Toasting the Toast Women

8th March 2017

Toasting the Toast Women

Today is International Women’s Day so we’re celebrating the awesome women who’ve inspired us. And are us … because us ladies make up half of Team Toast. We also know that half of you reading this will be female too. Beer’s not just for boys.

The World Economic Forum predicts the gender gap won’t close entirely until 2186. It’s bonkers that we won’t see gender parity for 170 years! International Women’s Day can be an important catalyst for driving greater change for women. So today we’re put gender on the agenda and raising a Toast to women everywhere.

Julie

 

Julie has made Toast a commercial reality, overcoming all sorts of obstacles in the process of turning bread into beer. She manages operations from sourcing bread for our brews to ensuring the finished product gets to our stockists in time. Her background is in retail so she’s used that insight to get us stocked in some very exciting places including Fortnum and Mason, River Cottage Canteens and many great independent bottle shops, bars and delis all over the country.
 
We asked her why she’s inspired to #BeBoldForChange:
 
“If you don’t like the way things are, take positive action to change them. We only get one shot at this and we should make it a world we love to live in and want to pass on. Doing the right thing can sometimes be hard when others don’t always agree, but – in my experience – the positive effect you see ultimately puts a spring in your step, lifts your heart and makes you smile. So, why not be bold for change?”

 

Louisa

 

Louisa did the ground work to get Toast started back in 2015, from sourcing surplus bread for our first batch to finding our first brewery partner at Hackney Brewery and getting the initial design work for the label. She’s had a varied career, which has all been incredibly useful to Toast as a start-up. She’s a qualified accountant on one hand, so manages the money side of the business. On the other, she’s a Digital Mum, so is responsible for our social media strategy and wider comms.

We asked her when she felt inspired her to #BeBoldForChange:

“I left a well paid job in financial services to travel South America. Visiting the Amazon inspired me to study for a environmental masters degree and move into a rewarding career in sustainability. When I started my family, I took another break but soon found myself working for the inspirational Tristram Stuart and starting Toast. Sometimes you have to trust your instincts and jump. There’s a trampoline waiting.”

 

Vanesa

 

We have a long-running collaboration at Temple Brewhouse in London. Vanesa is the highly-skilled, passionate head brewer there. She has created her own version of our Pale Ale and a “Brown Bread” Porter, both of which are delicious. She is incredibly knowledgeable about brewing, and has taught us heaps about the process as we’ve tinkered with our recipe.

We asked her who inspired her to #BeBoldForChange:

“I admire two women who’ve managed to become strong political activists during hard times. The first one is Isidora Dolores Ibárruri Gómez, better known as “pasionaria”. She played an important role during the Spanish civil war and became a writer for a national newspaper. The second one is Nina Simone, the singer, who became a civil rights activist through her music.”

 

We couldn’t end this post without giving a shout out to all the female brewers out there. Check out Project Venus and if you’re around Cornwall, head to St Austell Brewery (who we collaborated with in September 2016) for the International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day. Go girls!

#BeBoldForChange