Debbie Zaman, CEO of With, is on a mission to fix a "depressing" statistic.

Despite women making up a huge portion of the comms industry, according to research released by Women In Journalism in 2023, only 30% of quoted media experts are women.

As a female-founded agency, With launched With Women, a free programme of media training aimed at women leaders to help improve the bleak statistics. As appetite for the training grew, other partnerships — with Now You’re Talking, Women of Fintech, The Heard, NatWest and Chief — saw 200 women receive training in 2023. By the following year, that number reached over 1,000, thanks to a blend of UK-based in-person training, and virtual options for those around the world.

But, the training doesn’t stop there. With has also set up a WhatsApp group for women who have completed the programme to receive further support, and With’s team works to connect speakers with journalists; With Women’s graduates have gone on to feature in the BBC, The Times and many other publications.

PRmoment caught up with Zaman to find out more about the initiative, and how women can get involved.

Why is this training important?

Debbie Zaman (DZ): "We want to show that this kind of activity can have an impact on [the statistics]. Understandably, media opportunities will sit with the CEO or the most senior person in the organisation. However, we still live in a society where most CEOs are men. Unless we work smart and hard to think about how we can democratise and roll out some of that access to training, it is not going to change quickly. It is so important for us to have women represented in the media because of visibility. If we have generations of young women coming through and they do not see the kinds of leaders they want to become represented in the media, it limits opportunities and then we [women] put limitations on ourselves as a result."

How do you help women overcome the ‘nerve-wracking’ aspect of taking up space?

DZ: "Regarding taking up space as a woman: one of the biggest barriers we come up against is the belief that there would be somebody with more expertise than they do. It is a learnt behaviour that we have to unpick. We ask the women we train to think about the proof points that back up their expertise. If you think you are an expert in AI for cyber security, for example, we ask them to look over their career to reassure themselves that they absolutely should share their voice in the media.It also empowers women to turn down less suitable opportunities."

What does a typical session look like?

DZ: "Through 2025, we delivered a session every month online and in-person. We have people joining us [online] from right across the continent as we share the same tips and hints that we would share in a client session. We were getting [approximately] 50 women turn up to the in-person training, and 100 joining online, from a range of different professional backgrounds. We will cover the ‘Four C’s’ which are; content, confidence, clarity and control. What we don't do, however, is any practice or message refinement, which you would get if you were in a smaller paid-for group."

Who should attend the training?

DZ: "It is highly valuable for people at the very start of their media training, people who haven't done it for a while, or people who have changed jobs and need a refresher. We have had really positive feedback from those women because of the demystification that comes with it — for example, this is what journalists are after and this is how you can own your expertise. You do not have to be an expert on a whole variety of topics; you can really own your expertise, however niche your niche is."

Where can women find out more?

Anyone interested in attending a free With Women media training session can sign up on Eventbrite, and use the code ‘GENERAL’ to register. All in-person events are held in central London, while online sessions are held on Zoom.

The remaining dates for 2026 are:

• 4 February: 5.30-7.30pm (London)

• 28 April: 4.30-6.30pm (Online)

• 21 May: 08.00-10.00am (London)

• 14 July: 08.00-10.00 (Online)

• 22 September: 5.30-7.30pm (London)

• 15 October: 08.00-10.00am (Online)

• 17 November: 5.30-7.30pm (London)