I'm delighted to introduce Helle Juul as our third Woman of Influence in our international series. I first met Helle about eight eight years ago and was inspired by her ideas, the elegance of her language, her presentation and also the warmth with which she addressed questions from the audience. In Helle I saw at once the core competences one would expect from an outstanding architect with the vision to realise exceptional processes and projects. I am looking forward to a time when we might work together but until that time I thought more people should know about how her talent and business acumen is changing the face of architecture in the Nordic region.

Power is often vested in those that are in the elite group within a profession. It is recognised that in most professions, whether at a senior executive level or at board level, it is harder for women to reach the top. There are a host of factors for this which have been well covered by others and the Cultural and Creative industries are no exception. Of course influence can be exerted by reaching a high level, but the beauty of influence is that it does not depend on Power, even though it can be powerful, and it can emerge from any part of the creative and cultural ecology. We wanted to provide a platform for some of those women who have for a variety of reasons established themselves as thought leaders, opinion formers, exceptionally creative or entrepreneurial and through their activity have become influential. Sometimes they have been gutsy or provocative and sometimes they have just gone about their business in a confident, steady and assertive manner. They have all managed to attract a degree of attention, so here are some of those who have caught ours.

This time we profile Margriet Leemhuis, Deputy Head of Mission at the Royal Netherlands Embassy in London.