♀️Bath and Somerset’s Most Inspiring Women 2026 | Alice Crozier

To mark International Women’s Day 2026, we’re celebrating Bath & Somerset’s most inspiring women.

Through our website and social media channels, we asked our readers which women in our community inspire them and created a list of 20. The list will be featured in our Spring magazine and every weekday throughout March we are profiling and championing each of these fantastic women online and via our social feeds.

Today we put the spotlight on Alice Crozier, Co-founder of The Rethink Collective.

Tell us about you and your work:

I’m a Leadership Coach and Co-founder of The Rethink Collective, where we work with ambitious founders and leadership teams who want to grow without burning out.

My work sits at the intersection of strategy and self-awareness. I’m fascinated by the idea that we are all born leaders, but somewhere along the way many of us get conditioned to manage rather than truly lead. I help people reconnect to that inner leadership (the part that is clear, values-led and courageous) while still building high-performing, sustainable businesses.

In practice, that means a mix of operational clarity, honest conversations, flipcharts instead of PowerPoint, and sometimes even a cold-water lake swim at a retreat. It’s structured, but it’s soulful too.

What are you most proud of?

Honestly, I’m most proud of the quiet transformations.

In the past 18 months of working full-time as a Leadership Coach, I’ve worked with over 40 individuals, most of whom remain with me long-term. That continuity means everything. It tells me the work is landing.

Last year alone, five of my coachees stepped into director roles.

But the moments that stay with me aren’t the titles. It’s the founder who finally takes a proper holiday because they trust their team; the new director who stops trying to prove themselves and starts leading with confidence; the team that begins to have the conversations they’ve been avoiding for years.

On paper, I could list workshops, retreats and coaching hours. But what matters most to me is watching people shift from overstretched and reactive to calm and intentional. That ripple effect, into their teams, their families and their communities, is the real impact!

How does it feel to be recognised as one of Bath’s Most Inspiring Women?

It feels incredibly humbling.

I grew up in a working-class family where ambition was encouraged, but visibility wasn’t necessarily something we were taught to seek. So to be recognised in this way feels both surreal and grounding.

If anything, it reinforces what I already believe, that leadership doesn’t have to look loud or corporate or traditionally powerful. It can look thoughtful. It can look values-led. It can look human.

And if my work gives other women permission to lead in a way that feels authentic to them, then that recognition means even more!

What does International Women’s Day mean to you?

Leadership needs to change. And not quietly.

Look at the world stage: Dominance. Control. Ego.

When leadership is driven purely by force, hierarchy and relentless output, the consequences are clear: division, burnout, conflict, environmental collapse, reactive decision-making, lack of accountability and worse.

This is what happens when one energy dominates.

When leadership excludes feminine qualities (not women specifically) but the depth, intuition, collaboration, emotional intelligence and long-term thinking historically associated with femininity, systems become brittle.

International Women’s Day, for me, isn’t just about representation. It’s about integration.

We don’t need to replace one extreme with another. We need balance.

Leadership that can hold power and compassion. Strategy and stewardship. Conviction and care. Because when one side dominates, systems distort. When both are present, systems stabilise.

Right now, many of our global systems aren’t just distorted. They’re breaking….

Inviting more women into leadership matters.

But inviting more feminine energy into leadership structures, into politics, business, and education, might be the real evolution!

This year’s IWD theme asks us to think about how giving benefits everyone. What’s an example from your work or community life where supporting another woman led to something meaningful in return?

Some of the most meaningful moments in my work have come from quietly backing another woman before she fully believes in herself.

I’ve coached women stepping into director roles who initially felt they had to shrink slightly to survive. Supporting them to own their voice and to trust their intuition as much as their spreadsheets has been powerful!

What often comes back isn’t just gratitude; it’s growth. They go on to build stronger teams, mentor others and create environments where younger women don’t feel the same pressure to conform.

Giving confidence is never a one-way exchange. It creates a culture shift.

What piece of advice would you share with your younger self?

Keep questioning the systems!

That fixation you have with leadership? It means something. The frustration you feel when things don’t make sense, when power is misused, when people comply instead of think. That’s not you being difficult.  You’re on to something!

You don’t need to settle just because everyone else seems certain about their career path. It’s okay not to know exactly what you’re building yet. It’s coming.

Your curiosity is healthy.

Your discomfort is information.

Your refusal to comply is strength.

Well done for being a force.

That fire will serve you.

Just don’t lose it along the way trying to fit into rooms that were never designed for you in the first place…..

This feature is sponsored by Milsted Langdon accountants. Milsted Langdon is supporting this activity for a fourth consecutive year as they are passionate about supporting women in business and helping local communities thrive through their work with business owners, charities and not-for-profits.