Lynne Parker, Funny Women
Lynne
has spent most of her career working with women as a journalist and
then marketing and PR consultant, so it was no surprise that she came up
with the whole concept of Funny Women as a platform for female comedy
after years of working with entertainment brands, as well as many
fashion, beauty and health products aimed at women. This has culminated
in Lynne ‘doing a turn’ herself helping women to ‘Stand Up to Stand
Out’.
Funny Women encourages women to use more humour in their
business and personal lives and has become the leading female comedy
brand in the UK, completely changing the traditional ‘boys club’ ethos
of today’s comedy circuit. Central to the company’s success is its
national talent competition, the Funny Women Awards, for new and
aspiring female comedy performers. First launched by Lynne in 2003 the
Awards are now the benchmark for women breaking into comedy. With names
like Zoe Lyons, Andi Osho, Sara Pascoe, Miss London and Sarah Millican
to aspire to, who have all come through the competition, a successful
career in comedy for women has become a reality.
Funny Women also
challenges women from all walks of life to use humour in their lives.
Lynne and her small dedicated team run workshops, training sessions and
Comedy Challenges for professional women to try their hand at being
funny. Over the last eight years 1,500 women have found their comic
voice through Funny Women’s events.
“I have seen how much stand
up helps women to become more assertive and confident in their every day
lives. We have been running comedy workshops for women alongside the
Funny Women Awards for the last three years and our business programme
is an extension of this activity.”
Lynne is a long standing
member of the Certified Institute of Public Relations and was the
president of Women in PR from 2001-2003. Lynne is an active member of
Women in Journalism, Women in Film and TV, West End Women’s Institute,
and was a partner of the former Women’s National Commission. She
regularly appears on television and radio, writes and comments in
national newspapers and is working on a book about women and humour.
