Daphne Coates | IBM
I studied Computer Science as a GCSE, IT as an A-level and went on to study Information Systems Management & Innovation as a degree; but being similar subjects wasn’t all they had in common – I was always part of only a handful of females, for 15 years.
Women don’t really belong in tech right? Wrong. I set out to prove this mission after joining IBM in 2018; not only do women belong within the technology sector, but our artificially intelligent systems should not discriminate against them.
Upon joining the Graduate Scheme at IBM, I became an Application Developer, thrown in at the deep end from day 1 with managing two clients simultaneously, whilst figuring out how to code and execute technical delivery. These experiences shaped my managerial and planning approach going forward, as I moved on to lead the largest Public Sector Work Stream for Digital Security, pioneering new ground for an area of business previously untouched. Alongside my 9-5 I also work as an Artificial Intelligence bias SME (Subject Matter Expert) advising bids, projects and IBM research how we can pioneer ethical AI, as well as hosting Byte Size Learning Webinars, Lunch & Learns, Practice Calls and guest lecturing at numerous events such as Europe’s Leading Digital Twin conference in Frankfurt. I aim to pave the way for ethical AI and ensure we do not build systems that replicate our past, but represent our diverse future.
I focus my efforts outside of work on shaping AI regulation and standards (such as IEEE), growing a thriving community of young female professionals interested in AI and crafting academic papers, one of which has been published in IBM Systems Journal.
Katie Shannon | Accenture
Before my time at Accenture, I worked in a retail environment at New Look for 2 years.
Working with customers and training new members of staff. I realised this is not what I wanted to do with my life and so I looked into start my own career.
I have currently been at Accenture for nearly five years, starting my career as an Apprentice in 2015 which was a three year scheme, whilst also getting a degree by the end of it.
Last year, I completed my degree in Digital and technology solutions at the University of Sunderland with my goal of a 2:1, which was achieved! I was incredibly proud of myself having a full time job and doing a degree at the same time. My time here at Accenture has already been great, working on two large government accounts where I’ve developed my technical skills and also my confidence which was very low when I first joined.
My day job consists of being on the onshore support team for Azure Development environments, working with a back office team of 10 people, working with any issues that people face and completing these to a great standard.
Arteesha Bosamia | Dentsu Aegis Network
Arteesha’s journey into technology began at the University of Warwick where she studied both BSc and MSc in Computer Science.
Her first step into the working world was with Experian on the EITS Technology Graduate Programme. The scheme acted as a catalyst, exceling her career, and providing her with exposure to a depth of technologies and skills. She then transitioned into a fulltime role as an IT Governance Specialist working in EITS Risk and Compliance to ensure compliance with internal policies, and external standards and certifications, such as ISO 27001/22301. Arteesha moved to the big city in June 2018 to work at Dentsu Aegis Network as an Information Security Analyst, where she has been a key contributor to many projects, including a successful security awareness campaign, and the ongoing delivery of an ISMS program. She was promoted to Internal Security Assurance Lead in September 2019, now with the responsibility of building an internal assurance function from the ground up. She is well recognised for her outreach work for young people in STEM. Arteesha strives to lead in her profession alongside being a strong advocate for women in technology.
Caryn Tan | Accenture
Caryn is a key leader in Accenture's Responsible AI practice, a revolutionary practice creating practical applications of AI that incorporate mitigating ethical and social concerns of this technology.
She works with Accenture’s major regions to build capabilities to responsibly handle AI deployments, and trains leaders globally through intensive two-day workshops. She established and maintains a vibrant global community who are enthusiastically advancing the work.
She is also an active and enthusiastic member of the Serpentine swimming club where she swims in 3 degree waters during winter as part of her meditation practice. She is a trained 200 hour yoga teacher and is currently on a year-long nonviolent communication course based on Marshall Rosenberg’s book on integrating consciousness, language and communication.
Aisha Lewis | Nationwide Building Society
My name is Aisha, don’t worry if you can’t pronounce it – it’s all love. What a pleasure to be nominated and share my story with you.
I am an innovative transformer with experience of solving complex issues and constantly challenging the status quo. My award winning delivery across a variety of portfolios include; culture transformation, branch & IT transformation, 3rd party management, digital and regulatory change. My role as Senior Programme Manager is currently focussed on delivering Nationwide Building Societies largest, most successful and sustainable culture and behaviour change across the organisation. I am so passionate about this programme as it truly drives innovation, inclusivity, mentorship, continuous improvement, tackles diversity challenges and requires leadership to show humility. My success is powered by the hardworking, dedicated and fun team that I lead.
Family is everything for me. My mum, dad, brother, my partner and IZZY <3;my French bulldog. We are a close family and spend a lot of time together – we get on well and love to adventure. My success to date, wouldn’t have been possible without their support, understanding and cheerleading. We have been through a lot, what family hasn’t, but I am so proud and inspired by my mother who has beat and continues to beat cancer for c.6 years now!
I am ‘homegrown’ as I never went to uni. I have taught myself a lot; always asking question – seeking to understand more, reading/researching, additional courses etc. but most impactful are those that have shaped and supported me and thus I am grateful for all the people that have contributed to my success and led me to be worthy of this nomination. Their mentorship, guidance, advice, fun, challenge, opportunities etc has been priceless! To name a few; Alison Grewal, Jon Roberts, Andrew Neil, Jess Blundy, Jules Collins, Lesley Kragt, Faye Whitmarsh, Sechaba Ntsiu, Vikki Williams, Jeanette Hibbs, Andrea Hunt + many more.
I am passionate about giving back and sharing knowledge so I mentor a number of people internally and externally to the organisation, I am part of organisations that look to share knowledge and connect people for the greater good; Women Ahead, Black Young professional and you will often find me participating in a number of charity events to raise awareness and funds to great causes; McMillian, Brighter Futures and shelter! It doesn’t stop there, as I look to build a not for profit business to help guide our next generation in their career.
Gabi Burnside | Ulster Bank
Gabi started her diverse career working for three years in policy tech start-up Ineqe.
With her background in economics and corporate governance she then moved to the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce. Gabi’s role in the Chamber involved managing seven programmes to help support SMEs and large businesses to trade internationally.
Working with over 1200 companies across Northern Ireland allowed Gabi to build a robust network of contacts. Since early 2018, Gabi joined the Ulster Bank Entrepreneur team as Acceleration Manager. Since then Gabi has coached over 150 startups and established businesses, who’ve raised nearly £5m in investment and funding and turning over £6.5m in that time.
Natalie Ojevah | Barclays
I came from a very adverse upbringing.
I attended a school called Blackheath Bluecoats School, in south east London, the former school of Stephen Lawerence which at the time was heavily involved in gang violence and has since closed down.
Previous to this, I had being made her mum's primary carer at the age of 12 who had battled with mental health, I was not a stranger to working hard and dealing with high pressured situations.
Unfortunately, my family under went a bereavement of their youngest son, my little brother Christopher, who was aged 5 (10 years my junior) had passed away from meningitis and it completely turned my life upside down, all whist I was in the middle of my first set of GCSE'S and in turn achieved 5 A-C's.
However, I did struggle in 6th form; I lost my drive and without a support system at school, I was conscious that It may have to possibly re-sit my first year of sixth form again. Then, I had the opportunity to apply to become Barclays first 2000 apprentices in the bank in 2012.
I've excelled since starting my career with Barclays at 17; I'd passed my foundation apprenticeship within 12 months and then progressed onto the degree based apprenticeship with Anglia Ruskin - the first Barclays apprentice to do so. In the 7 years at Barclays, I've worked in 7 different roles throughout the bank and I'm now at an Assistant Vice President position as an LawTech Ecosystem Manager by the age of 25.
As a graduate foundation and higher apprentice with a passion for supporting the BAME community through outreach work, I'd joined the Barclays Black Professional Leadership team in 2020 and I'm also leading the BAME activity for Barclays Ventures.
Since starting my career at Barclays, I've obtained and developed a wide range of skills:
- Public speaking
- Organising events
- Interpersonal skills
- Leading high performing teams
- Conducting and delivering training courses
- Regional business planning
- Business development
- Relationship management
- Ecosystem management
- Developing community projects
I was a winner of the internally Platinum award for Retail Banking in 2016 (Top 10% of colleague performance) at Barclays for my continued work and support for the apprentices within the South East London community, alongside this I also won the Best Higher Apprentice for London in the National Apprenticeship Awards 2016. As of the beginning of April 2017, I'd completed my degree-based Apprenticeship with Barclays and had secured a permanent role as a Small Business Manager (Small business under 400k t/o) in Kent.
In February 2018, I won the Platinum award again for Business Banking 2017, (2nd year awarded) at Barclays. In March 2018, I achieved an internal promotion to become a Business Relationship Manager where I managed and supported the growth of a portfolio of Business clients who t/o 400k to 1.5mil in Croydon.
I've since moved departments and received another promotion as an Assistant Vice President in Barclays Ventures Eagle Labs in June 2019. I'm now a LawTech Ecosystem Manager, where I support entrepreneurs who have developed platforms to disrupt the legal industry through access to content, partners, events and the wider Ecosystem.
I'm also leading the BAME community of young people, entrepreneurs and colleagues in Barclays Ventures, to create a more diverse and inclusive culture for all.
Camilla Allnatt | MUFG
I graduated from Loughborough University with a Bachelor of Science in Computing and Management in 2009.
My first banking role was at UniCredit Bank AG where I spent eighteen months working in Human Resources. In 2012 I joined MUFG and spent three years working in the Operations Division as part of the Business Management team and then joined a global training programme based in New York in 2015. This overseas experience inspired me to join the Global Subsidiary Banking Team in 2016, which is part of the Corporate Banking Division for EMEA. My primary responsibility is to be the key network contact for European multinational clients to sell MUFG’s global products in over 50 countries. I am keen to continue expanding our global business and am committed to providing useful and innovative solutions for my clients, contributing to MUFG's goal 'to be a truly global bank'.
In addition to my core role, I am also co-chair of the Balance gender equality network at MUFG. I advocate the importance of having a balanced workplace, allowing for wider viewpoints and taking different ideas and perspectives into account. I strongly believe that inclusion and diversity is one of the most important cultural factors of a successful organisation which translates into creating richer solutions for our clients and stakeholders, maximizing efficiency, innovation and creativity.
I am also passionate about social mobility and subsequently have a role at MUFG as a liaison for a student mentoring programme organised through our charity partner The Big Alliance ‘www.thebigalliance.org.uk’. In 2016 I won the ELBA Award for Outstanding Contributions to Mentoring. I am also a CSR champion and member of the Sports and Social committee, having organised a number of successful events.
Finally, I represented MUFG at the One Young World Conference in Ottawa in 2016, which is a global forum for young leaders and am an ambassador: https://www.oneyoungworld.com/
Fariha Alauddin | Barclays
Fariha joined Barclays in 2017 on the Business Banking graduate scheme.
Throughout the duration of her programme, she has worked in multiple teams across the country, focusing on Strategy, Specialist Finance, SME Coverage (Creative Industries & TMT) and Wealth Management. She has helped shape new products and propositions in business banking, participated in additional workstreams leveraging new technologies to deliver customer-centric offerings and shaped client acquisition strategies. She is passionate about Sustainability and Social Impact and has a particular interest in the Longevity & Disability market. She brings together her experience in Healthcare with knowledge of Public Policy and Finance to leverage new technologies in the shaping of propositions to drive positive change in this market.
After winning the Barclays Social Innovation Challenge in 2019, Fariha joined the Intrapreneurship Incubator in Barclays Ventures. She is currently developing a platform focusing on the Disability & Ageing market. Her proposition brings together the public and private sectors, utilising machine learning and data to provide a more holistic solution for multiple user-groups aligned to this market.
Fariha is heavily involved in the Barclays diversity agenda and community projects, specifically with the development of the female pipeline. She is a committee member of the Northern Diversity Council and the WIN Juniors’ Hub. She leads the Think Tank initiative, a 3-month internal consulting project that tackles a business-led problem whilst developing the entrepreneurial and consulting skills of the pipeline talent at Barclays. This year, she is exploring how Barclays can further empower Female Founders across the UK.
She has been involved in multiple mentoring programmes both at Barclays and externally, helping females from diverse backgrounds pursue careers in Banking & Finance. In addition to this, she mentors early-stage startups focusing on Social Impact and is currently supporting the development of a VC fund for student-led businesses at QMUL.
Danny Pallett | Dark Horses & Badass.Gal
Danny is a senior creative at Dark Horses, a creative agency that works in the world of sport with brands such as Nissan, Puma and Just Eat.
He's particularly passionate about helping bridge the gap between the creative industry and education which is showed through his work with the Young Creative Council. He is also the Co-Founder of Badass.Gal, a platform that exists to elevate, celebrate and up-skill young female creative talent. To date, Badass.Gal has championed over 400 young women and provided 10 Adobe workshops thus far.