The Winners of Veuve Clicquot’s Bold Woman Awards 2025

The Veuve Clicquot Bold Woman Awards 2025 returned this week, filling the magnificent setting of the Royal Opera House with its golden glow and infectious energy. A remarkable gathering of esteemed female entrepreneurs came together once again to celebrate a series of women who embody boldness in business — echoing the daring legacy of Madame Clicquot herself. Bold by Veuve Clicquot is more than an award — it’s a mindset, a movement, and a community. It exists to give women a voice, a platform, and the courage to lead with vision — inspiring future generations to do the same. Here, we spotlight the powerful voices of the Bold Woman and Bold Future Award nominees and winners from this year. These are women who are not only leading, but redefining what leadership looks like.

Two Trophies, Two Awards

The Bold Woman Awards consist of two sparkling bottle-shaped trophies to bring home and display on the mantle. One, the Bold Woman Award, honours trailblazers leading established businesses, while the Bold Future Award recognises rising entrepreneurs and ventures under five years old. Nominations are sourced through public submissions and the Bold community’s extensive networks, with each candidate evaluated by an independent panel across four key criteria: entrepreneurial spirit, successful reinvention of tradition, commitment to representation, and ethical leadership.

A Word from the Bold Woman Award Nominees

“You can lead from every seat you’re in,” said Dame Julia Hoggett DBE—now revealed as the winner of the Bold Woman Award 2025. Speaking during a panel discussion with the two other nominees, Dame Hoggett added, “leaders used to be so quiet about their experiences, and now we can give each other the confidence to tell those stories—and pass them on to future generations.” She continued with characteristic candour, “Women no longer feel like they need to act like men—I haven’t worn a skirt in the office since 1998!” A remark that, quite rightly, drew a wave of applause across the room. Dame Julia Hoggett is CEO of the London Stock Exchange — the largest in Europe, with more capital raised in London in 2024 than in the next three European exchanges combined. During her time in this prestigious role, she has been recognised for championing diversity.

Anne Aslett, CEO of the Elton John AIDS Foundation and a Bold Woman Award nominee, has expanded the charity’s annual global revenues from around $1 million to an impressive $30 million.“This is never what I imagined I would do,” she reflected during the panel. “This all came during the rise of venture philanthropy, when people didn’t want to give money unless they really knew it was going to work.”Under her leadership, the Foundation has seen remarkable growth. In 2023, it awarded the highest value of grants in its history — reaching more than 280,000 people across 42 countries. When asked what advice she would give to the next generation, she answered that “just because you don’t have the degree or the background, it doesn’t matter, if you have a real passion and understanding of what you want to do—do it!”

The third of the nominees, Vivien Wong, is Co-Founder of Little Moons — the ice cream mochi brand that has taken the freezer aisle by storm. Since launching the company in 2010, Little Moons has expanded to 36 countries and was awarded the Queen’s Award for Export in 2022.“The ice cream market was the graveyard of innovation,” said Wong. “It was all about spotting trends and having the conviction to act on them.” When asked what advice she would give, she said, “Stop limiting your beliefs and go for it. I had never worked with factories or ice cream before” — yet here she is.

A Word from the Bold Future Award Nominees

During the Bold Future Award panel, the nominees were asked to reflect on the realities of launching a young business — and what support systems matter most beyond mentorship. “Finding funding is very difficult,” said Ayesha Ofori, Founder and CEO of Propelle. “My husband kept telling me to keep going, and eventually the money came.” Propelle is the UK’s first female-focused investment platform, created to help women build financial confidence and long-term wealth. Before launching the business, Ofori worked as a wealth manager and served as Executive Director at Goldman Sachs, where she managed over half a billion pounds for ultra-high-net-worth clients.“We need to make the playing field level with men,” she added. “It shouldn’t be so difficult for women to raise funding.”

Nina Mohanty, Founder and CEO of Bloom Money and a Bold Future Award nominee, echoed Ayesha Ofori’s sentiments, sharing that securing funding had also been a major challenge in her journey. “Open your wallets to women,” urged Mohanty. “Be the champion for women.” Bloom Money is a fintech company designing financial tools tailored for immigrant communities. Prior to founding Bloom, Mohanty worked for the Obama Administration at the US Embassy in London and helped build products at Klarna, Starling Bank, and Mastercard. Bloom’s flagship product, Bloom Circles, offers secure and accessible tools to help immigrants build financial resilience and generational wealth.

“The number of times I’ve been called a little girl is challenging — the hurdle is higher than it is for men, so we just have to be better,” said Insiya Jafferjee, winner of this year’s Bold Future Award. After starting her career at Apple, Jafferjee co-founded Shellworks, a company on a mission to break our reliance on petroleum-based plastics. With the tagline “If nature made plastic, this would be it,” Shellworks’ innovative Vivomer material is created with the help of microbes — which, once the product is discarded, recognise it as a nutrient-rich energy source and naturally break it down. Having already replaced 40 tonnes of plastic and 1.2 million packaging solutions, the aim of Shellworks is to replace plastic completely.

Winning Words

Upon receiving the Bold Future Award, Insiya Jafferjee said “Going back to the heritage of this award with Madame Clicquot, she transformed an age-old industry and that is exactly the ambition of what Shellworks set out to do.” Jafferjee also went on to express how people thought Shellworks were “too ambitious” or “crazy and explained that “We are reinventing plastics by building materials that are non-toxic and waste-free, so yeah, when you think about that it may seem pretty impossible. But it’s important now more than ever, with new research coming out about microplastics and chemicals, we are only just starting to understand the impact that this is going to have on us— but nature has already given us the answer.”

When Dame Julia Hoggett DBE took to the stage to accept her Bold Woman Award, she reflected on its deeper meaning. “I was reflecting on what this award means and Madame Clicquot was a brave and bold woman, taking the helm and revolutionising a business and an industry at a time when women simply did not do that. Had she not also had to go through the hardship of being a widow, by law at the time she would not have been able to take responsibility for a business at all. Not only did she want that responsibility and that opportunity, but she had a remarkable vision for what she wanted to do with that opportunity.” She went on to share her advice, “Do not be afraid to take the reins, just as Madame Clicquot did, and secondly, have a crystal-clear view of the purpose you wish to fulfil in doing so.”

Speaking about her own purpose, she added, “I hope that in seeing to ensure that the London Stock Exchange is not just a driver of the UK’s place as a global financial centre, but equally importantly, a driver of the UK domestic economy. We can genuinely create the best possible environment for great companies, including crucially those run by women, to start, grow, scale and stay true to themselves. For as long as I’m CEO of the Exchange, that will be our purpose.”