“There is so much more female talent out there than I ever imagined”: In conversation with Sandra Lewin, founder of 100 Women in Insurance

In September 2023, Sandra Lewin launched the first episode of 100 Women in Insurance, a podcast for women across the industry to share their career journeys, struggles, and achievements, with the aim of interviewing at least 100 women and inspiring others to take control of their own journey both professionally and personally.

In her introduction to each episode, Sandra states that she is "on a mission to make insurance a career choice, not a chance", adding that "the insurance profession is changing, so it couldn’t be a better time to showcase the fantastic women across the insurance market."

As of April 2025, the podcast has over 70 episodes, covering everything from inclusion in the workplace to career pivots to what insurance jobs could look like in 2045.

"The idea was to interview women working in what would traditionally be considered male-dominated roles and just see how they do it, show people that they can do it too, and promote the variety of roles out there," Sandra explained.

"I think we don't expose ourselves enough to the opportunities that are available in the job space. What I mean by that is there are often five or six jobs that everyone talks about - you're an accountant, you’re a doctor, you're an engineer.

"As I started to search for women to interview, I thought to myself, 'hang on a second, I'm actually really well connected in the insurance market,' and the insurance market has this stigma around not having enough female talent to progress to senior roles," she continued. 

“When you're starting something, everyone always says find a niche and stick to it. That's how you make your success. So I thought, let's start talking about insurance and showcasing the variety of roles that are available in the market.” 

At first, Sandra’s focus was primarily on exploring female recruitment in the insurance industry, and encouraging more people to choose insurance instead of ending up in the sector by chance.

"I think until we move to the phase where we are attending careers fairs and exhibitions, where we are more visible on social media, where the role models and the execs are changing and the media conversation changes, we’ll continue to struggle with people choosing insurance. 

"Everyone on the podcast who said they chose insurance did so because they had a family member or a friend or somebody who had already explained it to them," she said.

However, what really stood out to Sandra as she began to interview people was retention. A study by specialist employment law firm GQLittler in late 2023 found that women make up less than 7% of CEOs, 16% of CFOs, and 11% of chairpersons in the UK insurance industry. 

"It became apparent that even though we do get people in the market, they hit that managerial level around the same time that women typically face either significant health issues or pregnancy, or they become parents or carers," Sandra said.

"What happens then is that the structure and culture of an organisation is not necessarily designed to cater for this period of time that many women go through, and then as a result, we either lose that talent completely, as in they completely leave the corporate world, or we lose it in the sense that these women don't progress. 

"Actually, I was very surprised to find out that often women don't want to progress because they know that the company is not set up to cater for their needs, or there’s an assumption made that they shouldn't progress," she added.

“A number of women who I've spoken have come back ready to work, but people around them seem to be getting promoted and getting opportunities, and whenever they speak to their managers they’re told, 'oh, I didn't think you wanted this because I thought you wanted to focus on home.'”

However, Sandra stressed that the podcast has also helped her to become aware of more female role models across the insurance space, who are also becoming increasingly visible through social media platforms such as LinkedIn, and who have shown her that success can come in many different forms. 

"I always say that I felt like I was pretty progressive when it came to female talent in the industry. Then I started the podcast, and I realised how biased I was because there is so much more female talent out there than I ever imagined. 

"The other thing is that, depending on what generation you are in, and depending how you've been raised, success is often defined by if you make it to the C-Suite. But actually, there's so many ways to succeed and it's about defining what success means to you," she said.

Sandra noted that these "squiggly careers" are something that many of her interviewees had followed when progressing with their own career goals.

"Squiggly careers have made a lot of women very successful - they'll be going up and up and up and then suddenly they'll go to the side, try something different, learn something new, and go up again and then maybe take a step back.

"Far more women than I thought who are at a very senior level actually did this before they got to that level. Actually, if you experience other aspects of business - so you worked in risk, then maybe you worked in compliance, maybe you worked in underwriting – that can make you a better leader because you understand how the business works," she said.

Another trend Sandra noticed among the women she interviewed was the importance of "the honesty and transparency of their desires."

"There have been women who, when joining a company, have said, 'I want to join your company, but for the next year, I'm going to need every other Friday off and over summer I'm going to work significantly less hours, but in September and October you're going to pretty much have me 24 hours. I need that kind of flexibility.' 

"The reason why they've been able to negotiate that is because the focus wasn't 'what's in it for me?', it was about how it would help the business – for example, one person negotiated less hours in the summer, more hours during school time, and she worked in a particular role where during school time was a peak time for underwriting, so that made sense for business," she explained.

“It’s about recognising what's right for you right now, and that even if you make certain choices, it doesn't determine your future.”

Since launching the podcast, Sandra has also set up the Women in Insurance Collective, which she described as "a space that women can access for networking, but also coaching and mentoring programmes for anyone, whether you are part of a big corporate or not."

This came after she identified a "lack" of "feminine networking opportunities and events" in the insurance space: "A lot of companies get tickets to golf and football clubs, but why don't we get tickets to Fashion Week, for example? There are plenty of men who would love that. So having that feminine energy in a networking space is something that I always wanted to create.

"When I launched the podcast, I did a Barbie insurance event, and we decked out the room in pink with balloons and candy and Barbie boxes. It was extremely feminine. It was recommended that everyone wear something pink, and it became a trend in the City. 

"We ended up having 100% turnout to the event - 157 people came through the door, and I was expecting about 40 so it shows you that there is this need.

"After the podcast launched, I started to get inquiries for coffees and meet-ups. I heard that women were listening to the podcast and then connecting over it at conferences. It became this conversation starter for many, and they started to naturally create this community."

The Collective serves as a global community for women in insurance, offering online networking opportunities, in-person social meetups, and webinars on various topics with the aim of retaining female talent in the industry. 

"The definition of the Collective is bringing together like-minded people with the same goal. The goal of the Collective is that it can be accessible and funded by individuals, so you don’t necessarily need corporate support in order to join, although we do offer an option where you can ask your employer to fund it, and some members have already done that. 

“It is accessible on your own terms, so as much as there’s in-person events, there's online events as well. The idea is that you connect with people globally and locally.”

"There are members from Zurich, there are members from America. So it's breaking those barriers and creating this safe space to empower and share stories, increase your network and connect on a personal level in your own way," Sandra said. 

This intersectional approach is something that Sandra feels is important for organisations in the industry today, as "the more diverse your team is, the more success you have."

"We all live different lives and have experienced different things. So when you have a diverse team, you start thinking outside of the box. If we’re all the same, then we’ll all use the same products, whereas if we’ve experienced different things, we can think of different products," she said.

“The innovation piece becomes very, very important, as well as the representation of society, which is increasingly diverse.”

"Even though I'm in a female-only space, I need to be very mindful that even within that I create diversity. I think that diversity comes from awareness – when recruiting, we should not recruit diverse talent just for the sake of bringing in diverse talent, because that in itself creates a very difficult position for both parties. 

"What we should do is be very mindful - when I receive 10 CVs and they’re all identical, I should be thinking 'why am I receiving those 10 identical CVs? Is it because the recruiters haven't gone out to try and find other people? Is it the way I've written the job specs? Is it my company culture that is not attracting anyone else?'"

"This is what we need to be doing in order to make sure that we diversify for the better of the organisation."

At the Women’s Recognition Awards, we aim to recognise the firms and individuals who are pushing to make the mortgage, protection and specialist lending space a better place to work for women and all underrepresented groups, so that they do become, as Sandra says, careers that more people go into by choice, and where they choose to stay.  

Nominations for the Women’s Recognition Awards 2025 will open on 7th May, supported by headline sponsor London & Country Mortgages. So if you or someone you know is a force for change in the industry, get ready to nominate them soon!