May 2017: House of Beaufort meets Jules Chapell OBE, the UK’s youngest Ambassador.

Each year, House of Beaufort attends a series of networking lunches hosted by Lady Val Corbett for women across London’s political, corporate and philanthropic spectrum. The venue is Brown’s Courtroom and the Network motto is very powerful: “There’s a special place in hell for any woman who doesn’t help another woman”.

Over the last decade, money raised from Lady Val’s lunches has generated funding that enables those on probation to gain experience in the catering industry via the Robin Corbett Award for Prisoner Rehabilitation.

This Thursday, we were delighted to hear Jules Chappell OBE, a former Ambassador to Guatemala, address the networking lunch. Her speech: ”The future of activism in a pussy-grabbing world”, was adapted from her recent Ted Talk.

During her career with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Jules was based in London, Guatemala City, Addis Ababa, Washington DC, Baghdad and Amman. She was awarded an OBE for her work in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein

Over lunch, Jules spoke about activism and leadership in the context of her appointment, at the age of 31, as Britain’s Ambassador to Guatemala (2009-2012). Her commentary on activism explored ways in which  we might move away from being passive petition signers, to achieving more active and tangible results, whatever the cause one has chosen to support .  (Digression: I thought this part of her speech was serendipitous because the guest I had brought to lunch was Sarah Lucas, CEO of Action for Dolphins, a charitable foundation dedicated to ending dolphin and whale captivity, which had its origins in Sarah’s desire to do something beyond mere petition signing).

Jules then gave a vivid account of how it had felt to be one of four women ambassadors out of more than eighty. She recalled feeling “horribly out of place – half the age of most of my counterparts and one of just five female ambassadors”.  While many were supportive of her arrival, there were some in diplomatic circles who regarded her appointment with skepticism, opining that she was not a “proper” ambassador and worse, that she owed her position to nepotism: either her father’s friendship with David Miliband or, even more insultingly, to sexual favors.

One of Jules’ closing observations resonated strongly with our own work coaching young women who are moving into early leadership roles.

“If I have learnt anything about being a young leader, it’s that assumptions about what we can achieve, depending on our age, are ill-conceived”.

Brava, Jules.