Brenda Gardner began her career at Puffin in the early ’70s, before moving to Penguin’s hardback imprint Kestrel. She then became a commissioning editor at W H Allen. In 1979 she helped set up Pepper Press for E J Arnold. When it was sold she started Piccadilly Press in 1983 and ran it as publisher and MD for 30 years. She sold the company to Bonnier in 2013, but stayed on as publisher until July 2015. At Kestrel she worked for Ruth Petrie, who attended the Women in Media conference that helped launch WiP. The enthusiasm from that conference of Ruth and others from Penguin was the force that galvanized the group. She received the Pandora Award in 1999.