Did you enjoy school?
I absolutely loved it. Is that a really uncool thing to admit? I love to learn, I like variety, I like to be creative, I like to socialise and I like to be outdoors. School provided all that.
What qualifications do you have?
I have a BA in French & English Literature and an MA in Literary Translation. It hasn’t proved to be super-useful for my career, but it allowed me to grow up studying the things I loved and planted a lifelong passion for language. Oh, and useful for holidays in France, of course.
Has your career path been a smooth transition, a rocky road or a combination of both?
It has been thirty years of enjoying doing challenging and rewarding things, with a few significant rocky moments. Twenty years ago it was less easy to keep your job when you went off to have a baby, and this was career limiting for a time. I have also navigated significant trials in my personal life, including five years of juggling career with parenting a very sick child, and becoming the single earner when my husband had a stroke.
What specific challenges do you see women facing in the industry?
Mostly stereotyping and being under-represented, I think. I work for a Defence company, which isn’t always a natural choice for women applicants because of the stereotypically male associations with the industry. Under-representation means there’s a lack of role models and it really is difficult to ‘be what you can’t see’. Obviously the role descriptions, adverts and words used aren’t always designed to be gender neutral and – while I hate to create another stereotype – in my experience women struggle more with imposter syndrome than men. That means they’re less likely to apply for a role that doesn’t seem to be a direct fit for their current skills.
Sadly, I find there is another challenge that women continue to face, one that should have been eradicated decades ago, and that’s sexual harassment. ‘He can be a bit of a lech but he’s a nice bloke when you get to know him’ is not an acceptable statement, but we find behaviours like this occur again and again, particularly when there’s an evening work event involving alcohol. There’s still a lot of education needed in this area.
What is the best career advice you can give to others?
Work out what you’re good at and gives you energy, and become famous for that. Accept that it’s okay to be mediocre at other things and team up with others for those skills. Be thoughtful about other peoples’ time and feelings. Be honest, but do it with kindness.
If you had to pick one mentor that had the biggest influence on you, who would it be?
The first mentor I ever had – I was already in my 40s at this point and it had never crossed my mind that someone else might help shape my career. It was the point when I outlined what felt like an unreachable goal and he challenged me to make it happen within a year. It turned out to be achievable after all, it just took for me to believe it was.
From where do you draw inspiration?
From the very clever people around me, most of whom are 20-30 years younger than me. They bring an ‘everything is possible’ mindset that I find awe-inspiring.
What is the biggest challenge you have faced to date?
Carrying on with a demanding job while supporting a very ill husband and two young children. That’s when you need to say ‘yes’ when people offer help, make priority calls, and burn the midnight oil quietly on your own to stay on top of a few things that help preserve your sanity.
What qualities do you feel makes a good leader?
Empathy, transparency, a genuine interest in people, a pretty sturdy moral compass and the confidence to accept the things I can’t change with good grace. Being reasonable at all times.
From a work viewpoint, what has the last 12 months been like?
Incredible! I started a new role at the Home Office in early 2024, which grew to encompass our Law Enforcement team in early 2025, and I have absolutely loved the last year. I am trusted by my employer to make difficult decisions, by my customers to provide an excellent team and by my team to support them and cheer them on. There are problems to solve every day, but what is more satisfying than fixing something so that everyone has what they need?
What would you say are the biggest tech-based challenges we face today?
Being joined up. I find that our customers view their tech problems in isolation of the context, system interdependencies and data quality/format. They tend to just ask us to fix the immediate problem, which more often than not leads to further tech debt as we try to deliver a specific programme, at pace, without having the time to create something modular or future-proofed enough to support the whole picture – and then we all feel a bit frustrated.
What can be done to encourage more women into the industry?
Start encouraging female interest in the industry while they are still in education, using committed STEM outreach, internships, apprenticeships and grad schemes. Remember the importance of culture in attracting a diverse skills pool and of making that clearly evident from our external-facing communications to attract potential employees: websites should show we’re clearly addressing the gender pay gap, we show diverse representation at all levels, we demonstrate family friendly policies, for example. Educate new joiners about culture and behaviour from the moment they join the company, providing excellent role models and evident inclusivity (mixed gender, race, generational teams, where possible without compromising capability) within every programme.
Give us a fact about you that most other people wouldn’t know.
I am a dedicated member of the Apostrophe Protection Society and have occasionally been known to employ a red pen on public signage in distressing cases of extreme apostrophe abuse.
