Six women, two winners and numerous bottles of sparkling champagne: Antonella Santuccione Chadha can look forward to the Bold Woman Award 2022 and Fanny Queloz The Bold Future Award 2022, both of which Veuve Clicquot dedicates to female entrepreneurs and businesswomen who not only make the world a better place with their courage and ideas, but also inspire it.
They are courageous, clever and full of drive: the women Veuve Clicquot has brought together for its Bold Woman Award 2022. For the 17th time already. The award changed hands for the 1st time. September 2022 in Zurich. They all deserved it, the six Swiss entrepreneurs and businesswomen who were able to present themselves and their activities to the jury last March and thus become part of this international Veuve Clicquot project. Beauty breeds beauty – and so it is no coincidence that the idea for the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award was born just as the company was celebrating its 200th anniversary. Without its namesake, the widow Clicquot, we would not be toasting each other with Veuve Clicquot’s champagne today – a fact that the company celebrates with its award program.
Back to the Swiss Bold Woman Award and the women who were finally allowed to stand on the podium. Antonella Santuccione Chadha and Fanny Queloz received their awards to loud applause and the clinking of champagne glasses. The doctor Santuccione Chadha is not only a pioneer in the field of Alzheimer’s research, but particularly impressed the jury with her Women’s Brain Project, a non-profit organization that has been investigating the influence of gender and sexual identity on mental and brain diseases since 2016 – a topic that could not be more topical. Antonella Santuccione Chadha has also been one of the top 100 business women in Switzerland since 2018 and was voted Woman of the Year in Switzerland by the magazine “Women in Business” in 2019.
Santuccione Chadha stood side by side with Fanny Queloz, who in turn was delighted to win the Bold Future Award 2022. The founder of Arts & Design Manufacture has been offering exclusive craftsmanship for high-end watches since 2019 and also passes on local haute horlogerie expertise to young talents through training courses. This impressed the four-member jury, which made Queloz one of 350 women honored with the Veuve Clicquot Bold Woman Award in 27 countries to date.
Photos: © Veuve Clicquot
Congratulations to the two winners, who we immediately took to task as part of the Bold Woman Award 2022 :
FACES: What are you most proud of in relation to your company?
Fanny Queloz: I am extremely proud that our expertise enables us to create exceptional pieces for the biggest names in the luxury industry and haute horlogerie.
Antonella Santuccione Chadha: I have never been satisfied with just one work. As a young doctor, I worked on a psychiatric ward in the mornings and in the laboratory with mice suffering from Alzheimer’s disease in the afternoons. It’s the same today, where I am the Pro Bono Executive Director of the Women’s Brain Project and also the Chief Medical Office at Altoida. I am proud of the pioneering work we are doing at the Women’s Brain Project in the field of gender-specific medicine. For example, we have provided evidence of why it is so important to recognize gender differences for better treatment and care. At Altoida, we have discovered a machine learning method that can be used to diagnose and monitor the progression of brain and mental illnesses. Using a specially developed app, we can record brain function within twelve minutes; the results are immediately made available to the doctor and the user. I am very proud to be part of these great teams of men and women and to help them achieve their goals.
Q :How do you support other women?
FQ : Every day I support other women who ask me for advice or who want to share and discuss their lives and experiences with me. I encourage them to realize their dreams and projects.
ASC: I always try to set a good example, just like my mother and grandmother did. I have learned that it is important for a woman to be able to delegate certain functions and tasks and to trust that others can work just as well as you can. It is important to motivate others to become even better – this applies just as much to work and home as it does to motherhood and entrepreneurship. There is one rule: in order to be able to delegate and give instructions, you must first master the work yourself in order to be able to assess its quality. This is exactly what I follow when I advise female and male junior staff. I also always encourage women to sit at the table and present themselves with confidence. I always strive to provide clear, constructive feedback. It fills me with pride because you share the beauty of the work, the creativity and the rewards with others and have the opportunity to develop as a person and as a professional. The future of man is a woman, isn’t it?
F: Who inspires you?
FQ: I admire women who have influenced their environment and left their mark on the art world. I am thinking in particular of Maria Grazia Chiuri, a great art director who has had a lasting influence on the fashion industry. However, the women who inspire me the most are less well known. They share the same character traits, the same courage, their strength of character and experience, as well as their willingness to help their fellow human beings.
ASC: I am inspired by the people I work with and with whom I am in dialog. I always try to surround myself with creative and energetic people. The problems I see every day inspire me just as much as the colleagues who are working to solve these problems.
F: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
FQ: To believe in myself and my abilities and to learn from my failures.
ASC: Choose, never be chosen. This is a piece of advice my father gave me when I was a child. He later explained to me that a woman can always go her own way.
F: What advice do you have for other women entrepreneurs?
FQ: Always stay true to yourself and your values!
ASC: Be focused, confident, persistent, authentic, respectful and humble. Trust in yourself and in what you can achieve, and spread this feeling to those around you. Always seek contact with other entrepreneurs – both men and women. These people will benefit, do a better job and believe in what they do, which will help them and you to succeed. Entrepreneurship is a journey, always choose the right travel companions.
Bold by Veuve Clicquot
It was a woman to whom Veuve Clicquot owes its rise. In honor of the widow Clicquot, the champagne brand created the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award in 1972 to celebrate its 200th anniversary, an international award that recognizes women around the world for their courage and inspiration. Switzerland has been part of the project since 1985, and to date 350 women worldwide have made it onto the heroine’s podium. Over the years, the award has evolved into the Bold Woman Award, which sees female entrepreneurs and businesswomen as role models of our time and honors them for their actions. Two awards are presented to women: The Bold Woman Award and the Bold Future Award go to women with a company in Switzerland who make a significant contribution to the company’s success through their entrepreneurial flair. The award focuses on the innovation that the candidate brings to the existing market with her business activities.
More information is available at veuveclicquot.com
