The Women in Estate Agency group held their inaugural conference last week at the Cavendish Conference Centre in London.

The event, which was completely sold out, welcomed more than 250 men and women from across the property industry.

The Women in Estate Agency group was founded by Liana Loporto-Browne and Clare Hughes, two experienced estate agents, who set up the group during the pandemic to support and champion its members through day-to-day practical and emotional challenges. The pair  then formed an advisory board made up of Sarah Edmundson, Business Consultant and CEO Agents Together, along with Lucy Noonan – owner of Atomic Consultancy, Verona Frankish – CEO Yopa Property, Clare Yates – Owner CY Training, Kirsty Franks – owner Kirsty Franks Marketing – as well as Sarah Davies – Event Manager.

The conference was hosted by Edmundson and opened with keynote speaker Joanna Swash, the Group CEO of Moneypenny, who shared how she climbed and reached the heights of the career ladder. Throughout the day the plethora of speakers touched on a whole range of important topics. From a panel discussion on health and wellbeing, to surviving and flourishing from redundancy, building your personal brand on social media, safety in the workplace, financial health advice, market updates from the Women in Residential Property and finally, a high-energy closing speech from mentor and business coach Cheryl Thompson where she discussed knowing, communicating and realising your worth in a competitive world.

The day was intended to provide useful advice and guidance for women in their careers and whilst this was delivered in abundance, there were some stand-out moments that touched the audience in a very emotive way.

Stephen Brown, experienced property agent, shared his story of how he dealt with the loss of his wife and now uses his story to help others, and Clare Yates bravely discussed her experience of sexual assault in the workplace. Two stand-out moments with not a dry eye in the house, where the community came together to support one another.

Loporto-Browne said: “Myself and the advisory board are totally overwhelmed and on cloud nine since Thursday. We knew when we started the group we had something special, we also knew when we sold out the conference that we were witnessing the start of a period of change in our industry, but what transpired from the event is that we have witnessed the start of a really positive movement.

“The feedback we have received has been phenomenal, the men and women who attended have expressed that the event and the community is like nothing ever seen in our industry before and we have been inundated with support and offers of involvement for the next event. Watch this space, it’s coming and it’s going to be bigger, better and provide even more value.

“We are determined to break down barriers to true equality and see women succeed and thrive in their careers and we are so excited to now take the Women in Estate Agency group to the next level and to be the real voice of change in our industry.”