International Women’s Day

March 8, 2021

International Women’s Day 2021

The theme of International Women’s Day 2021 is #ChooseToChallenge, where the aim is to get the conversation going around challenging gender bias and inequality, and celebrate women’s achievements.  Here at Richard Kendall Estate Agent we wanted to do our bit to champion the women within our organisation, and the wider local community.

Female Leadership Within Richard Kendall Estate Agent

Of course it is Richard’s name over the door and his 50 plus years in the industry so far on which our company has built it’s foundations, but what you may not know is that our workforce is made up of 75% female staff.  In a traditionally male-orientated industry we have an all-female team of Negotiators, all of our Branch Managers across our six offices are female, and our company is headed up, not only by Richard, but also by Claire and Simon.

In fact, back in 1992 Richard’s wife Jennifer Kendall joined the company and the Horbury office at 4 Cluntergate opened its doors for the first time.  This became the second office for Richard Kendall Estate Agent, and gave the lettings department its own home where it is still based today.

Then in 2007 Claire Kendall joined the family business.  Before taking up her position she studied in Newcastle at the University of Northumbria, becoming a Chartered Surveyor with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.  Following her studies she spent many years in the London property market, making her mark within a major property company before returning home to Yorkshire, and eventually to Richard Kendall Estate Agent.

Supporting Our People

As our company is founded on family values, it’s so important to us that we make it as easy as possible for our employees to have a family life too. We make a point of championing job sharing and part time working, and with so many female employees we are practically experts in maternity leave arrangements!

We are so proud of our work family, especially over the last 12 months of navigating the Covid-19 Pandemic.  Our staff have been superb with juggling working from home and home schooling, along with all the other challenges we have all faced during this challenging period in our history.  We have proudly been able to continue selling and renting houses to the people of Wakefield and Pontefract purely because of the dedication and support of our staff.

Women in Our Industry

We are lucky enough to work with some inspiring female leaders in the local area and we wanted to share some of their stories with you.

Corrie Holmes

Corrie Holmes is a Partner and Head of Residential Conveyancing with GM Wilson Solicitors. She has over 18 years’ experience in dealing with many different types of residential property transactions including sales, purchases, transfers of equity, re-mortgages, freehold, leasehold, shared ownership and new build matters. Corrie prides herself in taking a modern, friendly and proactive approach to the work she loves and strives to go above and beyond for all her clients. Here at Richard Kendall we have a great relationship with GM Wilson and would always recommend Corrie and her team!

Camille Johnson

Camille Johnson is a Director and part owner of PAB Studios Ltd, an advertising agency based in Wakefield. We have been working with Camille and her team for around two years.  They provide us with brilliant design support for some of our marketing materials.

Camille told us, “The business has been running for over 30 years and like Richard Kendall, we take great pride in our work, our clients and our local Wakefield roots. We manage the advertising and marketing for a variety of trades and it was an absolute honour to be asked to work on something as special as a rebrand for Richard Kendall Estate Agent.

Their existing brand was so synonymous with property in Wakefield and the five towns, we had to carefully plan the transition from past to present without losing the essence of what they were known for. After months of careful consideration, we created a new logo design and brand identity that retained its prestige and values whilst giving it a surge of new life, to create a more modern colour palette and font. The result of our work was a few happy tears from Richard Kendall himself, giving us the seal of approval we were looking for.

Their new identity reinforced their business to its rightful number one position in the market place which personally elates me every time I drive past a SOLD sign or see their business on social media.”

If your marketing needs a little TLC we would highly recommend a chat with this well-established advertising agency, based right here in Wakefield!

Gill Laidler

TopicUK editor Gill Laidler has worked in the PR and marketing industry for over 40 years, starting her career in a Leeds advertising agency. She has worked with some of Yorkshire’s high profile companies including Yorkshire Television, The Sports Council, Joshua Tetley, Wm Morrison Supermarkets, Empire Stores, McLaren Formula One, Vileda and us here at Richard Kendall Estate Agent.

Along with her business partner, she launched TopicUK a B2B magazine covering the whole of the Yorkshire region in quality print eight years ago and just recently, launched a second publication, Yorkshire Businesswoman Both publications support businesses across the Yorkshire region. Gill also told us that there are plans to launch a business club for women in partnership with Dakota Hotel Leeds during 2021, which is great to hear especially today on #IWD2021.

We thank Corrie, Camille and Gill for letting us include them in this article, and we thank all our staff for helping us through the very challenging times we’ve all been through in the last 12 months.