Maria Castro

diversity and inclusion champions

Chief growth officer and co-founder

Lead5050 | Europe

Maria Castro has 18 years’ experience building and running one of the first online language abroad agencies in Western Europe, a business called Linguland Education. When she founded the business, she was considered a “disrupter” in her field.

She is the co-founder of Lead5050, a platform for women in leadership, which is now building out an accreditation scheme, which encourages businesses to have gender equality at the forefront of their minds and allows potential employees to know that they are forward-thinking employers. The scheme is already targeting big education companies.

Maria is on a mission to promote women into positions of leadership and shift from the out-dated, traditional masculine leadership paradigm to an inclusive leadership model that works for all, a peer said. “She is a natural influencer and diplomat. She intuitively knows how to win people over and see opportunities where most people see blocks.”