Winnie is the Founder & CEO of Carra, an AI-driven digital hair health platform helping women to care for their textured hair. She started her career in the corporate world at IBM and Ernst & Young before moving to the world of start-ups, spending the majority of her career building cutting edge consumer apps at ASOS, Net-a-porter, and LVMH - most notably, Givenchy’s first mobile app.
Winnie Awa is an entrepreneur on a mission to build the next frontier of textured hair care. She is the Founder and CEO of Carra, a website which provides expert advice on textured hair and how to care for individual hair textures.
Disrupting the status quo, Winnie is giving a voice to marginalised people within the £90bn hair care industry, cutting out the guesswork and providing access to licenced experts on textured hair. Recognised by the likes of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Sunday Times Style, and Refinery 29, in speeches Winnie focuses on entrepreneurship, women in technology, diversity, and textured haircare.
Winnie’s career first began as an Analyst for IBM and later as a Senior Consultant for EY. She worked with an exciting variety of start-up companies, helping to build cutting-edge consumer apps. Working as a Strategic Programme Manager for NET-A-PORTER, a Programme Manager for ASOS, and a Product Management Consultant for LVMH, Winnie realised a passion for fashion and became the Co-Founder of andVerv, a London-based contemporary womenswear brand that premiered at London Fashion Week.
Winnie is also the Founding CEO of Antidote Street, a global beauty marketplace that curates the best brands for multi-textured hair. Determined to revolutionise the haircare industry, Winnie founded and is now working as Carra’s CEO. Honing her vision, Winnie created the hyper-personalisation platform that brings together expert advice and machine learning to offer custom routines for people with textured hair. Identifying the amount of time that people with textured hair spend on inappropriate and damaging routines, and the exorbitant amounts of money they spend.
Winnie wants to utilise technology to create amazing experiences. She is a passionate advocate for inclusivity and dedicates her time to mentoring fellow female entrepreneurs and encouraging girls to consider STEM subjects. In her roles as part of Glamour Magazine Beauty Power List and Women’s Health Award Judge, she is renowned for using her voice and platform to revolutionise the haircare industry using Tech and Data.
Named as an InnovateUK Women in Innovation winner, Winnie has been recognised in various publications, cited in the book Palette and has contributed to Looking Beyond The Car In Front: A Guide to Making the Right Career Choices at the Right Time.
We were joined at 87 Barts Close by three brilliant speakers on a panel that delved into the complex world of Artificial Intelligence. Over the hour our panellists de-mystified AI, speaking about AI’s immense promise for enhancing our lives, alongside the apprehension it has generated regarding job security, privacy infringement, and ethical considerations.
87 Barts Close, 87 Bartholomew Close, London, EC1A 7EB
We were joined by four fantastic speakers to look ahead at International Women’s Day. With the theme of this year’s event being #InspireInclusion, we were lucky enough to hear from four women who have each blazed a trail in their respective fields: CEO of Channel 4, Alex Mahon; the former Australian Prime Minister and Chair of Kings’ Global Institute of Women’s Leadership, Julia Gillard; one of the leading voices in football, Eniola Aluko MBE; and broadcaster and journalist, Samira Ahmed.
Bishopsgate Institute, London
