IWD 2026 - interview with: Ashley Davis

Our CORE International Women’s Day Interview Series celebrates leaders who turn generosity into growth — for themselves and their industries.

We are here talking to Ashley Davis, Chief Customer & Commercial Officer at Cook Trading Ltd.

Cook Trading Ltd. are an independent, family-owned company making and selling homemade frozen food. They believe the best meals are cooked not processed. Through good cooking, they reconnect food and farms, people and planet. Their kitchens and shops are carbon neutral and powered by renewable electricity. They’ve been recognised with five awards for animal welfare from Compassion In World Farming and are committed to growing the amount of less carbon-intensive, plant-based meals they sell.

Could you share a brief overview of yourself, your career journey and how it has brought you to your current role? 

Food has been at the heart of my life from the start. My father worked in food and beverage, and his career took our family across Europe — shaping both my palate and my ambition.

After university, I began in the produce industry, supplying major supermarkets before moving into buying at Ocado, where I spent three years across most chilled categories. I then joined Sainsbury’s, working across merchandising and buying in ambient grocery, from coffee to cereals and jams, building broad commercial experience. 

My husband and I then took over the day-to-day running of my parents’ deli and outside catering business. Over four years, we grew the company from three to five cafés, opened a central production kitchen, and secured supply partnerships with leading London wedding and conference venues.  During that same period, we welcomed our two sons and with a seven-day-a-week operation proving unsustainable for family life, we decided to return to corporate leadership. 

I joined LEON to launch its retail range into Sainsbury’s, progressing over five and a half years to Managing Director of Grocery and later leading the restaurant business on an interim basis as Managing Director. From LEON, I moved to COOK as Chief Commercial Officer, overseeing food, commercial and procurement. I later expanded my remit to include marketing performance and the newly formed customer team, stepping into the role of Chief Customer and Commercial Officer.

What does the International Women's Day slogan "give to gain" mean for you personally, and how does it translate into your approach to leadership?  

Developing the team and individuals is both personally rewarding and essential for a high business performance and it’s a small give to share experience, for a large gain.  

It’s only one of the reasons I am supportive of hybrid rather than just home working as in my early career, I learnt a lot from the senior leaders I worked with, by observing and listening to senior meetings.   Being able to observe without having to input is a really valuable and low effort way to give to gain and can be really impactful along with individual meetings.

How important is it for you to actively sponsor (not just mentor) each other, and what does that active support look like in practice?  

I have historically ‘mentored’ more people than sponsored, choosing to focus on a larger group of people over a few select individuals but can see the merit in really focusing on a smaller group.

Can you share a specific instance where you have given your time, resources, or influence to help other women advance in their career, and what you "gained" from that experience.  

Recently completed the B Corp 12 month mentoring scheme which I hugely enjoyed from a personal point of view to share advice to someone at the earlier stage in her career.  It such a valuable and rewarding hour once a month. 

Through the process she got promoted internally and has since been offered a further step up in a new business.  She credits some of the progression she had made to the advice I shared with her over our monthly sessions.  

What trends do you see shaping the future of leadership for women in business? 

 I think women are uniquely positioned to champion greater inclusion within the workspace both through recognising the importance of flexibility and speaking up for underrepresented groups.  

Whilst not unique to women, the ability to lead with compassion and with a people focused approach, is a real strength not only in being adaptable but also in enabling a team and individuals to bring their best self to work.  

With the structural change post Covid to hybrid/ flexible working, I think we will see a greater number of female leaders which is only a positive.

As a successful leader, what is your top tip for fostering a workplace culture where employees feel encouraged to give feedback, share knowledge, and gain growth opportunities? 

Listen, as in negotiation and with the quote you have two ears and one mouth. 

Spending time with people and catching up individually is where you learn, get feedback, make change.  

You can’t learn what you don’t know and those that talk the most, listen the least and so just learning to be quiet and lets others speak has been invaluable. 

I try, not always successfully, to share my feedback last.

Have you had mentors or role models who influenced your career? How did they help? 

I have had quite a few role models and learnt different skills from them as well as taking their advice.  

To be true to your own self, and how you represent yourself, it’s a case of taking all the good learnings from others and then adapting them into a style of your own.  

And I have been fortunate to be led by some very inspirational individuals, both female and male who have showcased how to generate change in a positive way, and very much in the leading by example.

What is one piece of advice you would give your younger self at the start of your career? 

Trust the process and never stop learning, asking questions and advocating for change. Keep asking yourself, with my experience to date, am I at the right table (meeting/ company) where I am delivering value to myself and the business.  

If you find the right table, it’s exciting and empowering to be able to take your own experience to date and enable positive change with a role that allows you to.