Today, on International Women's Day, we take great pride in celebrating a handful of inspirational OQs, providing you with a snapshot into their lives and how they are leaving a mark on the world.

Kate Belshaw

Kate left Queenswood in 2006 after spending 7 happy years at Q. Kate now works at UCL as Director of Education Administration and Student Support, based in the Institute of Education. Outside of work, Kate spends an enormous amount of her free time volunteering, including here at Q as a member of the OQA,  the OQA Governor Representative and as a Chapel Trustee as well as being a member of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry and a governor at Lordship Lane Primary School. 

Jean Horton

Jean attended Queenswood from 1934 to 1943. After leaving Q, Jean went to study medicine at UCL, qualifying as an anaesthetist in 1948, specialising in anaesthesia for neurosurgery and plastic surgery.  Possibly, the younger generation will take this as being ‘normal’ after medical training, but way back in 1948, for a female to achieve such immediate success in that particular field of medicine was phenomenal. 

After retirement, Jean became the first non principal to become the Chair of the OQA and spent many hours writing her memoir ‘Heads for Medicine’, with it finally being published when Jean was 88 - not many can say that! 

Jean died in 2021 at the age of 97.

Nela Duke

Nela studied at Q between 2006 and 2010 before heading to Loughborough University to study International Relations. Nela is an investor and entrepreneur with a history of working with leading African philanthropists, social investors, and philanthropic and entrepreneurial organisations. She is a development professional, passionate about democratising access, building bridges, driving knowledge and raising capital for talented African entrepreneurs.

Nela is also a conservation leader, who has worked and supported conservation efforts on the continent for over a decade. Nela was selected as one of the 15 cohorts for the Beyond Tourism Incubator Program by Luc Hoffmann Institute, WWF and ALU, merging her love for the environment with entrepreneurship.

Marina Jenkins

Marina Jenkins attended Queenswood between 2010 and 2013 and now works as a broadcast journalist across regional, national and international news. You can often see Marina on-screen as a journalist at ITV Wales reporting, producing and presenting wide ranging stories for TV and online audiences. 

Marina is passionate about highlighting injustices and representing those who feel unheard.

Victoria Cunningham

Victoria attended Queenswood from 1992 to 1999 and now lives in Bermuda. Along with a busy career in speciality reinsurance underwriting, Victoria has been involved with the political party, One Bermuda Alliance since its inception in 2011 and enjoys connecting with Bermudians from all walks of life, building relationships and is hoping to get the One Bermuda Alliance in the House of Assembly at the next election.

Maia Mountain

Maia studied at Queenswood for 4 years, before leaving in 2020 at the end of year 11. Maia then studied at Eastbourne College before taking a gap year and joining the University of Bath last year. Just last month Maia and her Dad ran an ultra-marathon along the coastline of Costa Rica, aptly named the Coastal Challenge as it’s run entirely on sand with an incline of just under 5000 metres over 155 km. Maia finished in 3rd place in the women’s Adventure category despite it being the hottest year the race has ever held and being the youngest runner to ever complete it! To date Maia has raised almost £16,000 for Mind. 

Esta Qi

Esta joined Q for Sixth Form becoming Deputy Head Girl before heading to UCL to study Psychology, she has since gone on to complete a Phd specialising in researching individual differences in Entrepreneurship research and Psychometric test development. 

Esta now works for UCL as a Phd Researcher and at Inner Works as a Behavioural Lead. 

Outside of work Esta volunteers for the World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention (WCEC) as an Ambassador. 

Helen McCrory

After finding her passion for acting Helen left Q in 1986 to study at the Drama Centre in London. She went on to enjoy a phenomenal career as a stage and screen actor and was awarded an OBE for her services to drama in 2017.

As patron of Queenswood’s theatre - our studio theatre is named in her honour - she was generous and compassionate, assisting several aspiring performers with auditions for scholarships at Q and drama schools. She was the guest of honour at our 120th anniversary celebrations at the Barbican in 2014. 

In addition to her prodigious talent as an actress, Helen was also a remarkable philanthropist. In April 2020, at the height of the COVID pandemic, she founded the charity FeedNHS along with her husband Damien Lewis, raising millions of pounds to provide hot meals for NHS workers. 

Helen died of Breast Cancer in 2021.

Anna Nsubuga

Anna attended Queenswood between 1987 and 1993, and after working in the civil service for more than 20 years she was made UK Ambassador and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) last year. 

Having grown up during a civil war, UNESCO’s vision of “building the defences of peace in the minds of men and women” has always resonated. Anna is looking forward to supporting what she believes are some of the most important and critical issues for humans and the planet right now.