The Importance of Diversity in Leadership

During the course of preparing for our relaunch, I have found myself increasingly frustrated that I never ended up getting to present my thoughts on this topic.

I came up with the title for a talk I was due to hold at the Women’s Bouldering Festival, I was given free rein on the subject I would speak on, and this was what I deemed the most important conversation that needed to be had, at the time.

Unfortunately I was unable to attend to present my ideas on the matter, but I thought I’d do a bit of research to see what progress has been made in the 3 years I've been gone...

Obviously this is far from an exhaustive list of brands and organisations, however I believe it does a very good job at highlighting the fact that the decision makers controlling the sales and marketing of the products and services we rely on to participate in the sports and recreational activities we enjoy, are still uber-rich men. (Shall I bring race into this? Do I need to? I think at this point it’s not necessary, because apparently we’re still failing at giving even white women these positions and opportunities, so a gentle nod is all that’s necessary it in this conversation, clearly there is still more work to be done before the world is ready to have that chat fr).

Below you’ll find a list of the current CEO’s of some of the most popular clothing, energy drink brands and sporting federations according to google (There are rumours going around that we can’t trust Google anymore, so I welcome you to do your own, deeper research and get in touch with any corrections that should be made).

I have included the owner of some companies but not others, I can’t be bothered to go down that wormhole this morning but if you feel like it, I’d direct you to look at large and high end Fashion corporations to see if you can find some similarities in the ownership trends (and owners) I think you might.

Anyway, here it is, the list that has ruined my day. lol.

Outdoor Brands

Columbia - Timothy Boyle

Rab - Equip Outdoor Technologies - Richard Leedham

Mountain Hardware - Columbia Sportswear - Troy Sicotte

Salomon - ANTA Sports - Franco Fogliato

REI Coop - Eric Artz

Arcteryx - AMER Sports - Stuart C. Haselden

The North Face - VF Corporation - Bracken Darrell

Patagonia - Ryan Gellert

Energy Drinks

Redbull - Dietrich Mateschitz

Monster - Rodney Sacks

Tenzing - Huib Van Bockel

Prime - Jeremy Lantz

Rockstar - Russell Weiner

Celsius - John Fieldly

Mountain Dew - Ramon Laguarta

Sporting Federations

International Cycling Union - David Lappartient

International Federation of Sport Climbing - Marco Scolaris

International Tennis Federation - Kelly Fairweather

United World Wrestling - Nenad LALOVIC

World Rowing - Vincent Gallard

International Federation for Equestrian Sports - Ingmar De Vos

It’s 2024.

and another one

Hello everyone!

First of all, I’d like to say a huge thank you for continuing to follow Project One during the unreasonably long stretch of silence. I find it hard to believe there are still so many of you left and I really cannot wait to update you all properly about what’s happening here!

I have unfortunately been quite unwell, so the progress with getting everything together ready to re-launch, has been slow at best, however you may have seen couple of posts recently, directing you to the website (new url, in case you’d been looking for us) and while there is little to see there just yet, I wanted to pop along to let you know that I am slowly but surely returning to full fitness and should have lots to share with you over the next few months!

I am in the process of restructuring the organisation, as adaptations are necessary in order for me to be able properly manage operations while navigating a body that is not quite on my team yet, so things may seem to move slowly or it may get quiet again every now and then, but I assure you stuff is happening!!

In addition,I have been locked out of a couple of email addresses, so if you’ve been trying to reach me without success, please try again here: projectoneclimbing@gmail.com 

Oh, and if you’ve noticed I haven’t posted a damn thing over @carmenpie, it’s because I have been locked out. Very annoying, I might get back in one day, I might not, hey ho, time for a change! So, I have a new account dedicated solely to climbing!  If you’d like to keep up with my latest antics on the wall and witness my journey back to avoiding overhangs and dynos, you can find me here: @pieclimbs

So please, if you have tried to contact me in any way over the last few years, and I’ve accidentally ghosted you, do get in touch and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

I’ll continue posting on @projectoneuk here to give notice of new blogs and all updates will be on the website moving forward so keep your eyes peeled for news!

Thank you once more for your patience, it’s so very appreciated and I can’t wait to get back out and about to catch up with what the Climbing World’s been up to while I’ve been gone 😍

<3 C

Update

I was going to continue writing about my life, my upbringing and what happened that lead to me being so adamant that I would make P1 a success.

But I’ve changed my mind, because ultimately I hope that my motivations will become clear thorough my work and the actions I take to help my community in ways that some may not understand, but I hope one day, will come to respect.