Jude Kelly is the Founder of WOW (Women of the World) and the CEO/Founder of The WOW Foundation, the global movement behind WOW festivals across multiple continents. A celebrated theatre director and producer, she served as Artistic Director of London’s Southbank Centre (2006–2018), where she launched WOW in 2010. Her work centres culture as a tool for gender justice, amplifying women’s voices while convening action-driven public conversations worldwide.
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This opening conversation brings together powerful women leaders from across sectors to deliver 10 minute reflections on what the last decade has changed, what it has cost, and what is now at stake. These are not speeches shaped by consensus or caution, but first words: direct, personal, and grounded in power, loss, and possibility. Together, the voices form a shared reckoning with the present moment, naming hard-won gains, unfinished struggles, and the growing forces pushing back against gender justice. The session then flows into a moderated conversation, connecting experiences across movements and generations and pressing toward what comes next. This is where the festival begins: with clarity, urgency, and a feminist vision for the decade ahead
