International leadership expert brings decades of global experience to International Women's Day #EachForEqual

Breaking the glass ceiling with top leadership lessons from Hira Ali and other women around the world - London female empowerment event on 4^thMarch 2020

• Media invitation to one-year book launch and International Women's Day event in London on 4^thMarch 2020:http://bit.ly/2V2oFZ4
• Universal internal and external challenges shared by working women around the world, according to global survey in Her Way To The Top by Hira Ali.
• International Women's Day 2020 campaign theme is #EachforEqual - Hira Ali's book shows how solidarity and support can make gains for all.
• Survey shows that over half (54%) of women say that fear of missing out (FOMO) holds them back, 45% say imposter syndrome limits them, and 38% struggle with time poverty.
• Author available for interview and comment before, during and after International Women's Day.

Diary dates:

1. First anniversary of Her Way To The Top and IWD ‘Female Empowerment' event in London - 4 March 2020. RSVP and more info: http://bit.ly/2V2oFZ4

2. International Women's Day - Launch of first global Career Excel partnership with multinational insurance company IGI - 8^th March 2020 (Hira Ali, author of Her Way To The Top, firmly believes that women can lose confidence as they enter the workforce, and that it's imperative that women are supported through confidence and leadership training early in their career).

3. Two-day International Women Empowerment Event in Islamabad, Pakistan - 14-15 April 2020

4. Launch of Her Way To The Top in Dubai - July 2020

19^thFebruary 2020, London, United Kingdom:For 14 of the past 45 years of International Women's Day (IWD), self-defined Asian, Pakistani, Muslim woman, Hira Ali, expat and immigrant, leadership expert and successful entrepreneur, has created events to get March 8^thinto the hearts and minds of men and women around the world. From Karachi to Dubai and London, as Hira Ali has moved from country to countryin her career, so too has her drive for all that IWD stands for.

This year, the IWD theme is #EachForEqual, which is a perfect fit for Hira Ali's book, Her Way To The Top, which is due to celebrate its first anniversary in March, at a London event, with a new sub-title: A Guide To Smashing The Glass Ceiling.

After 14 years of coaching and training women across the world, Hira Ali has discovered that many of the challenges facing women defy country boundaries and are, in fact, universal. Hira's journey to writing Her Way To The Top started when she became aware of the internal obstacles women face in their career path - and how similar they are around the world. She initially began her career in Karachi and started to see a specific set of issues impacting women, which she attributed to Asian culture. The same challenges came up while living and working in Dubai, and it was when she moved to London just three years ago, that the trend in global difficulties faced by women was reaffirmed for the third time.

Hira Ali explains, "When I came to London, I had thought that there would be many more women defying the odds, as opposed to encountering pay gaps, lack of representation and promotions - issues commonly found in the eastern culture - but this was not the case. I realised that western women were running into the same problems as females elsewhere. It was at this point I truly realised the extent of the internal challenges - I figured out that even though the intensity varied from place to place, many of these problems are universal! My own experience had made it evident that most of the aforementioned challenges are more gender specific than they are background specific."

Keen to test her conclusion, Hira created an international survey of  women across the globe including Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Canada, Australia, Africa, the UK and the USA. More than 300 women answered a simple question: What are the top challenges holding you back in your career? The results were incredibly similar, despite the differences in background and nationality. Not only did this confirm her theory, but the findings were unusually reassuring. She says: "Sometimes the mere awareness that you are not alone gives you a sense of unimaginable hope and strength."

Internal obstacles include:FOMO, Imposter Syndrome, Fear of Failure, Social Conditioning, Confidence Gap, Failure to Self-Promote, Time Poverty, Struggling to Say No, and Perfectionism.

External obstacles include:Sexism, Misogyny, Lack of Childcare Options, Sexual Harassment, Lack of Flexibility, Lack of a Support System at Home,

Hira Ali writes in Her Way To The Top: ‘...it is crucial to rise above our internal challenges before we step up and fight the external ones; as one of my survey respondents aptly said: "We need to get our own house in order first."'

A female leader who motivates and inspires on a global level

Hira is an excellent example of how the advice she gives can work. She has created a respected name for herself in the fields of leadership, entrepreneurialism, and empowerment, in a short span of time. She's a regular in the media, has won multiple awards, and her book has attracted amazing reviews from global influencers. She has launched businesses from scratch, twice, first in Dubai and then in London, and is behind four companies focused on women and ethnic minorities: Advancing Your Potential, Career Excel, The Grey Area, and International Women Empowerment Events.

Hira recognises that both internal and external roadblocks impede a woman's climb to top - and inHer Way To The Topoutlines strategies to overcome them. The book demonstrates that women are all in this together, and together they can make a difference for each other. Together we are #EachforEqual.

Talking points:

• How to face your fear of failure
• Why you need to step out of the FOMO race
• Drivers behind the female confidence gap and the impact it has on career progression
• Steps to overcome ‘Who Am I To Succeed?' Syndrome
• Bringing up girls - what happens in adolescence to impact confidence levels? What can we do as parents, educators, mentors to change the way girls see themselves in their teens and early 20s?
• What to do if you struggle to say NO!
• How to manage judgements on appearance as a woman in the workplace
• Impostor syndrome/Am I good enough?
• Strength to self-promote

ENDS

Notes to Editors

Media enquiries:helenlewis@literallypr.com.

Hira Ali is available for media interviews, comment, editorial commissions ahead of and on International Women's Day (8^thMarch). For a review copy of Her Way To The Top, or to find out more about Hira and her book, please get in touch:info@literallypr.com.

RSVP for a press pass to the London event on 4^thMarch:http://bit.ly/2V2oFZ4

For details on the upcoming international events: hiraali@advancingyourpotential.com

About the author

Hira Ali, Chief Executive Officer  ofAdvancing Your Potential, Managing Partner ofInternational Women Empowerment Events,Co-Founder ofCareer Excel, andCo-Founder ofThe Grey Areais a multi-faceted career coach and trainer who has impacted hundreds of people from various industries and professions across the world. She is an Associate Certified Coach accredited by International Coach Federation and a professional member of the Association for Neuro Linguistic Programming. Her widely acclaimed leadership and coaching articles have been published across a variety of leading outlets, and has won numerous awards..

In her recently published bookHer Way to the Top,she highlights the internal and external road blocks impeding a woman's climb to the top irrespective of her culture and geography. The book has earned outstandingreviewsfrom global influencers like Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, Cherie Blair, Valerie Young, Dr. Lois P Frankle, Chiara Condi, Dr. Yvonne Thompson, Carole Stone, Dr. Shola, Ziauddin Yousafzai (Malala's dad) and many more and received a letter of appreciation from the London Mayor himself. Her Way To The Top has made it to the local newspapers such as Ham and High and international ones such as Europe Breaking News. Hira has been featured as a role model in the bookGirls Who Do you Want To Bealongside global influencers like Arianna Huffington, Reshma Sujani, Claire Shipman, Sallie Krawcheck and many more. She is very passionate about empowering women and ethnic minorities and is a strong advocate of diversity and inclusion at work place.

About the book:

Author:Hira Ali

Title:Her Way ToThe Top - A guide to smashing the glass ceiling

Publisher:Panoma Press

Distributor:Panoma Press

Price:£14.99 (paperback) £5.63 (e-book)

Publication date:March 2019

Genres:Gender studies, Management, Leadership, HR, Diversity & Inclusion

Link to purchase:www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07M7D71F8/

Website:www.advancingyourpotential.com

Facebook:@advancingyou

Twitter:@advancingyou

LinkedIn:Hira Ali coach

Instagram:@advancingyou

Online press folder:bit.ly/HiraAli