Phoebe W.

Background

About Phoebe W.

Phoebe Waters is Co-Founder and Partner of Optimising Potential ('OP'), a strategic business consultancy - specialising in female and high impact leadership. OP works in-depth with individuals and teams as impactful improvement partners, particularly through periods of transformational change. Phoebe specialises in consulting on leadership, particularly female leadership, and gender equity and equality. OP was UN Women UK's sole leadership partner for the Commission on the Status of Women in 2024 (CSW is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to gender), and was again for 2025 - presenting to hundreds of UN Women UK delegates (of all genders) in a range of sectors and industries, on how to break down systemic inequalities at the micro, meso and macro levels. Phoebe is a two-time winner of Management Today's 35 Women Under 35 Awards, a UK-wide initiative recognising the best of female business talent. She is now Chair of Judges for these 35//35 Awards, in addition to being a Judge for the Women and Diversity in Law Awards and a Judge for the UK's Tackling Economic Crime Awards. Phoebe, a former corporate investigator and previous Chair of the Female Fraud Forum, is a faculty member at the University of Cambridge's Institute of Sustainability Leadership, tutoring on two internationally renowned courses. She is a Visiting Lecturer on the foundations of gender equality at other UK universities. Phoebe is also the Co-Founder of the Female City Supper Club, and is a member of the Aspen Rising Leaders Fellowship.