Friday Mar 08, 2024

Helen Steers: Fish Pie

On International Women’s Day we are delighted to welcome our first woman leader on the programme: Helen Steers, senior Partner at Pantheon, a global private equity firm based in London. Trained as an engineer, Helen fell into the world of finance via a detour in Canada.

We discuss her career as a leader in private equity and how she decided early on to fight for diversity of thinking as an essential component of good investment decisions. At the time it meant more women, so she co-founded Level 20, an organisation focused on growing gender diversity – initially in the UK and then across Europe.

Having lived in four countries (and operated in many more), with an Armenian husband and a half-French mother, it is not surprising that Helen loves food with influences from Québec to the Caucasus and beyond. However her chosen recipe goes back to her British roots: the humble fish pie, confirmed by her children as her favourite.

An accomplished cook, Helen describes her take on fish pie as well as what to drink with it. As usual, in part 2 I am joined by Valentine to go through the recipe, discuss where it comes from, what it should look and taste like, and how to cook it. We propose three versions, including a restaurant-level one from Chef school le Cordon Bleu Paris.

Bon Appétit!

“Seafood is incredibly important to me; I would say it's a central part of my existence” – Helen Steers

You’ll hear about:

01:47 – Helen’s career in private equity & investing

06:00 - A typical day in Helen’s role

10:58 – Pushing for diversity and inclusion in finance

15:45 – The importance of food in Helen’s life

20:24 – Helen’s humble fish pie

25:36 – Helen’s wine journey

26:45 - The Proust questionnaire

36:19 - Part 2: The fish pie recipes

Episode resources: