Give Her Wings

On Tuesday 6th June, one of our corporate partners, Garrard, launched a new charitable initiative, ‘Give her Wings’, to celebrate trailblazing women during the Jubilee celebrations, in commemoration of one of the biggest trailblazers of them all - Her Majesty The Queen. The aim was to inspire the next generation of trailblazers; the young girls that Dallaglio RugbyWorks supports to build brighter futures through the values of sport.

At the inaugural Give her Wings event, we were joined by a number of incredible women, including one of our ambassadors, Zainab Alema, otherwise known as “The Bulldozer”. Zainab epitomises trailblazing women; she is a rugby player, NHS nurse and mother of 3 who was our guest speaker for the event. She was interviewed by the wonderful Jenna Brooks, a rugby league presenter from Sky Sports and here’s what she had to say:

“[When] I joined my rugby club, it became really apparent that I was different. I was the only black person on my team, the only Muslim girl on my team, I was the only one that didn’t drink. I was the only one that when I played I would wear my underlayers to not show my legs or my arms. So many things made me think “Do I really belong in this sport.” My Dad said to me “Why don’t you play tennis”. When I think about it’s because of people like Serena Williams, she was a black woman playing tennis so it goes back to representation. He saw someone that could relate to me, but he didn’t see that in rugby.”  

“I like to say if you can’t see it, be it, and that’s what I want to be in rugby – a role model.” 

Zainab Alema with Jenna Brooks, Sky Sports Rugby League presenter

The Queen Mary Suite at Garrard’s flagship boutique was the wonderfully intimate setting for the event, made to feel even more special by the very kind donation from Laurent-Perrier of their La Cuvée champagne. 

As part of the event, there was an opportunity to enter a special Garrard raffle where the purchase of a wing-shaped silver pendant, of which only 70 were made in celebration of the Platinum Jubilee, put donators in with a chance of winning a beautiful one-of-a-king topaz ring. All proceeds from the event went to Dallaglio RugbyWorks.

Garrard has created many jewels that are worn by the British royal family, including the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara which Queen Elizabeth II is seen wearing in the portrait featured on British currency. The strong synergy which underlies the partnership is due to Garrard’s passion for fostering belief and strength in women - something which we strive to achieve with the females on our Us Girls programme. This programme was designed by girls, for girls, and other than encouraging the next generation of young women to get involved and change the glaring statistics that girls are heavily underrepresented in most sports, it covers other incredibly important workshops on consent and body image. 

We are so thankful to Garrard for their ongoing support of Dallaglio RugbyWorks and are delighted with the success of this event, which so far has raised £3,500 for the charity.