Danielle Burton | GTR (Govia Thameslink Railway)
I joined the Railway as a member of the Social Media Team.
I had just completed my Masters Degree in History from the University of London and was at a loss of what to do or where to go next. Graduate unemployment was at an all-time high and I was feeling extremely despondent with the lack of opportunities out there. I applied for an internship with a celebrity boxer as a Social Media Manager and was very lucky to be successful. I was exposed to fantastic experiences in a fast paced, highly pressurised role where every single day was different and I loved it. However, the hours were long, the job offered no long-term security and I felt I was increasingly isolated from my family and friends due to always being on-call. When my contract came up for renewal, I decided it was time for a change but had no clue where to even start, and I definitely hadn’t even considered a railway career. It was only when I saw an advert for a social media advisor based at Three Bridges that this became a reality, and I was pleased to be offered an agency position. I loved the environment in Control; it offered me the fast-paced, ever-changing dynamic that I craved but with all the stability and progression opportunities that the Railway offers. I quickly realised that my future was here; I was surrounded by ambitious, hard working individuals who had really thrived and suddenly new doors were opened for me.
Since then, I have had roles as a Station Control Manager, a Senior Station Control Manager and now in my current role as a Training and Development Manager. I have been supported by my peers and my managers, and believe it shows that the Railway isn’t as fixed as it may be perceived to be. If you work hard and push yourself, you can achieve whatever you set your heart on, and I am so passionate about exposing our business to the millions of young people who would never even consider the Railway as a career path. This led me to co-chair our newly established Women's Network Group. There are so many opportunities for progression and self-development and I feel very fortunate to have stumbled into such a dynamic and exciting industry. My railway career has changed my life; I have a job I love, surrounded everyday by colleagues I count as friends, and have just bought my first house, simply because I started a career in the railway. I am fortunate to have met so many amazing fantastic people from all over the network, and especially lucky to have been involved in the Women’s Network Group. It has brought women from all over the country together to support each other, empower each other and contribute to the changing dynamic of our industry. This really is a time for a new ‘Rail Way’ and it’s an exciting time for anyone in our business.
In my current role, I have led the delivery of a Continuous Improvement and Culture Change Programme; Emerald. This has been both my biggest challenge and greatest opportunity in my career to date. I have worked to make lasting change at every stage of the employee lifecycle, and to create a more inclusive and forward-thinking working environment. I most recently was awarded my chartered membership of the CIPD, which was the next step in my career. I am looking forward to using this in my future and expanding my horizons.
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.
Emma Nicholson | SLC Rail
I currently work for a rail SME consultancy as a Development Project Manager and have recently worked on a major rail project in the north of England.
I am also the Founder of two LinkedIn Groups that support women in the rail and infrastructure, construction and property industries; Women in Sustainable Rail and Women in Sustainable Construction & Property. I have organised number events on topics of sustainability, healthy buildings, leadership, and diversity and inclusion with both LinkedIn Groups. Women in Sustainable Construction LinkedIn group has developed to over 1300 members since I formed it in 2011 and I founded Women in Sustainable Rail in 2020, which has been greeted with much enthusiasm and a growing following. I have 22 years experience of providing project management services to consultancies and have worked in the built environment, moving to the rail sector in 2019. I'm also a STEM representative with a STEM hub in York, and have undertaken numerous voluntary roles for the last 10 years to support schools. I'm a Board Trustee for the Women's Engineering Society and I'm supporting them with embedding diversity and inclusion within WES as Chair of their Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Specialist Interest Committee. I'm also a key member of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Panel for the CIOB, and have produced blogs for the CIOB to support leadership i.e. my Board experience. I'm passionate about equality, diversity and inclusion matters and agreed to participate in a CIOB panel webinar for International Women's Day on 8th March 2021 to discuss the imposter syndrome, discussion breaking down barriers in the industry.
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.
Eleanor Winters | Accenture
I aim to create inclusive employee experiences. I currently work in Accenture’s HR Consulting practice as a Technology Consultant and joined in September 2018 as an Analyst.
My experience to date is mainly in the financial services sector on global HR Technology transformations where I navigate complex regulatory and cultural landscapes. Though early on in my career, I have had the opportunity to lead a global team due to my proven track record of delivering results. Inclusion is a huge part of what drives me and influences how I work as well as the advice I give to clients. I have led several Inclusion and Diversity initiatives in my department, mainly centred around enabling and encouraging what are usually seen as difficult conversations around race and allyship more generally. Through my work, it is important to me to build an environment where everyone can relate authentically, questioning what we traditionally see as ‘professional’ and how we can make this more inclusive.
In addition to my client work I have been heavily involved in building a community across our HR Consulting practice at Accenture, allowing us to share knowledge, recognise great work and meet both formally and informally, though for the last year this has been solely virtually!
Prior to joining Accenture, I graduated from the University of Durham with a first-class degree in Modern Languages during which I had the opportunity to work and volunteer abroad, an experience which emphasised to me the importance and value of different perspectives and communication styles. I also worked as a senior mentor on a government programme designed to build skills and confidence in school leavers. I’ve continued working with young people alongside my day job, leading workshops for unemployed young people on topics such as interview and presentation skills as well as speaking at university events to encourage increased female representation in Consulting 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.
Mandip Kang | Atos
In order to understand my career and where I am today, I think it’s important to explain that I have always had a passion for everything analytical where the Sciences and Statistics were some of my favourite subjects to study.
Fast forward a few years and my path led me to leave University with no clear direction on what I wanted to do, I ‘fell’ into a role as a HR Administrator to gain a bit of experience into the world of work. This led to me joining Atos shortly after hoping to gain some further experience in the field of HR and 9 years later here I am! Hard work and perseverance in my career led me to progress onto their HR Graduate Scheme and in a few years, I progressed up the career ladder having worked in a variety of HR areas including Reward & Recognition, Talent, Employee Relations, TUPE and Shared Services – absorbing, retaining and using all the knowledge I gained over the years into the world of HR Technology and I haven’t looked back since.
My passion for Technology began as a voluntary project that I put myself forward for and has now led to me being appointed as Business Partner for HR Data Analytics, using Data Science to provide tangible insights to support the organisation’s people strategies and the evolution of Digital Technology in varying forms within the HR function.