Carolyne Ferguson | Kier
I started my association with customers as a 14-year-old wanting to earn extra cash in the evenings and weekends and soon found that my passion for people grew as I progressed into my late teens.
People fascinate me, probably why I choose a career in retail so I could truly examine them in all their glory. Over the years, I have experienced customers not knowing how to effectively communicate! I have been on the wrong side of customer's aggression too many times. Simply because customers did not know how to articulate their problems to me. So, what did I do?
I listened! After I had stepped back!
I joined Marks and Spencer as a Visual Merchandiser but very soon worked through the ranks to become a store manager. Leaving M&S, I joined Debenhams and enjoyed many a year interacting with customers and staff.
In 2014, I needed a new challenge but wanted to transfer my customer skills to another industry, so I joined a construction company as a customer service officer. Learning from the bottom about the industry but still keeping those important links and transferable skills, I felt that I had finally come home!
Promoted to Stakeholder Manager and then Stakeholder and Communications manager gave me aspirations to always deliver open and honest expectations to everyone involved so that confidence and trust could be built by all parties.
I started working for Kier Highways on the smart motorway project on the M23 in April 2018. Working on a major project is always exciting and keeping all the plates spinning is a challenge but really enjoyable and rewarding.
Lydia Herbert | Atkins
Lydia began her career as a Graduate Transport Planner in 2016, after successfully obtaining a first-class honours in BSc Geography and an MSc with Distinction in Energy and Sustainability.
At Atkins, Lydia specialised in using advanced GIS analysis to plan new transport routes and took opportunities to take this skillset beyond her team in London, going onto support the rail team on projects in the UK and abroad, and also the Geospatial team in Glasgow. At the same time, Lydia started gaining experience as a Project Manager.
Lydia always seeks opportunities to improve and successfully applied for a secondment to the Local Transport Market team in 2019, enabling her to develop skills in the commercial management of projects and operations. This opportunity helped to fast track her career, taking on a Framework Management role for one of the key local authority clients in Atkins’ portfolio. As part of this role, Lydia is responsible for managing the client relationship and delivering all the projects that sit within this growing account. Since then, Lydia has taken on more responsibility in her role, focussing on creating efficiency and process improvements and then sharing these as best practice across the wider Framework Management team. In 2020, Lydia was privileged to be awarded the Atkins President’s Award for outstanding contribution to her team and the Frameworks she manages.
Alongside this, Lydia is currently working towards a chartership with the Association of Project Managers, and successfully received the Project Fundamentals Qualification in February 2021.
Lydia also volunteers as a regional STEM Ambassador and an Enterprise Advisor for a school in Hampshire, helping them develop their careers programme and encouraging students to broaden their careers horizons and fulfil their potential. Lydia is passionate about wanting all students, regardless of gender and ethnicity, to have the opportunity to pursue careers in STEM and actively works to be a positive role model for women in this industry.
Hanna Osundina | Balfour Beatty Investments
I studied Architecture (BA) at the University of Sheffield and then went on to study Project Management in the Built Environment (MSc) at Oxford Brooks University and I am currently a Senior Development Manager for Balfour Beatty Investments.
I was inspired to enter the industry after reading ‘As Stars Shine Down’ by Sidney Sheldon. In this novel, the protagonist, Lara Cameron, is an Architect turned Property Developer and dominates a traditionally male industry. I read this book at 11 years old, and was inspired by the strength and determination of Lara, and understood what I wanted to achieve in my own career. I studied Architecture with dedication and pursued a role in Project Management to embody the change that I hope to see in this industry.
As a development specialist, I have had the opportunity to work on complex mixed use regeneration schemes in London. In my current role as Senior Development Manager, I am seconded to the East Wick and Sweetwater project joint venture, an £850 million regeneration project on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. In this role, I manage the feasibility, business planning, budget, design, programming and planning for c.1,800 homes and 20,000 sqft of non-residential floor space. I bring my skillset as a MRICS qualified planning and development professional to help achieve the vision for a community first neighbourhood. I additionally oversee eight internal staff members, including development managers, design managers and project managers, and over 24 different consultant teams, to help achieve the ambitious nine-month programme to submit the reserved matters planning application for c.1,600 homes across five phases. My previous experience includes Senior Development Officer and Development Officer roles at Linkcity (formerly Bouygues Development) and Peabody Housing Association, respectively.
I also founded Black Women in Real Estate in 2019 with the mandate to provide a community whereby Black women can effectively network, connect, empower each other and grow in the professional lives. Through my role on the Estate Gazette's D&I Content Advisory Panel, I am actively working with the industry to include diversity and inclusion in the workforce. In addition, I am the Vice Chair of the University of Greenwich's Construction, Property and Surveying Practices Industry Advisory Board, and sit on the board of E16 CLT: a community land trust in Newham, helping to make strategic decisions on the management of newly owned ex-council properties and the feasibility of future opportunities.
Tomi Ibirogba | AET UK Ltd
Tomi is a chartered HR professional with recruitment, advisory and generalist experience.
She currently serves as the HR Advisor for AET UK Ltd where she provides advice on all employee relations and personnel management issues for Europe. She spearheads the annual graduate internship program and she is also the regional Health and Wellbeing representative, where she plans regular events to support employees with physical, mental, financial and social development. Before AET, she worked at British Airways as an HR Advisor where she received 2 Excellence Awards within her first 7 months on the job for delivering above and beyond her daily duties.
In March 2020, she founded “My Career Couch” – a platform designed to help international black students, graduates and professionals with under 10 years’ work experience get into their chosen career paths. Since then she has:
• Mentored over 90 professionals on career development.
• Helped 15 jobseekers land career-defining roles in top companies including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Shell and Deliveroo – with several more making it to interview stage at various companies where they were initially unable prior to working with her.
• Spoken at 16 career events to 500+ people.
• Shared practical career-related content with over 5,000 people via her social media profiles
Through her platform, she is a powerful role model for these young professionals in diaspora, empowering them with the skills needed to advance in their careers through knowledge gained via an online community, workshops, mentoring sessions and tailored services.
Lauren Shute | Barclays
Lauren began her career as a parliamentary intern for the Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC MP, working in the House of Commons before she started University.
She graduated from the University of Warwick in 2018 with a first class degree in Politics and International Studies, where she received the Susan Hurley Prize for her essays on Issues in Political Theory. Before joining Barclays Lauren was an Ambassador for the Teenage Cancer Trust and Future Fertility Trust, representing them at events and supporting with fundraising efforts. In 2019 she joined Barclays on the HR Graduate Programme where she has endeavoured to make a positive impact professionally and through her involvement with the diversity networks. She is currently a member of the Women’s Network (Win) Newsletter Team and London Environment Network Working Group and has previously been a member of the Win Male Allies Stream. This year she launched the Win Podcast, which shares the achievements and experiences of women and Win members at Barclays and aims to create a sense of community whilst many of us remain separated.
Farrah Ekeroth | EY
As Employer Brand Lead at EY, Farrah is responsible for the development and execution of EY’s talent attraction strategy across 18 countries.
In this role, she develops creative campaigns and communications strategies to attract, engage and retain exceptional talent. This has included programs to attract more early female talent to financial services and encourage young women to consider a career in technology.
Outside of her core role, Farrah is also Co-Chair of the EY Women’s Network. The EY Women’s Network is EY’s largest diversity and inclusion community with 3,200+ members across 25 UK locations. The network seeks to empower women to thrive in their careers at EY and enhance the firm’s culture through gender diversity and inclusion.
Farrah regularly speaks at industry events on topics such as gender equality, attracting diverse talent and empowering Gen Z in the workplace. Having lived and worked in multiple countries across Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America, she has a truly global mindset and thrives on working with different cultures and perspectives.
Anisa Aksar | Capdesk
With experience in working for firms ranging from 20,000 people globally to 25 people, my career in Talent Management is ever evolving.
Having had a poor experience with HR 10 years ago at one of my very first jobs in retail whilst studying, it became my mission to prove, not just to myself but also, to others that HR isn't just someone behind a screen policing employees or a threat to those that dare to be honest.
Most recently, I've developed and lead the People function in scaling from 45 to 100 people in 18 months which included developing forward thinking people practices and strategy, employee benefits, mental health, wellbeing, inclusivity, coaching, performance enablement and cultivating a culture to nurture employees and allow them to do the best work of their careers.
Amaka Uche | Visa
Amaka is a Graduate Recruitment Talent Manager at global payments technology firm, Visa.
She is also co-chair of the Visa BAME & Allies employee resource group which celebrates cultural diversity in our European firm. Through this role, we hold regular events to support Visa staff to be empowered through cultural awareness and support our local community.
Amaka is extremely passionate about careers, personal development and helping millennials and gen-z realise their full potential. In the last 10 years, Amaka has worked in various student recruitment roles and functions where she has always had a passion to give career advice and help people get the jobs they desire. This passion was enhanced in 2016 when Amaka began to write for independent career blogs giving insights, advice, hints and tips on navigating an over saturated job market.
To date, Amaka uses her free time to create social media content to inspire and motivate people with all things related to careers and recruitment. Amaka also mentors others, delivers employability workshops and has been invited to speak at various in person and virtual personal development events.
Amy Franz | DirectlyApply
I grew up coding. By the time I was a teenager, I had racked up hundreds if not thousands of hours in front of the computer, and soon found myself towards the top of my IT class.
But my path wasn’t straightforward. Stereotypes around engineering—that engineers are invariably introverted, antisocial, and male—put me off.
But spending time in my father’s office and observing him and his team showed me that working in software development was not isolating but collaborative and social. I began to teach myself JavaScript, topping up my skills at two bootcamps to kick-start my new career.
However, I then faced another obstacle. Though there were many employers happy to hire junior developers, they all asked for candidates with experience. It seemed like a catch-22: I needed to experience to get a job, but I needed a job to get experience.
Thankfully, my current employer, DirectlyApply, was less interested in my work experience and more interested in my approach to problem solving. I did well in the coding test and they were also impressed by the hundreds of side projects I had posted to my GitHub.
Recognising that getting started in the industry was harder than many claimed, and that gender stereotypes remained a big obstacle to overcome, I began volunteering at Code First: Girls, teaching evening classes to women who were thinking of getting started in the industry.
Speaking with my students, it quickly became clear that there was and is a problem of self-belief amongst female developers which has deep roots. Many of my students believed they were not ‘smart enough to code’ and a larger number only felt they could apply for jobs if they felt 100% qualified for the role.
I feel that these barriers to entry are a problem for anyone who values digital skills and they often affect women disproportionately. The desire to change the culture drives me everyday. And while playing a central part in the growth of DirectlyApply, I am also doing a Bachelor’s Degree in Business & Entrepreneurship, alongside mentoring at Code First Girls.
Annie Lummis | Barclays
After studying Psychology at the University of Warwick, Annie joined Barclays on the HR Graduate scheme and very quickly made an impact contributing beyond her day job by getting involved in various side of desk projects and supporting the Diversity networks.
Early on, Annie spent six months in the D&I team as part of a graduate rotation and made such an impact that she rolled off the graduate scheme early and into a permanent position in the team.
Since then, she has continued to make an impact in this space. Passionate about making a difference and contributing to change, within work Annie has been involved in incredible projects and campaigns, engaging with thousands of colleagues.
Outside of work, Annie recently launched The Inclusion Club, a community for people to learn about Diversity & Inclusion and all things related to it. Annie hopes to provide a platform for people to learn about D&I in an easily digestible way and to offer a safe space for growth. She has lots of exciting things planned for 2021.
Annie is someone who is constantly supporting others and giving back and her passion does not go unnoticed. She is always supporting others and giving back wherever she can.