Why are SMEs ahead in terms of female directors? This could be because more subtle skills such as diplomacy, collaboration and trustworthiness can be noticed in a smaller organisation, whereas in bigger companies it is all too often those who shout loudest who make the fastest progress.

Never deny your innate feminine traits. Because, you will always have more power being a woman than you will ever have trying to behave like a man. The organisation that is in the best possible place for success and sustainability is the organisation that has a good balance of male and female energy.

I put my family first in everything I do and I'm proud to be a wife and mother. My family matters more to me than anything and I'll do whatever's necessary to make my family life work.

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.

Merely sticking to the status quo will achieve little in progressing gender balance in the boardroom. Regulatory nudges have helped, with FTSE 100 boardrooms having risen to around 17% women, but something more forceful will be required to get anywhere near 40%.

I agree that comparing ourselves to other mums is sometimes at the root of many feelings of inadequacy, but not setting up an empire during the first year of your child's life should certainly not be one of those things.

The Woman's Hour Power List will rank the 100 most powerful women in the UK as recorded at the start of 2013. This will focus on the women who have the biggest impact on our economy, society, politics and culture.

Right now I am on a mission to loop the planet using human power, by rowing boat, bike and kayak. But this isn't just my journey - it's a shared one, engaging schools and people of all ages the world over to be more adventurous and get outside.

I wanted to create something from scratch that I could be proud of. My dream had always been to build a British luxury lifestyle brand that was the antithesis of the prevailing fast fashion trend at the time and I felt that then was my opportunity.

Throughout the early stages of my career, strong and ambitious women were my role models. If I could achieve half of what they had, then I'd be happy, so being placed in the same bracket as them, and being told that, as a Woman of the Future, I too am a role model for young women, was a real highlight in my career.

Since the publication of Lord Davies' Women on Boards report we have heard endless talk over the best way to combat this deficiency, with imposing female quotas at the forefront of this debate. But ultimately, and in the long-term, do they damage or promote women's interests?

Worryingly, the Everyday Sexism Project have received many reports from women describing sexual assault and even rape in the workplace being swept under the carpet or dealt with inappropriately by their employers: "Once raped by a colleague on a night out. Guess who lost their job? (not him)," read one, while another describes how after she was sexually assaulted at work "This was brushed under the carpet, the police weren't called and I was moved 'off-site'."

I've always been influenced by strong prosperous women such as Dame Anita Roddick and Helena Morrissey. Now a ridiculously busy but proud owner of a business myself, I try to impart as much wisdom and advice to other women who are trying to achieve their own business dreams. One of the key issues that I find difficult to stomach is that there is still a clear lack of female role models across all sectors including science and technology, business, public sector or charities. Enterprise is getting better with the likes of Michelle Mone, Annabel Karmel and Kanya King giving female entrepreneurialism the facelift and desirability it needs to attract others start-up.