Insight with Passion, led by Founding Partner Kate Hardcastle will be heading ‘On the Road’ this Summer – featuring and supporting businesses who are launching themselves or hosting events in the Yorkshire, Lancashire and surrounding areas. The roadshow is sure to attract plenty of attention online and in the press. Combining with the Customer at the Heart awards, please let us know – letsworktogether@whoiskatehardcastle.co.uk or https://twitter.com/insightwpassion if you want to be involved or featured. 

Insight with Passion continue their role with Welcome to Yorkshire to offer the latest free retail workshop. Our Founding Partner, and Patron for Yorkshire Kate Hardcastle will present.
Full details and tickets available at http://www.eventbrite.com/event/6207826777/eorg#

Free Retail Workshops with TV Expert

In Yorkshire we have an amazing range of shopping experiences.

As part of a campaign to celebrate the great shopping in the county, Welcome to Yorkshire has joined forces with TV’s queen of customer service Kate Hardcastle from Insight with Passion to offer our members the opportunity to attend one of our exclusive FREE half day workshops.

They will focus on how to create an excellent experience for the customer, and understand their needs to increase your sales.

The workshops will give you even more ideas about how to deliver a consistently high standard of customer service and help you to engage with the hearts and minds of your customers.

Kate Hardcastle is a retail and commercial expert respected nationally and internationally. She is a regular contributor and industry commentator on BBC, ITV, Sky News and many more. Kate advises household names to help them reach more customers, transform the customer experience and become more successful.

Date: The next workshop will take place on Wednesday 15^th May at The Palace Cinema, Chancery Lane, Malton, YO17 7HW, 10am-1pm. Lunch is not provided but there are plenty of places to eat near the venue.A series of workshops will be held across the county over the coming months.

The event is open to retail businesses who are members of Welcome to Yorkshire. Future workshop dates will be announced shortly. These workshops are very popular and places are limited, one person per organisation will be able to attend the workshops. If you would like an extra place then please let us know and we can add you to the reserve list.

What does the budget mean for your business? Get in touch with us letsworktogether@insightwithpassion.co.uk and we’ll guide you through it.

Watch Kate talking at the weekend ahead of the budget and how it affects women in business.

Kate Hardcastle, Insight with Passion, Sky News 16.03.13: Sky News from Insight with Passion on Vimeo.

Positive Image Campaign
The campaign continues to grow, with International bases being built, awareness on Channel 5, being part of the Diana Awards and several events through Accentuate the Positive week, as well as a feature in the Daily Express.

Charity Dreamgirls
The girls and volunteers and back and planning concerts for 2013, as well as looking our for 2014 charities. The website has also had a refresh, and information is being added weekly.

Performing Arts etc
Founder Sam Dunkley has announced a new series of events, kicking off with courses at Easter. We’ve supported him through design, print and online.

RSPCA
Look out for the RSPCA unveiling a new series of events to support the charity. We’re helping out on the days, and working with the teams to improve their retail outlets.

Thrive, Women Unlimited Conference 
Our Founding Partner Kate Hardcastle was part of the celebrations for International Women’s Day. On Friday, March 8th (the 102nd International Women’s Day) over 200 women descended on the BAFTA headquarter in Piccadilly for a day of inspiration, learning and connecting for our 5th annual conference Thrive 2013!
Read a full review and blog from the event here.

The Diana Awards
We were delighted that our Access for All Campaign Positive Image was chosen to be represented at the awards designed as a legacy for Princess Diana. Kate’s speech was described as: “inspirational and the young people connected with her, which was just perfect!”
Read about the event here on our campaign website.

Forthcoming events:

Women in Football
Following on from Kate Hardcastle’s announcement as a director at the Bradford Bulls, she will be a keynote speaker on the 22nd March at Women in Football, a network of professional women working in and around the football industry who support and champion their peers.

Advantage Travel Conference
May will see our team present seminars and workshops at the gathering of travel agents from across the globe. After our success last year, we are back with more reasons to use independent travel agents, and how customer service is key.

British Independent Retail Conference
IWP will be speakers at the BIRA High Street Conference event on May 16th. This years’ event will tackle all the big issues impacting independent retail and will feature presentations from and debates with prominent independent retailers and some of the retail industry’s leading experts. Full details and booking at http://www.bira.co.uk/conference

The event runs on Tuesday, April 9, 2013 from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM and further details and booking can be found at: http://wtyretailsheffield-eorg.eventbrite.com/

Access for All means that 20% of our time is dedicated for free to help charities, community projects, social enterprises and start up entrepreneurs. Find out more, and how to apply here.

The Channel 5 coverage of the awards can be seen below:

The broadcast – described as ‘Honouring courageous and inspirational mums’ aired with the synopsis as follows:

These unsung heroes, who have been nominated by friends and colleagues, are the focus of a lavish lunch and awards ceremony at The Savoy in London hosted by Fiona Phillips and with an audience of famous faces joining the winners’ families. Channel 5’s exclusive coverage also features live entertainment from global music stars Il Divo, who have sold over 26 million records worldwide, and the UK’s hottest vocal harmony group The Overtones.

Categories include Courageous, Community, Achieving and Campaigning Mum with recipients from Liverpool, Midlothian, Middlesex and other parts of the UK. Following in the footsteps of Gabby Logan and Sally Dynevor, the winning Celebrity Mum of 2013 has been named as Spice Girl Mel C.

Kate receives her award

The Tesco Mum of the Year Awards 2013 was hosted by Fiona Phillips and, alongside this year’s incredible winning mums, guests will include stars from stage, screen and sport.

Commissioning Editor Greg Barnett says: “I am delighted to be bringing such an inspiring and emotionally-charged event to Channel 5. On a day when we celebrate mums, Channel 5 and Tesco will be championing some of Britain’s best.”

Kate was also invited to Downing Street to meet the Prime Minister David Cameron as part of the celebrations.

Meanwhile, catch up with Kate behind the scenes along with the 5 other national winners in the video below:

Read what Tesco Magazine said about the Enterprising Mum of the Year:

Kate, 36, from Huddersfield, created a community group to raise awareness of lesser-known charities, as well as running a company that dedicates 20 per cent of its time to charitable work.

Our judges said: ‘‘Kate has worked incredibly hard to create her own business, and has always ensured that helping those less fortunate remains a huge part of this.’’

When Kate realised that many UK charities weren’t getting the exposure they needed to raise funds or recruit volunteers, she decided to celebrate her thirtieth birthday by organising and performing in a one-off charity concert.

She wrote to a number of huge Motown stars to see if she could enlist their support. When Smokey Robinson sent a video message and Martha Reeves committed to fly over from the USA to perform, it exceeded her wildest dreams.

The concert was a sell-out success and Kate decided to set up an organisation that would continue to run events raising awareness for smaller charities that couldn’t do it themselves. The organisation, set up in 2007, was called Charity Dreamgirls. ‘I created the group as a way to give a voice to smaller charities,’ says Kate.

Click to above to find out more about the Charity Dreamgirls

‘There are 180,000 charities in the UK – all competing for the public’s attention and money. If you are a smaller charity, how do you get yourself heard? I knew I could bring my skills from the corporate world to support them and create fun events people would want to get involved with.’

To date, the group has organised over fifty events to help eleven charities around the UK, including the Yorkshire branch of the RSPCA, Leonard Cheshire Disability and The Stroke Association. This year, it is supporting the Willow Foundation, the Retail Trust and Overgate Hospice.

Having built a successful career advising companies on how to revitalise their businesses, Kate then decided to set up her own company in 2009. Insight with Passion also supports charitable work with staff devoting 20 per cent of their time, energy and resources to projects that are close to their hearts. ‘I think it’s important to give people the motivation and support they need to get involved with charity work,’ says Kate.

Our Access for All Programme will receive awareness and recognition on Channel 5 this week, as Founder Kate Hardcastle is crowned Tesco Mum of the Year. The award incorporates Kate’s work from Insight with Passion through our scheme designed to give 20% back to charities, community projects, social enterprises and start up entrepreneurs.

This includes work for Positive Image Campaign, The Charity Dreamgirls, and more found at our dedicated page.

Helping schemes like Performing Arts etc through Insight with Passion’s Access for All. Click the image to find out more.

‘When I was young, I wrote to Anita Roddick and eventually got the opportunity to meet her. I was so inspired by the way she managed to combine business with making a real difference to the lives of others. This is what I’m hoping to do with my company and projects.’

Kate’s latest campaign is called Positive Image, and she hopes it will inspire confidence and positive body image in young people and to tackle issues such as obesity, anorexia, self harm, suicide and bullying. ‘I was bullied myself for a long time at school. I spent weekends in my bedroom wishing it was alright to go to the museums I wanted to because that wasn’t cool. Everything comes from a lack of confidence – for the bullies too.’

Launching the Positive Image campaign to inspire confidence. Click the image to find out more.

Kate is mum to Nya Ella, 3, and manages to juggle her work commitments with a little help from her own parents who help with childcare. ‘Sometimes when a meeting is cancelled I ring my mum and ask where they are and rush out to play in the park with them for an hour. Equally, if my train home is late I don’t have to worry that she’ll be out on the street! When I go abroad for meetings Nya and my mum come with me. My long term plan is to just be the best mum I can be.’

Kate, who was nominated by her colleague Jenny, says: ‘I’ve been inspired by people who have worked hard and used their voice to change things and make a difference. Charity work has always been at the heart of what I do and I’m honoured to be recognised for that.

You’ve got to help other people because one day, you might be the person that needs help. I haven’t been able to help of thousands of people all over the world like my heroine Anita Roddick – but don’t put it past me because one day I might just yet!’

Kate’s quickfire questions can be watched below

“It was a more positive month of figures”

Firstly, on BBC Radio 5 live’s ‘Wake Up to Money’ programme, listen below:

“Listen to the customer and give them what they want”

And secondly on BBC Breakfast News. Watch the full clip below: