Did you enjoy school?
Yes. I’ve always loved the challenge of learning something new, and that has stayed with me throughout my career.
What qualifications do you have?
An LLB (Law degree) from Durham University, plus PRINCE2, MSP and Agile qualifications. My focus has been on change and project management rather than technology itself.
Has your career path been a smooth transition, a rocky road or a combination of both?
Winding, but not rocky. Despite doing my degree in Law, which I did love, I started on a local government graduate scheme with a specialism of homelessness. Staying within councils, I then moved into IT and digital, then transformation, with my final role within local authorities as the head of transformation for Cambridge City Council. Now, I lead the commercial delivery of all 150+ local authority partnerships at Beam, the AI platform for the frontline. It looks disparate on paper, but the thread is a common thread: trying to help improve local authority delivery so the most vulnerable of society can and do get the support they need.
A key factor contributing to the “winding” is intentional: I’ve said yes to opportunities as they came up and never been afraid of the deep end. I doubt there is a role I’ve taken on that I truly knew how to do, instead approaching each change as a crash course in a new area and real opportunity to learn.
What is the best career advice you can give to others?
Putting your hand up, advocating for yourself and then showing you can pick up something new quickly means people come to you when the next challenge appears. And invest in trust, inside your organisation and with your partners. The best opportunities go to the person someone trusts to take it and run with it.
If you had to pick one mentor, that had the biggest influence on you, who would it be?
Nohaila Alavi, my assistant director for IT and digital change at Waltham Forest. She was pivotal to several of my biggest opportunities. She taught me to lean into situations where I don’t have all the answers. In digital especially, you can feel like you’re not the expert if you don’t come from engineering. She encouraged me to bring my own expertise to the table and to expect things to be explained properly. If they can’t be, that’s a gap in understanding or articulation, not a failing on my part.
From where do you draw inspiration?
From people’s stories. A team member who grows into the role they wanted, a partner who delivers a better service, someone who can finally do their job in a way that feels fair. I’m a people person, and I look for impact in everything I do. Those stories keep me focused on the problems worth solving.
What is the biggest challenge you have faced to date?
Working on the London local government response to COVID, supporting the chief executive leading it across the capital. It was unlike anything we had dealt with before or since. It showed me what’s possible when everyone focuses on one problem and works together, and that lesson shapes how I approach delivery today.
What qualities do you feel makes a good leader?
Vision, and the ability to explain where we’re going and why, in a way that lands. But vision only works if you can tie it to concrete steps, otherwise the practical thinkers won’t follow. The third is decisiveness. There are always a million options, so a good leader knows what not to do and is willing to deprioritise to keep the focus.
From a work viewpoint what has the last 12 months been like?
The best of my life. I’ve stepped up to lead Beam’s largest customer base, where the company got its start. I’ve met people across England, Scotland and Wales, and seen the pioneers shaping what change looks like in an AI world. I also work with an engineering team that doesn’t park me in a backlog. It pushes us to ask where else we could improve lives.
What would you say are the biggest tech-based challenges we face today?
Two come to mind. The first is noise. Anyone can build almost anything now, and the market moves fast, so it’s hard to sort what’s good, what’s safe and what’s worth using. The second is keeping expertise alive. AI relies on a human in the loop to check the output. But in five to ten years, who sets those standards, and how do we maintain them if we’re no longer doing the manual work ourselves?
What can be done to encourage more women into the industry?
Role models. People need to see someone they can become, whether in engineering, commercial or operations, so they know they belong in the room and won’t be the exception. The second is workplace basics: work-life balance, equal partner leave and fair progression. Until a family doesn’t feel like a risk to a woman’s career, many will choose safer industries, and tech as a sector has a way to go there.
Give us a fact about you that most other people wouldn’t know.
I’ve published a board game on Kickstarter (it didn’t get funded). Screwed: The Millennial Game of Life is a tongue-in-cheek take on the millennial struggle for housing, and, to a lesser extent, avocados.
