Did you enjoy school?
I’m not sure ‘enjoy’ is the word, but I did very well at school. This was likely because I was shy and introverted so didn’t have many distractions!
What qualifications do you have?
I went to the University of Leeds to study for my bachelor’s degree in English Literature and then went on to study for a Masters in Interactive Multimedia Production at the University of Huddersfield. I also pursued a Diploma in Management which has been instrumental in the digital projects and programmes I’ve managed throughout my career.
Has your career path been a smooth transition, a rocky road or a combination of both?
Very much a combination of both! There have been some huge successes, but also some deep trenches where I felt like I was building a ladder to get out at times. Despite the ups and downs, I’m proud of my career and the projects I’ve worked on.
What specific challenges do you see women facing in the industry?
The women I know in the industry think differently to their male counterparts. In many ways, this is a huge advantage. Having different perspectives opens us up to different ideas and often leads to better outcomes.
However, with women often downplaying themselves, their ideas and their abilities, it can be a constant fight to be heard when others are better at upselling themselves. It’s therefore crucial, for the digital industry to create a space for women to be their authentic selves without being drowned out. Ultimately, this will encourage more women into the industry, and into senior positions.
We’re also still seeing a large gap between the number of men and women in technical roles in digital and IT. This often leads to women feeling isolated or not fully understood when they do enter these roles.
What is the best career advice you can give to others?
Identify, accept and use your foibles to your advantage. Play to your strengths and don’t worry about everything else.
I’d also recommend spending time to work out what your colleagues, managers, clients and users are actually looking for from you (not what you think they want) and focus on giving them that and more.
If you had to pick one mentor that had the biggest influence on you, who would it be?
During my time at the Home Office, I had a manager who really valued and considered my career development. They gave me some small but brilliant opportunities that really changed my perception of what “good” looked like in successful people. I suddenly felt like I could exceed the limits that I had put on myself.
From where do you draw inspiration?
I get a lot of energy from engaging with the carbon reduction agenda and working to shift the dial in that area. If I can work the agenda into a project or a proposal, it inspires and motivates me. Unfortunately, sustainability isn’t well understood, and people are always super keen to learn more about it in a way that makes sense to them. It’s a tangible way for me to make things slightly better for my children and grandchildren through the work I am doing. If I can get on a stage and inspire large numbers of people to think differently, that’s even better.
What is the biggest challenge you have faced to date?
The 2012 Olympics preparations at the Home Office. Security was obviously a top priority, and a change freeze was in place long before the Olympics started. With this in mind, we needed to constantly launch website content to accompany the games. This was an extremely high-pressure task to handle independently, while coordinating with all the stakeholders involved. But our hard work paid off!
What qualities do you feel makes a good leader?
A good leader must be visible. Whether you enjoy drawing attention to yourself or not, people look to you to do so, so it’s crucial to be present. This visibility helps to establish your credibility as a leader.
Showing an understanding of, and acknowledging people’s needs and aspirations is also crucial. When you are trying to establish your colleagues’ buy-in to the direction you want to take, trying to incorporate your teams’ requests into future plans is really important.
It’s essential to communicate a vision and strategy to your colleagues, clearly identifying the steps they need to take. Your team can then orientate themselves within it. Explaining changes to the path is also very important as everyone needs to be kept constantly updated. It’s not about accountability; it’s about communication and taking everyone on the same journey.
From a work viewpoint, what has the last 12 months been like?
With recent economic uncertainty, public sector work has become increasingly competitive. From my experience, the economic conditions have had an impact on every industry, so it’s certainly been more challenging.
In the last 12 months, I started at Valtech in what was a newly-created role, as the head of the public sector practice. It’s been an exciting journey so far, leading the work Valtech does in this area and helping public sector organisations meet its digital challenges head on.
What would you say are the biggest tech-based challenges we face today?
In the public sector, it’s about finding innovative ways to meet digital goals with limited resources. For example, fast stream graduate scheme applications are currently halved compared to a couple of years ago. With a smaller pool of applicants, the Civil Service is definitely stretched. This is compounded by the difficulty the sector has in retaining talent, which isn’t helped by low pay. As the Civil Service is responsible for implementing more and more digital services with less resources, it’s getting harder to get processes approved and move projects along internally.
Looking forward, we need to focus on helping civil servants be more digitally self-sufficient within this challenging environment.
What can be done to encourage more women into the industry?
We need to embrace the differences between men and women. It starts with the recruitment process, ensuring the best candidate is hired for the job, rather than the one that has the confidence to present themselves as more capable. This will help create a more welcoming environment from the get-go.
Give us a fact about you that most other people wouldn’t know.
I’m keen on making ambitious three-dimensional novelty cakes. Some of my favourites include one of the cyclist Gerraint Thomas and a model of the Alpe d’Huez for my cycling-mad son, and a recreation of the Red Bull/Mercedes crash from the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.
