Maya Welford | Barclays
After graduating from King’s College London in 2018 with a First Class BSc Psychology degree, where she received the Desmond Tutu Award for her commitment towards serving society, Maya joined Barclays on their Human Resources Graduate programme.
Maya has made a positive impact both through her day role at Barclays as well as through extra-curricular endeavours. Within her first 6 months at Barclays, Maya received a Barclays Values Recognition Award in recognition of her commitment to the Barclays values. Beyond her day role and as part of her engagement with Win, Barclays’ Gender Network, Maya founded and launched the Charity Mentoring Programme, which connects Win members with staff at charities aligned to driving gender equality. In addition, Maya is committed to the cause of social mobility and mentors young people from less privileged backgrounds to raise their aspirations. Alongside employment and given her hunger for continuous self-development, Maya is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability at Birkbeck, University of London.
Jessica Jackson | GC Angels
I have experience working with tech businesses and startups, particularly with a focus on positive social impact.
I have completed multiple early stage equity investments and managed a portfolio of £5m+ before joining GC Angels to manage their early stage equity fund. I am passionate about female-led businesses, mentoring and supporting founders in managing their business at Seed & Startup stage.
I have hosted over 15 events in the last year, gathering over 600 attendees, 90 business owners pitching for funding , with at least 20 entrepreneurs securing funding as a direct result, with many others receiving direct support and guidance.
As a result of these events, and through other forms of engagement such as digital marketing and thought-led articles written by myself, our network of Angel investors has grown by eight per cent in the last year – hitting 450 for the first time, and we receive an increase in requests for support from early stage companies.
Working with early-stage investments can be difficult, as the investment rationale will be based on the qualitative information available, rather than financial figures. This requires sound judgement on the risk associated with each deal, as well as the character of the management team that is requesting funding. I must understand a company’s market traction and interrogate their evaluation before investing.
Amy Doyle | South East Parakeets FC
Amy co-founded South East Parakeets FC in February 2017 in order to create opportunities for women from the Lewisham borough and surrounding areas to play football, get active and socialise. The club has not only been successful in bringing together a diverse group of women and creating a strong community, but has also been successful in it’s first season of competitive football. The club has been built on the values of respect, inclusivity and equality and Amy is passionate about how football and team sports can help with mental health as well as physical health.
Oishi Deb | Rolls Royce
Oishi is working at Rolls-Royce (RR) in the Control System department. Oishi’s current role is in Software Verification where she works in Hardware Software Integration (HSI) Test. Oishi previously completed a placement at Rolls-Royce working in software design for safety-critical software for aircraft’s engine control system.
Furthermore, she has been highly involved in promoting Engineering to the younger generation and dedicates a lot of her personal time towards STEM-volunteering. Oishi is a member of the Rolls-Royce STEM group and has volunteered and organised several activities to promote engineering. Oishi’s volunteering activities includes mentoring, judging UK Space Design regional competition, speaking at schools, volunteering at Maker’s-Fair & Big-Bang fair among others. She has received recognition twice from Rolls-Royce for STEM volunteering work.
Oishi graduated with BEng Software and Electronics Engineering with Industry degree from the University of Leicester. Oishi received the President and Vice Chancellor Student of the Year Award 2017. Oishi was shortlisted for the UK Telegraph STEM award 2017 in the power system category sponsored by Rolls-Royce. Oishi received the Achievement Award – Undergraduate Grant 2016 from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and also the recipient of the UK Naval Engineering Science and Technology scholarship award 2016.
Prior to joining Rolls-Royce, Oishi was the chair of the ‘Women in Computer Science Leicester (WCSL)’ group at the University of Leicester from 2016-17. As the university is championing the UN’s goal of gender diversity through the HeforShe campaign, Oishi’s work as the chair contributed to the university’s objective of gender diversity. Apart from being the chair, she was also selected as a member of the Athena Swan Committee for the Informatics Department. For all the contributions Oishi had made, she was a finalist for the Frank May volunteer of the year award 2017.
Briony Goldsack | Credit Suisse
I first realised that I could code for a living during my AS-Levels when my class attended a STEM event about the possible applications of mathematics, science and engineering in an increasingly technical world. At this event I was introduced to Computer Science as a degree and programming, something that I already knew that I enjoyed, as a profession! And that’s where my career in technology began. I graduated from Imperial College London in 2015 with a First in my Computing MEng and joined the graduate program at Credit Suisse that same year. As an Application Developer at Credit Suisse, I spent my first year as a Java developer within Equity Derivatives gaining exposure to the world of banking and the commercial applications of my degree. In August 2016, I joined the Equity Risk department as a Clojure developer on a project to deliver a novel and intuitive way for traders to view and manage their risk. Having never heard the of the programming language, “Clojure”, prior to this role, this was an exciting opportunity to challenge myself and learn something new and I haven’t looked back since. Post completing the graduate program in July 2017, I am now the product owner of the risk viewer and line manager to four external contractors across two Clojure projects.
Harshitha Shivakumar | IBM
I am an MEng Computer Science and Software Engineering student at the University of Birmingham, who is predicting First class honors and will be graduating in 2019. I am currently doing a placement year at IBM as a Cognos Technical Support Analyst. As a Technical Support Analyst, my job involves providing remote technical and software application support to IBM's Cognos Analytics customers. This involves gathering troubleshooting information from customers, isolating the root cause of their issue, creating complex customer test environments, logging bugs in the product and contributing technical content to the Customer Support Knowledge Base. Being an international student, my experience thus far has enriched me with great adaptability and problem-solving skills. I have always had a deep passion and interest for technology since my childhood. I started programming at a very young age and took great interest in STEM subjects right from school, which has given me a very strong technical background. I have also been awarded the Proficiency prize for academic excellence every year at school for my outstanding academic achievements. I have also worked as a Marketing Executive at SB Enterprises, India for almost a year. As a Marketing Executive, my job role involved formulating effective marketing strategies to promote the company’s products to a diverse set of audience. This gave me first-hand experience in interacting with clients and understanding their needs, thereby enriching my communication skills immensely. My work as a Marketing Executive resulted in a great increase in sales of the product I was responsible for and was well appreciated by the team. I was also offered an extension of the internship for the forthcoming year as a recognition of my exceptional work.
Sarah Rench | EY
Sarah currently leads a global EY team to implement and deliver advanced analytics, robotics and AI systems for global financial services including banking, wealth management and insurance. Previously she worked for IPsoft leading a global team to deliver a cognitive virtual agent product, called Amelia, across various industries in EMEA and Latin America.
Sarah has now worked in the IT sector in various roles, from software engineering to management, with broad experience in mobile app development, CRM systems, CMS, virtual agents and big data technology. She is ‘technology agonistic’ enabling her to use whatever technology needed to ensure the best results and business value creation for her clients. She is currently studying a part-time Executive MBA at Cass Business School, focusing on Artificial Intelligence. Previously she studied Anthropology and African Studies followed by a Masters in Computer Science at the University of Birmingham, demonstrating it's never too late to get into STEM. She's given a TedX on 'Magic and the Machine: Cards Tricks, Artificial and Emotional Intelligence' and presented at events like Girls in STEM, Thompson Reuters and the BBC's: Diversity, Inclusion and Tech Trends.
Sarah is on the Board for a non-profit women in tech community, DevelopHer, that helps women in STEM through coaching, mentoring and coding events. She is the Executive Board Member for Cass Global Women’s Leaders Programme, which helps women get sponsorship to do MBAs and achieve their full potential. Also she is part of the EY Women in Technology Network which run 'TechBootcamps' for men and women at EY to get into coding. Through these various networks, Sarah helps facilitates events in diversity, inclusion and technology to enable networking, driving collaboration and positive changes in our society. Sarah was the winner of the TechWomen50 Award 2017.
In her spare time she is also an Apprentice at the Magic circle (Official Magician’s society), helps mentor men and women who want to get into coding and give startups and entrepreneurs IT and business coaching.
Joanna Crew | Barclays
Prior to joining Barclays, politics was my passion: I spent 8 month working for my local MP in Westminster, and also a summer working for a US Congressman in Washington D.C. Following this I spent a year living in Russia, in Siberia and Moscow, as part of my Politics and Russian degree at Durham. All of these were hugely formative experiences, not simply in developing my taste for a challenge and being out of my comfort zone (which definitely happened a lot!) but also in realising my passions for social issues, in particular gender equality.
I started my formal career on the Barclays Operations Graduate Scheme in 2012, and was last year promoted to VP after 4 and a half years with the Bank. During this time I have held a variety of roles across the back office, including as a HR Chief of Staff and for the last two years I have been focusing on Tech and Non-Tech Change in Barclays International. I have recently been assigned to the Barclays Brexit Programme, which I see as a perfect example of the union of personal interest and career opportunity.
Working at a large organisation has allowed me to indulge my personal driver for regular change while also building a network and developing depth in my experience; it has also allowed me to explore both internally and externally the role I can play in championing gender equality. I am the Co-Chair of the Develop and Promote Committee for Win, the Barclays Gender Network, and have had the opportunity to lend my project management skills and also fundraising efforts for charities externally, raising over £22,000 to date.
Tanja Lichtensteiger | Leeds Beckett University
I started coding when I was 8 years old, built and programmed robots when I was 11 years old and took my first steps in the professional world at 17 years old when I started an apprenticeship, working in the IT department of the largest supermarket chain in Switzerland. The apprenticeship was an amazing experience gaining skills on the job, but I had to overcome racism and sexism, which were an obstacle while being the only female and non-white person in a department of 120. I passed my 3 year apprenticeship with flying colours, which also launched my career in technology. I worked as a developer, systems analyst and senior analyst, working my way up.
My career spans 17 years in technology. My current role is Business Systems Development Manager at Leeds Beckett University. These days I spend less time working with code and more time leading the teams and making decisions. I remove blockers that keep our developers from achieving our strategic goals, while providing tools, support and whatever they need to accomplish the job. I try to find ways of improving our way of working, which then improves the quality of our software products, which is used by both staff and students.
Nicky Zachariou | Government Digital Service
Nicky Zachariou is a mathematician by training and a data scientist by practice. She has an MSci in Mathematics, a PhD in Physics from Imperial College London and her research focussed on a complexity and networks science approach to the sustainability of socio-economic systems. As a recovering network scientist, she sees connections everywhere and believes that this knowledge can be applied to everyday interactions across government and everyday life. She believes that networks science can help you be more successful in your career and personal life as she she explains in her recent TEDxWhitehallWomen talk.
As the co-founder of DataBeers London, she loves bringing data enthusiasts together from industry, government, academia and the arts to share stories. She helps break down the barriers between previously siloed industries through fun, beer and storytelling, with data as a universal language.
Nicky has been working in Government since 2014 and is determined to help government get better at understanding patterns in data and being more innovative at using cutting edge technologies. Her superpower is explaining complex technical topics to non-specialists to show the value of data science and its application to real world problems. She’s currently leading the data science work on GOV.UK and using artificial intelligence, deep learning and network science to make GOV.UK better for its users.