The UK clearly has further to go and we need a major shift in culture and approach to achieve anything near parity for women in the workplace.

The beauty of modern technology is that it has vastly speeded up communication and the transmission of information, helping businesses to become more efficient and productive. But this acceleration poses a real challenge for many small business owners who can get left behind if they aren't "up to speed". But for the women entrepreneurs in these same areas those difficulties are multiplied by cultural traditions that often prevent them from being included in local business networks and markets.

Transparency is everything, along with a good proposal and price, and the ability to deliver. I believe in second chances too because there is the learning curve to consider and you are dependent on the buyer to make sure you get the right brief.

At the request of Vince Cable and Theresa May, Lord Davies of Abersoch published his first 'Women on Boards' report in March 2011, recommending that companies should set targets to ensure that more of the UK's exceptional women are able to secure the country's top jobs.

Given that 72% of people in the UK still think that "you cannot work a senior career on a part time basis" it's perhaps not surprising that people who do often keep the fact from their colleagues.

There are so many women like me. Independent, fierce and strong-minded. We are fashion focussed, we read Cosmo, Vogue, Grazia, Stylist. We are beginning to realise that cars are more than a way to get from A to B and back again. They are an accessory, a massive accessory.