Antonia Fox | Head of Learning and Development | dmg media
Antonia joined dmg media in 2014. She worked within the recruitment team for 2 years leading the dmg media graduate programme and recruitment of early careers talent.
She realised that she enjoyed the people and career development and progression aspect of the role.
She joined the learning and development team in 2016 working her way up and is now the Head of Learning and Development.
In her role she supports dmg media with all people, talent, learning and development related activities including training, apprenticeships, work experience, wellbeing, culture, engagement, performance and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.
Frida Nzaba | Rolls-Royce Plc
If someone told me 10 years ago I would be working for Rolls Royce, I would have asked them, why would I want to work in a dirty garage fixing expensive cars?
In year 10 I realised I genuinely loved engineering. I enjoyed learning about the different machining processes such as turning and milling and the fact that I was able to apply some of these techniques to basically manufacture my coursework. I remember engineering was one of the subjects I always looked forward to because it was fun, practical and contained maths and physics that actually made sense to me.
In year 11, my engineering teacher advertised the amazing apprenticeships available, which were rarely encouraged in my school.
Initially, an apprenticeship was not an option for my family, it was in my parents’ interest that I follow the ‘traditional route’ to higher education. Eventually after months of research and convincing my family, I decided to undertake an apprenticeship with Rolls-Royce in 2013.
I completed my apprenticeship and secured my first job in Rolls-Royce Hucknall as the Trent 700 component owner and a computer aided process planner (CAPP) alongside studying for my Mechanical Engineering Degree; I graduated in 2017.
I currently work as a Repair and Overhaul Manufacturing Engineer in Rolls-Royce Plc. This role consists of developing and implementing methods that can be used to repair various components from a jet engine. The main thing I enjoy is the fact that I can go into work and see various jet engines being stripped and assembled ready to dispatch to the customer; this is just simply mind blowing. I am also a board member of the WISE Campaign Young Professionals Board.
In 2019, I founded a non-profit social enterprise with two other great engineers. The enterprise aims to bridge the gap between STEM education and industry globally. I have mentored a dozen of young people, advising them of the options available to them after they finish their GCSEs and promoting them towards carrying out an apprenticeship. I am an advocate for Diversity and Inclusion, this has led to me becoming an active member and STEM lead for the Rolls Royce African and Caribbean Pioneers Network which is an Employee Resource Group within the company. I am also a STEM ambassador for Rolls-Royce and Nottinghamshire.
Adriana Tudela | IBM
As an Engineering graduate with experience in the automotive industry as well as a Global Master’s in Management from LSE, Adriana joined IBM as a Technology Consultant less than 2 years ago.
She already has a promotion under her belt and works as a Project Manager for one of IBM’s biggest clients in the Oil & Gas industry, playing a key leadership role in the global implementation of a new enterprise application. Adriana has been called out by her client for stellar leadership skills.
Adriana was previously selected for Extreme Blue, IBM’s flagship internship with a selection rate of 1% in the U.K. For three months, Adriana led a team through the development of a mobile application proof of concept, integrating IBM’s cognitive technologies to bring an enhanced digital experience for her client.
So early on in her career, Adriana has submitted a patent for handling of wireless network communications, becoming a patenting advocate for early professionals. In 2018, Adriana led a technology learning series for Graduates with topics such as DevOps, Data Science and Digital Strategy. Her contribution has received high praise e.g. “The whole series has moved to a different level under your coordination...’
Adriana is driving the people learning agenda for one of the biggest UKI accounts and developed the 2019 strategy for the graduate scheme in her service line.
Outside of her client work, Adriana runs design thinking workshops at LSE and is the recruitment lead for IBM in the university. Additionally, she is leading a project with master’s students to develop a new attraction strategy with a focus on gender diversity for the consulting graduate programme.
Alicia Carolina Beylan Navarrete | Deliveroo
I'm a recent graduate of Computer Science with Robotics from King's College London.
I've been a software engineer at Deliveroo for 6 months and recently got awarded an exceptional talent visa sponsored by TechNation. I'm part of the All-Party Parliamentary Group in AI where we get to discuss important topics such as ethics, education, privacy and others and how they will be impacted by AI.
During my time at university I was the president of KCL Tech Society, one of the biggest tech societies in the UK where my main focus was to teach people from different backgrounds how to code by having weekly workshops where we taught them android, ios and web, to encourage everyone regardless of their level of experience to learn something new and practice new skills by organising hackathons and hack days.
During the weekends I travel across Europe supporting and mentoring student hackathons where I get to teach and support students in learning new technologies and building projects from scratch providing them the resources they need.
Charlotte Haines | Barclays
I lead the Digital Security programme within Barclays Technology, which focuses on protecting the Bank’s corporate clients against fraudulent activity.
To date this has included the below notable deliveries:
- The Barclays Biometric Reader, which leverages finger vein technology to authenticate a user – a technology which it has not yet been possible to hack or imitate and has seen Barclays become the first Bank to offer this form of authentication
- Deployment of behavioural biometrics to mitigate against remote access attacks
- Creation of a generic security application that allows a consistent approach to cyber security across the Bank’s corporate products alongside the ability to react quickly to any emerging attack vectors
Alongside this, I am a keen advocate and participant of the Barclays’ gender equality network (WIN) where I have co-led the Gender Intelligence, Women on Boards and Speed Mentoring initiatives.
Outside of Barclays, I am actively involved in both gender and generational diversity. Notably, this has included presenting at the Whitehall & Industry Group Diversity & Inclusion conference as well as being invited to discuss diversity in the workplace at the 2018 Rustat Conference on Reconfiguring Careers (led by the University of Cambridge) as well as being one of the WeAreTheCity’s TechWomen100 winners in 2018.
Hannah Blair | Deutsche Bank / vrcalm
I recently graduated from University of Surrey with a BSc. in Computer Science and am a now full-time software developer at Deutsche Bank, while running a healthtech startup in my free time, vrcalm, which is a Virtual Reality experience for people with dementia, having won a Women in Technology Scholarship from Sky.
I love blogging about technology and am a public speaker on the topic of Virtual Reality and diversity in technology.
Ekaterini Tasiopoulou | IBM
Katerina Tasiopoulou was born in Greece, and is a graduate of Computer Science from Royal Holloway University of London.
She has experience with the creation and research of cryptosystems, malware systems and penetration testing. She is a very qualified programmer in a variety of languages, having developed games, websites, apps and robots.
Katerina works in IBM, and is currently a Client Engagement Lead in Europe, for X-Force IRIS (Incident Response and Intelligence Services). As part of this team, IRIS responds to security incidents globally and helps organisations contain and recover from cyber attacks. Katerina is recently focusing on business development strategy and proactive services; converting this real life experience and intelligence into training exercises to help train clients in advance.
Katerina enjoys public speaking, mentoring others, and anything related to astrophysics!
Love Oyeniran | LRO Consults
Having studied a Social Science degree, my first role after leaving university was working with a workflow automation tool to drive process efficiencies.
I designed and developed the application, integrating to other systems such as Slack and Tableau, and I was able to write my first lines of code! In doing this I was able to increase my understanding of the use of different programming languages, applications and software.
From that role, I moved to another finance organisation where I took ownership of technology changes as part of a major system upgrade and a redesign of an in-house application.
Outside of my day job, I have been on many professional coding courses with Code First Girls where I was keen to learn as much as possible from GIT version control to connecting with APIs. This appetite to learn more proven invaluable and my most recent role as an RPA consultant, where I worked alongside a team who were among the first to put robots in an Investment Bank. I have worn many hats as part of an automation delivery, comprising of business and process analyst, risk and strategy and also detailing technical solution documents comprising of Sudo code, which has not only provided a steep learning opportunity but had made my job both exciting and enjoyable.
My most recent challenge includes developing an application hub that acts as a personalised virtual assistant. Having been recently awarded as a TechWoman, coupled with dealing with my father’s health complications, I was propelled to make an app that facilitates a proactive and mindful approach to ensuring good health and lifestyle.
Rebeka Marton | Deloitte
I started university in 2013 with a very exciting educational background, having attended school both in Hungary and the UK, alternating every few years.
It set me up with a desire to be constantly challenged and be exposed to new things, meet new people and make friends that would need to last over distance and time. I graduated with a Natural Sciences degree from Cambridge, where still I enjoyed the variety of knowledge that I could learn the most. It also left me with a burning curiosity to learn programming and become a developer - an area that at that time was still mysterious and out of reach; yet at the same time amazing and powerful, since it can enable so much good in today’s society at very little cost. I joined Deloitte Digital as an engineer - and from their first coding bootcamp to now I have had the chance to both learn an incredible amount, and become a valuable member of my project team at work - I have effectively become its beating heart. On the project, that I have watched grow almost since its inception, despite my relatively junior position, I have been able to lead various work streams, while also taking ownership for building and maintaining various core components of the platform.
The best part for me, however, is being able to pass on my understanding and my undying enthusiasm for solving problems with my colleagues, inspiring and encouraging particularly those that seem shy or hesitant. This passion for spreading my curiosity in programming, and the reason why I was drawn to this art in the first place, can be seen in my outside-of-project activities. I love hackathons, side projects to build awesome products that have amazing impact, whether that is about reaching out to society to raise awareness, inspire and drive solutions to large scale problems, or solving people's individual problems directly. I also really enjoy teaching, so have been involved with Coder Dojo events - which I can only recommend - and teaching Python to children on Saturdays whenever I can. Inspiring others to learn and be ambitious is probably the greatest privilege one can experience!
Martha Imprialou | QuantumBlack
After completing a diploma in Computer Engineering Diploma at the National Technical University of Athens, I moved to the UK where I completed a master’s degree in Computer Science and then a PhD in Statistics at the University of Oxford.
I went on to postdoctoral research role at Imperial College London, where my research involved analysis of DNA sequencing data to better understand the genetics of autoimmune diseases.
I joined QuantumBlack in 2016 as a Data Scientist, where I worked across projects that drove business decisions for clients by building advanced analytics and machine learning models. I leveraged my technical skills, initially developing machine learning models to optimise R&D procedures for pharmaceutical clients, before broadening my experience to work across the automotive, financial services and banking sectors.
I was promoted twice in less than two years and was appointed first as Senior Data Scientist and then Jr Principal Data Scientist, leading the technical development of projects and harnessing analytics to deliver strategic problem-solving for clients.
In April 2018 I was promoted again to Analytics Engagement Manager. This was a significant transition, as it involved taking on full end-to-end responsibility for leading and delivering client projects - rather than a purely technical position, I was now responsible for leading a team comprised of data scientists, engineers, designers and developers. Moreover, it saw me take on a hybrid leadership role, communicating between QuantumBlack’s project teams and our clients. This involved engaging with a range of different stakeholders across our client organisations, from operations to C-suite, discussing their commercial challenges while also communicating how our deeply technical analytics work could help them address these issues.
Despite only joining QuantumBlack three years ago, I have become one of the most rapidly promoted employees in the organisation’s history and was the first employee to transition from an analytics-focused technical role into this hybrid management position.