In late 2023, seven women gathered around a kitchen table. Rachel Shorter FCCA had invited peers to talk about corporate life, and it turned out to be the first meeting of the Antilles Network, for women of colour in corporate careers.
The conversation was frank: burnout, office politics, the pull between demanding careers and everything outside them. They wanted somewhere to speak freely without overexplaining themselves.
‘We were having conversations about some of the heavy load that we’re carrying, plus trying to navigate the corporate world,’ says Rachel, who is also group finance director at Cerulean, an electronics manufacturer based in Milton Keynes.
‘I was working to show the world that I do deserve this space’
‘They weren’t necessarily emotional conversations. It was about some of the tricks and things that we might do to keep ourselves sane. How does the lack of wellbeing impact what we do and say?’
Room to connect
Three years on, Antilles has 286 members ranging from 25 to 65. The network runs events in and around Milton Keynes, from breakfast gatherings and brunches to fitness classes and more. A retreat in Barbados is being planned for next year.
Built on balance, brilliance and boundaries, it gives members room to connect, put their wellbeing first, and build networks that are both professional and personal.
Rachel admits that she founded the network during a hard stretch. ‘At the time when I formed it, I didn’t actually love myself,’ she says. ‘I was literally just working to burn and working to show the world that I do deserve this space and this position that I’m in.’
She now calls Antilles ‘a beautiful love story with myself’.
Allyship
Born in north-west London to a nurse and midwife and a London Underground worker, Rachel was raised mostly in Luton. Though she was good at maths early on, accountancy wasn’t the plan. She first looked at HR, drawn to policy, process and how organisations work.
But finance won her over in the end and, she says, the numbers were the easy part. ‘As I progressed I wasn’t necessarily chasing the title,’ she explains. ‘I was chasing the position of being respected, the position of being heard, the position of being able to make key decisions.’
A turning point came when her colleague Ken Walker, a white FD and company secretary, who had recruited and mentored her at Powervamp, announced his retirement and named her as his successor.
‘That was my first taste of allyship,’ she says. ‘He saw something in me that I never saw in myself.’
Ken backed her ambitions and helped encourage her to look past the balance sheet. ‘He really opened my eyes [to the fact] that finance is more than just punching the numbers.’
Senior leadership could be lonely, especially as one of the few Black women in the room. ‘I felt the need to self-censor because what if you’re not supported? What if there is no backup?’ she says.
‘Representation is about opening the doors’
Antilles grew out of that gap. Its first formal event, in April 2024, drew 55 women, more than double the number expected.
What Rachel is proudest of are the friendships that have blossomed. Some members have holidayed together; others have set up informal childcare. One woman who had just lost her job overheard Rachel planning an event in a restaurant, came along, made friends and picked up a potentially valuable business contact. Another spotted an Antilles tote bag at a railway station and stopped its owner to tell her what the events meant to her.
Those moments count for more than the membership figure. ‘You leave feeling safe and held,’ she says. ‘That’s something that you can’t bottle up, you can’t package, you can’t market. It just happens.’
Caribbean connections
Rachel’s roots are Jamaican. Her mother is from Saint Thomas, her father from Trelawny, where the family stays close. The network takes its name from the Antilles islands, of which Jamaica is a part, and the Caribbean runs through how she lives and works; Antilles supports Wire Fence School in Trelawny, where children were affected by Hurricane Melissa in October 2025.
She describes her trips around the region as a chance to meet people, find inspiration and practise self-care. ‘What I’ve noticed is that, later in my career, I really felt in tune with my heritage,’ she says.
‘Representation is more than just showing the world how far you can go; it is about opening the doors. I think of those people coming up behind us, championing them and mentoring them.’
New perspective
Over time, Rachel’s view of her profession has shifted. ‘It’s not just about profit now. There more to it. It’s about purpose, and you can maintain the two if you get the balance right.’
Antilles has brought speaking invitations and work with ACCA Caribbean and the UK Black Business Show, enabling her to encourage discussion about women’s leadership and wellbeing.
‘I’ve learnt the difference between diversity and inclusion – and what the two feel like,’ she says.
She once described herself as ‘meek and mild’. She no longer feels she has to stay quiet, or fit every room. ‘I now have found my voice. It’s taken me 20 years to do it, but I think I’ve done it just at the right time.’ Now she’s helping other women find theirs.
CV
2023
Founder, Antilles Network
2022 to date
UK CFO, group finance director and head of IT, MPRD Ltd, Cerulean
2020
Director of finance and administration, Alvest Equipment Services
2018
Finance director, Powervamp
2012
Financial controller, UK and Poland, Franklin Products
2010
Commercial finance manager, Hayward Tyler
2008
Commercial planning finance analyst, TUI UK
