Event notes: WICE Summit 2026

First things first, many many many congratulations to all the Women In Construction & Engineering Awards finalists. I've heard down multiple grape vines that you were as impressive presenting to the judges as you were salsa dancing !

To the judges I was able to greet Jacqueline Heron Elaine Lewis Amanda Illing Sharon Fasanya Joaquin Flores CEng MIStructE MICE MAPM Shelley Coleman - Marsh Alex Lawrence Philip Marsh Pr Eng FSAICE FICE FIET MIStructE Siu Mun Li Rina Lynch Karin Mueller and the many I was not able to greet... I heard from the finalists that you really made the process memorable!

To my fellow speakers Gill How Rhaynukaa Mehta CFIOSH Ayo Abbas Sam Munslow Harj Bains MBA ... we did it!!! 🎉🎉🎉 I look forward to seeing you at the awards nigh to celebrate the winners.

And of course our salsa dancing teacher for the day Ajan . I would never have imagined I'd be writing about salsa dancing and WICE in the same post.

Secondly, Afi Ofori , Joyce, Leann, Linda, Maheshe, Sakaria, Shahan, Kalyani, Inayah, Manisha and Skye... wow!! you did an amazing job (again). 🥰 Thank you for letting me be a part of such a joyful day once more.

Message for the curious:

Many of you asked, and while I’ve only shared this with a few, here’s the story behind my necklace.

It is a collaboration between a human (me) and AI.

Last October, artist and ceramist Ana Bridgewater opened her workshop to her local community (and friends 🥰) to share her passion for her craft.

I had been wanting to create a piece (a handbag) for the Women In Construction & Engineering Awards dinner (you’ll have to wait to see that piece) and hence I had to say yes to her very generous offer.

With some extra time in the workshop, I decided to also make a pendant for yesterday.

Composed of hollow spheres, I had to add rear vents for it to survive the kiln.

Initially, I experimented with colourful, graffiti-like splashes. But then I came across a new video from Culture Hustle announcing their 10th year anniversary Pinkest Pink.

If you’re not familiar with Culture Hustle, their mission is to make colour accessible to everyone . It started as a response to Anish Kapoor’s exclusive rights to Vantablack. “The Pinkest Pink,” sold to everyone except Kapoor, but he acquired it through a third party. (Google it if you want to see what happened next.)

For this piece, I chose The Pinkest Pink for the handbag Blackest Black 1.0, the original alternative to Vantablack .

I used AI (Nano Banana) to develop a visual mock-up, and since I’m not a graffiti artist, I adapted the final execution to suit my own skills.

As with my other “anti-luxury” (term coined by Anni Albers) pieces, I incorporated waste materials, the pendant hangs from the cable of a broken pair of headphones.

There is a concealed message in the piece, reflecting the current state of the world. The gesture I’m making in the selfie is a clue and the last image the answer

See you all next month 🎉

Post originally shared on my linkedin