Inspirational Women: Accelerating Action with Kate Usher, Workplace Menopause Consultant & Coach at Menopause in Business

To celebrate International Women’s Day 2025, Design Insider is proud to present a special series highlighting Inspirational Women leading the way in commercial interiors. These visionary professionals are shaping the industry through experience, their unique approach, and a commitment to driving meaningful change.

This year’s theme, Accelerate Action, underscores the urgent need to dismantle systemic barriers and fast-track progress toward gender equality. At the current rate, full parity won’t be reached until 2158—five generations from now. By amplifying the voices of women who are making a tangible impact, we aim to inspire industry-wide action and showcase effective strategies that help move the needle faster.

In this exclusive interview series, we speak with Kate Usher, Workplace Menopause Consultant & Coach at Menopause in Business, to explore her journey, insights, and the initiatives she supports to create a more inclusive and equitable commercial interiors sector. From championing rising talent to breaking down barriers in leadership, she shares how we can all contribute to a future where women thrive.

Can you start by introducing yourself, your role, and your business? What drives your passion for the work you do? 

I am a Menopause Coach and Workplace Consultant – I work with organisations to create places of work that are fully inclusive. To enable those who are menopausal, their partners, family members and colleagues to feel supported and able to discuss this life phase.

I had a shocking menopause and had to learn very quickly how to positively talk about what I was going through, while role modelling to others how to talk about and behave around this inevitable part of women’s lives.

In our places of work, we continue to lose far too many talented women simply because of the stigma and discomfort around menopause. Contrary to popular belief, we aren’t talking about it anywhere near enough. In fact, rather unhelpfully it feels like we are talking about it less than we used to.

The 2025 International Women’s Day theme is “Accelerate Action”—a call to urgently address systemic barriers to gender equality. In your experience, what are the most pressing challenges women face in the commercial interiors sector, and how do you think these can be addressed faster?

I think one of the greatest issues we currently face irrespective of industry, is the rather worrying idea that equality has gone far enough or worse, too far. It hasn’t. Men still hold the majority of senior roles, are more likely to be promoted than women, earn more and have bigger pension pots.

We need to recognise the importance of men’s mental health, their critical role as parents and partners and stop any suggestion of gender bashing. But this should not be an either-or situation. Both men and women should given the conditions to thrive in their careers and home lives.

Organisations need to take a look at the balance in their teams, talent pipelines and senior management. If they are homogenised (gender, education or ethnicity), then there needs to be an overhaul of the recruitment, retention and promotion procedures. Simply saying “women aren’t applying” isn’t good enough, they have to ask “Why?” and then act.

Supporting organisations that uplift women is a cornerstone of this year’s campaign. Are there any groups, initiatives, or movements within the commercial interiors industry—or beyond—that you actively support or draw inspiration from? How can individuals and businesses in this sector help accelerate their impact?

There are so many brilliant groups out there which are making a difference such as Women in Office Design WOD run by the amazing Harsha Kotak.

Women are classically over mentored and under sponsored. While mentoring is fantastic it is only part of the pathway to success. I would like to see active sponsorship programmes to boost women’s opportunities especially as we move into the parenting, caring and menopause years.  This will enable women to retain their careers rather than feel forced to leave them.

Which other inspirational women are disrupting the commercial interiors sector or related fields right now, and what impact do you think their work will have on the future of the industry—or society as a whole?

There are many women who I admire, I have already mentioned Harsha, and then there’s Gurvinder Khurana of M Moser who I think is incredible. I love women who are prepared to shake the tree so that others can follow. It is important to add however that there is an army of women doing extraordinary things without a profile. We need to recognise the value of their contribution.

One of the IWD principles emphasises understanding what works and doing more of it. What strategies, tools, or practices within the commercial interiors sector have you seen that are effectively advancing women in leadership, design, or business? How can these be scaled to make a broader impact?

We need to create processes to enable women to manage the phases of their life without needing to step off the career ladder. The percentage of women who leave full time employment within five years of their first child is devastating to women themselves and the organisations they work for. This is then followed by menopause which sees the same impact – 1in 10 leaving –  on our female workforce.

For those who take a career break or work part time for a period, organisations need to introduce rapid elevator programmes that bring returners back up to the same level they would have been, had they remained. No one wants to come back in as a junior when they have a couple of decade’s experience under their belt.

There are considerable financial, cultural and organisational benefits of having a diverse workforce. If organisations want to benefit from that they will need to be more creative and look at new ways to both attract and retain women as they progress through their careers.

What advice would you give to young women looking to make their mark in the commercial interiors sector? How can they contribute to the global effort to accelerate action for gender equality?

Seek out successful women and learn from them. In addition to this recognise the power of your network, establishing sponsors as well as mentors is a critical and significant part of career success.  

At the current rate of progress, full gender equality won’t be achieved until 2158. If you could accelerate one key change within the commercial interiors sector that would have the greatest impact on closing the gender gap sooner, what would it be? 

Create policies that encourage women to return and remain after parental leave, recognising that both men and women benefit from a parent friendly culture. The design industry seems to suffer terribly with the motherhood penalty.

Finally, what message would you like to share with the global community this International Women’s Day to inspire collective action toward gender equality? 

Gender equality is not just a woman’s issue, it’s an everyone issue. We all have a role to play. It’s failure or success impacts individuals, families, communities and society as a whole. With that in mind, if we all made small incremental changes in the way we think and behave the impact would be rapid and beneficial to everyone. It really is a win-win.