, wouldn’t have become a self-starter, wouldn’t have traveled to study in the UK, wouldn’t have a degree and I certainly wouldn’t have the structure and discipline that has enabled me to become the man that I am”

Rugby is one of the most inclusive sports, it can be played by all body sizes, and at a junior level it is very simple and incredibly fun; you get a ball and run! But rugby culture in the USA is dated and misogynistic, Shade says the only way to change this is by leading from the front and creating communities of support, enabling total inclusion.

“Girls Rugby has given me the opportunity to use rugby as a catalyst to improve people’s lives in the way that it improved mine. I don’t do it to create great rugby players, I use it as a catalyst to help the girls grow. I always tell them not to take the rubbish that life throws at them, to stand up to it, and empower others not to take it either.”