Well Connected Women: Building Community Across the Private Client Sector
To mark International Women’s Day and this year’s theme, Give to Gain, The LPF is spotlighting women across our wider luxury property community who are not only leading in their own disciplines, but are also creating platforms that actively support, connect and champion others.
LPF Founder Priya Rawal sat down with Rachel Ewing, Associate Director of insurance firm Brown & Brown, and Amy Marshall, Founder of the boutique marketing agency Allmarsh (both LPF members). Together they co-founded Well Connected Women, a private network created to bring together female advisors working with high-net-worth clients across the private client and luxury property ecosystem.
Connecting professionals across law, wealth management, property, design and beyond, Well Connected Women has quickly grown into a thoughtful community built on trust, collaboration and meaningful introductions. Through carefully curated gatherings and conversations, the initiative celebrates generosity, shared knowledge and the quiet power of women supporting one another across the private client world.
Hi both! Please could you introduce yourselves, your roles within the luxury property sector, and the work you do day to day?
Rachel:
I’ve worked as an insurance broker for nearly 20 years, and for the past 14 years I’ve focused primarily on business development. My role involves building and nurturing relationships with professionals such as solicitors, bankers, financial advisers, and property finders, which helps bring new clients to the firm.
Alongside that, I manage a portfolio of private clients, advising them on their personal insurance needs. This can range from high-value homes and holiday properties to jewellery, fine art, and luxury motor vehicles.
I’m also the co-founder of Well Connected Women, a networking group that Amy Marshall and I launched two years ago to connect and support professional women across industries.
Amy:
I am the founder of Allmarsh, a boutique marketing agency that works closely with businesses across the property and professional services sectors.
A large part of my work involves helping founders and leadership teams refine how they present themselves to the market, from brand positioning and messaging through to strategic marketing and content. Many of our clients operate within the luxury property ecosystem, so my day to day work is often focused on reputation, trust and how businesses communicate with discerning private clients.
Alongside this, I co founded Well Connected Women with Rachel. The idea grew quite naturally from the professional circles we both move within. We realised there were many impressive women working across the private client and property world who rarely had the opportunity to meet one another in a more relaxed and meaningful setting.
What inspired you to create Well Connected Women, and why did it feel important to do so?
Rachel:
Having spent many years in business development, I’ve attended countless networking events and very often I found myself as the shortest person in a room full of very tall men!
After returning from maternity leave, I noticed there were quite a few industry-specific women’s events, but nothing that really brought women from different sectors together in one space. Over the years I’d built up a wonderful network of contacts and wanted to create an opportunity to bring everyone together, partly as a thank you for their support, and partly in the hope that my network could start supporting one another too.
Amy and I had known each other for over 10 years and had stayed in touch through social media. We finally reconnected at a networking event run by Paul Faithfull (the Lunch Club - with no lunch) I mentioned that I wanted to organise an informal pizza night to bring my network together. Amy, who runs her own marketing company, very kindly told me that while the idea was good, the pizza and the name were not!
The very next day she came back with the name Well Connected Women and a full set of branding ideas and from there, WCW was born. With the support of Brown and Brown we were able to put on our first event at Home Grown where over 50 women attended.
Amy:
The idea immediately felt bigger than a single event. Rachel already had an incredible network of trusted professionals, as did I from my time working both in a buying agency and estate agency. What struck me was how powerful it could be if those women were introduced to one another intentionally. The name Well Connected Women came to me quite quickly after that, because the concept was really about recognising the strength of those existing relationships and creating the right environment for them to grow.
Was there a particular moment or conversation that made you realise this kind of community was needed?
Rachel:
We realised almost immediately at our first event just how much this kind of community was needed.
Our first event featured a guest speaker, Harriet Waley-Cohen, who encouraged everyone to split into small groups of three and network with intention sharing why they had come and which industries they were hoping to connect with. The atmosphere in the room was incredible. It was buzzing.
Women who might normally have felt shy spoke up, made new introductions, and left with genuine connections.
We now host events quarterly, and each one typically has around 50–60% new attendees, many of whom Amy and I have never met before. People come along because they’ve heard about the group through LinkedIn, through friends, colleagues, or business contacts, which is incredibly rewarding to see.
How has building this initiative shaped the way you think about connection and leadership?
Rachel:
In the beginning, I was actually quite guarded about inviting other women from the insurance industry into the group. I’d worked hard to build my network and was protective of it, and I worried about people coming in purely to tap into those contacts.
But as Well Connected Women has grown, my perspective has completely changed. The group has evolved into something much bigger than traditional networking.
It’s about empowering women, creating a supportive community, and providing a safe space where people can have open, honest conversations. Seeing that happen has really reshaped the way I think about leadership and collaboration.
What does meaningful support between women look like to you in practice?
Rachel:
Amy and I actually had lunch yesterday with some wonderful women who have been part of Well Connected Women since the beginning. One of them described the group as “nurturing” - a place where women genuinely support and empower one another.
I loved hearing that because it perfectly captures the ethos of WCW. It’s not just about exchanging business cards; it’s about championing one another, sharing experiences, and lifting each other up.
Amy:
It is also very practical. A thoughtful introduction, a recommendation for a project, or simply sharing experience with someone navigating a similar challenge. Those small gestures are often where the real value of a community like this lies.
Have there been any moments through Well Connected Women that have felt especially moving?
Rachel:
One moment that really stayed with me was when Dr Milli Raizada joined us as a keynote speaker to talk about hormonal health.
Her talk prompted me to start looking more closely at my own health and understanding what perimenopause actually was. As a result, I sought medical advice and am now on HRT and I genuinely feel like myself again. That event didn’t just strike a chord with me, so many women in the room reached out afterwards to say it impacted them too and is still a talking point almost a year onwards!
That experience really highlighted how Well Connected Women is about so much more than networking. It’s about sharing knowledge, supporting one another, and creating a community where women feel less alone in the challenges they may be facing.
In what ways has this community gone on to create wider impact beyond the room itself?
Rachel:
We always try to give our events a purpose, something Amy has really championed and which works incredibly well.
Through panel discussions and speaker sessions, we’ve created a space where women feel comfortable sharing their personal journeys. We’ve had very open and powerful conversations around topics such as fertility and IVF, which have been incredibly impactful for many members of the group.
Beyond that, the connections formed within the community have led to real opportunities — including people finding new roles or collaborations through relationships built at WCW.
The IWD theme this year is Give To Gain. How does that idea resonate with your work and the spirit of the group?
Rachel:
I love this year’s theme, Give to Gain. Having grown up professionally in the insurance industry, I often felt that women were positioned in competition with one another, which I always found frustrating.
The idea of giving first - supporting others, sharing knowledge, opening doors - is something I believe strongly in, and it’s very much at the heart of Well Connected Women.
In my role at Brown & Brown, I’m also very aware that I’m now in a more senior position for some of the younger women on our team. I try to dedicate time to mentoring them and sharing my experience where I can. Many of them also attend WCW events and are the most enthusiastic cheerleaders in the room, which is wonderful to see.
What would you say to a woman in luxury property who is looking for a stronger sense of belonging or confidence?
Rachel:
Surround yourself with brilliant, uplifting people.
The right community can make a huge difference. People who encourage you, celebrate your successes, and remind you of your strengths when you doubt yourself.
What do you hope Well Connected Women continues to stand for in the years ahead?
Rachel:
Over the past few years, Amy and I have watched the group evolve very naturally into what it is today. That organic growth has been really special.
Looking ahead, we’re exploring a number of ideas, from virtual networking opportunities to educational sessions and courses all designed to continue supporting and connecting women.
But at its core, I hope Well Connected Women will always stand for community, generosity, and empowerment.
Amy:
For me, I hope it continues to feel thoughtful and genuine. It was never intended to be the biggest network, or one that is right for everyone. The strength of Well Connected Women comes from the relevance in the room. Our members all work closely with private clients, so the conversations, introductions and support naturally carry more meaning. When you bring together capable, generous women who operate in that world, the relationships that form can have a lasting impact far beyond the event itself.
