We’re really pleased to spotlight Sam Cooper-Gray – someone who has spent years shifting what’s possible for women in business. Sam’s work has always sat at the intersection of practicality and purpose. At HSBC she helped move gender equity from a side conversation into something that shaped how teams operated. And now, through The Wisdom Studio, The Gender Index and the Invest in Women Taskforce, she’s putting real weight behind changing the conditions for female founders in the UK.
Sam does the work, listens, brings people with her, and keeps going, especially in the moments when it would be easier not to. Her impact has come from years of backing women, using data to call out the gaps, and creating community around the people who need it most.
Key Takeaways:
- The data is undeniable: women are good business. When women run companies, the outcomes are stronger and more sustainable. We just need the system to catch up with what the numbers already show.
- Most impact happens long before you realise it – in the small acts of backing someone, speaking up, or creating space that later become part of their story.
- The moments that change you are usually the ones where your community steps in – the colleagues, friends and teams who steady the ship when life hits hard.
- If the people delivering the work feel connected to the purpose, they’ll carry it further than any strategy document ever could.
- Joy comes from connection. Introducing brilliant people to each other and watching what happens next is a type of impact in its own right.
What was one of the best roles you’ve ever had and why?
One of the best roles I’ve ever had wasn’t actually my day job. Early in my career, I became active in the diversity space and hosted an event in the London office. Afterward, someone from the UK gender network, Balance, asked me to get involved. I was very clear I didn’t have capacity to run anything… and a week later she asked me to be UK Chair.
It turned out to be one of the best things I ever did. It gave me a community of brilliant men and women, taught me more than any formal role could, and created a network I never expected. I went from UK Chair to Europe Chair to Global Chair, growing the community and, in the process, gaining access to senior leaders and opportunities that fundamentally shaped my career.
What’s one decision you’ve made that helped align your work with your own values?
A pivotal decision was insisting that my day job included work that aligned with my values. While working in small business strategy, I saw the systemic barriers facing women founders, barriers we weren’t addressing. So I pushed for change.
I launched programmes across multiple markets, including a $1bn debt fund for female founders, female client programmes in nine markets, and a quarter-billion pounds in lending to women in the UK alone. I didn’t have to ask for permission – I just did it, backed by an amazing team and a supportive boss.
Stepping up and saying, “This matters, and it needs to be part of my job,” allowed my purpose, passion and profession to align.
What is the biggest thing you’ve done to create or improve social impact?
It’s hard to measure your own impact, but the initiative that may become the biggest is a recent one: Women Are Good Business (you can find the campaign on LinkedIn and Instagram).
The campaign flips the narrative. Instead of focusing on how hard it is to be a woman founder, we spotlight the women who are smashing it, and the economic data that proves the case.
As a banker, I love a statistic. Here’s the business case:
- Women are 51% of the population, 58% of graduates, control 60% of global assets, and make 90% of consumer decisions.
- Yet in the UK, women run only 19% of businesses.
- And those businesses? They’re 71% less likely to go bankrupt, deliver 63% better ROI, and are significantly less likely to default on debt.
Women aren’t risky. Women are good business. And I’m on a mission to shift the narrative – and the investment that follows.
Can you share some key milestones or proudest moments in your career?
Two milestones stand out, both rooted in personal loss, and in the extraordinary people who carried me through.
I lost my mum in my twenties. I handed in my notice so I could go home to care for my dad, and my boss said: “Tell me where you need to work, and I’ll make it happen.” She did – and because of her, I kept my career.
Then in my forties, I lost my husband. I stepped away from a senior role to grieve, and my team, many of them far more junior, simply stepped in. Their courage and commitment were humbling, and remain one of my proudest moments.
These milestones taught me that who you surround yourself with shapes everything, your resilience, your leadership, your success.
What’s one project or piece of work that taught you a big lesson about impact?
Leaving my corporate job and starting out on my own has been the biggest teacher. It made me realise that impact accumulates.
Every programme I led, every person I supported, every moment I paid it forward without expecting anything, all of it came back when I stepped into entrepreneurship. Suddenly I had a tribe across the world willing to help, champion, and collaborate.
It taught me that impact isn’t a single initiative. It’s the sum of how you behave over years. And it confirms something I now believe deeply: my biggest impact is still ahead of me.
What’s a piece of strategic advice you find yourself giving more than once?
The advice I give most is: balance money and joy. Joy alone won’t pay the mortgage. Money alone will make you miserable. But finding work that brings you joy and earns you enough to live the life you want – that’s where purpose and sustainability meet. It’s advice I give often to younger people, especially:
- If you know your purpose, follow it without obsessing about money.
- If you don’t know your purpose yet, earn enough to give yourself freedom to discover it.
It’s all about designing a life that works.
What’s one learning from delivering work at scale that you think others should know?
Delivering at scale is challenging, and it only works if people genuinely believe in what you’re trying to achieve. I’ve led global programmes involving thousands of people. The ones that succeeded did so because:
- the message was clear and consistent,
- people felt ownership,
- and the delivery teams believed in the vision as much as those who set it.
If strategy and execution aren’t aligned in belief and purpose, scale collapses quickly.
From billion-dollar programmes for women founders to global learning initiatives for 26,000 employees, the lesson is the same: people follow what they trust, and trust comes from clarity and consistency.
Who or what inspires your approach to creating impact through your career?
Many people inspire me, especially the leaders I’ve interviewed on my podcast. But ultimately, impact begins with knowing yourself.
I’m not a believer in putting people on pedestals. If the person you’ve relied on for inspiration does something you don’t admire, where do you go?
Your impact journey starts with understanding what matters to you, what you stand for, and how you choose to show up. External inspiration is wonderful, but internal conviction is what sustains you.
What’s the thing that brings you the most work joy?
Connecting brilliant people to other brilliant people, and watching them thrive.
It’s not always the most financially efficient business model, but it brings me genuine joy. I believe deeply that what you put into the world comes back, and connecting people feels like one of the purest forms of impact.
What is your favourite quote you would like us to include, and why?
I actually live by two quotes, both hanging on wooden plaques on my wardrobe door:
- “Love many, trust few, always paddle your own canoe.” – It’s about opening your heart widely – to people, to work, to purpose – while staying independent, grounded and discerning.
- “You are what you do every day.” – You can imagine a goal forever and never move towards it. But if you take small, consistent steps – half a mile today, half a mile tomorrow – you eventually get there.
Together, they’re a philosophy: love generously, act consistently, and stay true to yourself.
