WOMEN ROCK.

Nearly a third of women in tech say lack of female leaders and role models hinders careers.’ But I believe we have some of the best role models in the South West and Helenna is one of them! I met Helenna at Nationwide’s Adas Loveday event and then popped over to Good Energy where Helenna works as a Scrum Master. Good Energy have endless possibilities in technology and they want everyone to take full advantage of the tech revolution, and to be rewarded with a work-life balance which works for everyone. The world of technology is better with women in it – this story is many reasons why.FROM TEAM MANAGER AT A LARGE FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPANY TO DIGITAL SCRUM MASTER AT GOOD ENERGY, HOW DID YOU GET INTO A TECHNICAL ROLE?From my Team Manager role in Financial Services I was TUPE’d to an outsource provider in 2012 and picked up a job working as a Client Relationship Manager. I really enjoyed it and it helped to broadened my knowledge of the business and understand more about what options might be out there.After 2 years I made the leap into a Junior Project Manager role. It was a huge learning curve – I didn’t understand most of what they were talking about; middleware, releases, infrastructure, architecture, API’s, servers, technical debt…I had a lot to learn! I really enjoyed the pace and working with people all over the country and the world to deliver software whilst keeping the client updated and happy. It was a lovely team to work with but it was a very commercial environment and I always felt a pull towards doing something “good”.After another two years in that role I applied for a job at Good Energy as a Project Manager and was delighted when they offered me the position. It was the “good” company I had been looking for. I worked on commercialising Selectricity as my first project and I absolutely loved working on such a positive launch. I also project managed the GDPR programme which I expected to be very dull but it really wasn’t. I worked with a first class Compliance Team and we actually had a blast. At the start of this year we started our transition to Agile and I became Scrum Master for the Digital Team where we’re developing with a new stack on our website and we’re working on launching our new mobile app. I love working for a mission led company and feeling like I’m making a difference in the world, even on the difficult days.HOW HAS YOUR BACKGROUND PREPARED YOU FOR SUCCESS IN THE INDUSTRY?From being a child people have always fascinated me. I enjoy getting to know people, working people out and including people who don’t always naturally include themselves. I’ve always fallen back on communication, coaching and people skills. Being a team manager and then a relationship manager meant that I was used to dealing with all sorts of different personality types and I would always try to connect with and understand people to get the best out of them. I think knowing when to get everyone in a room and to pick up on body language and vibes has served me well in my career. I’ve just been asked to lead on working with my organisation to make Good Energy an attractive proposition for women looking for Technology roles and I can’t wait to get stuck in.HAVE YOU EVER SUFFERED FROM THE IMPOSTURE SYNDROME?Always! I have a very self-deprecating sense of humour and friends would tell you I’m terrible at taking a compliment. I’ve always been brought up not to “blow my own trumpet” so I’m trying to re-programme myself at the moment. It’s taken me a while to realise it but I’m not employed to know the ins and outs of everyone else’s job, I have my own skillset and I need to bring the best of me to the table without all the self-doubt. I’d say I’m a work in progress in this regard.WHAT CHALLENGES HAVE YOU FACED IN THE WORKPLACE, ESPECIALLY YOUR EXPERIENCE IN MALE-DOMINATED ENVIRONMENTS?I love working with the team I do and for an organisation with a lot of strong female role models. We have a female CEO and really balanced representation in our Exec Team. Unfortunately in Tech women are still low in number and we get very few CVs through from women but my team are supportive and professional and always treat me with respect. I’m lucky that at Good Energy diversity is embraced and it’s a very inclusive place to work.Good Energy works with STEMettes, which is a social enterprise working to encourage girls of school to university age to study STEM subjects. We recently ran a schools day programme with them, hosting a group of secondary age girls from a local school called Hardenhuish where representatives from across the business, including our CEO Juliet Davenport, introduced them to what we do. Then we ran a workshop where all the girls were tasked with designing their own ‘smart home’ app — there were some fantastic entries, really interesting to see what young minds come up with!WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO WOMEN LOOKING TO BREAK INTO THE FIELD OF COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY?Don’t feel like you have to know all the answers. Be confident and ask the question if one is burning. Chances are other people in the room don’t know the answer either. People will often talk about niche topics when you work in Tech (I think to look clever); don’t let it knock you. There are lots of jobs in Tech, you don’t have to be a developer and therefore don’t have to have the same vocabulary as they do. You can be an Analyst, Project Manager, Product Owner, Scrum Master, PMO, UX designer and lots more and they all come with their own jargon! Believe in yourself and assert yourself.WE SPOKE ABOUT INTERVIEW QUESTIONS, CAN YOU TELL ME YOUR WORST INTERVIEW EXPERIENCE?When I was around 20 I was asked during an interview when I was planning on having children. They offered me the job and kept offering me more money until I had to tell them that it was their questioning in the interview that meant I wouldn’t work for them regardless of the salary.WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT IN THE WORLD OF ENERGY?The old world of energy is set up for big power stations to supply to end customers, but the future will be the ‘three Ds’ — decentralised, decarbonised and digitised. So that means more of a matrix system where everyone is generating and sharing power peer-to-peer. It will be decarbonised as generation systems will be renewable, like solar and wind, which are already the cheapest forms of energy available to us.Then you’ve got battery storage, electric vehicles and the smart home all part of the mix, so we’ll need sophisticated digitisation to make it all work, with artificial intelligence and automation making it all happen, potentially managed via a blockchain system. And of course great UX on the front end so it makes sense for the customer. That’s why energy is such an exciting space for tech right now — we’re on the verge of a massive shift, in which energy will be enabling and underpinning virtually everything that’s happening in technologyANY READING/WEBSITE YOU WOULD RECOMMEND TO STAY UPDATED?I really like www.funretrospectives.com – it’s a great resource library for Scrum Masters to run meaningful retrospectives, planning sessions, futurespectives and team building activities.We spoke about your girls and how one would like to be an Architect and the youngest who is flying through coding apps that you can’t keep up with her, but they say they are no good at Maths, what do you think can be improved in schools to promote future skills and careers in technology?This frustrates me so much! They are both so mathematically minded and we have bookshelves full of books about inspirational women at home. As a result I have a couple of Marvel loving, tree climbing whirlwinds in my life who question everything from politics to advertising. But there still seems to be this fear of maths, of making a “mistake” or “getting it wrong” which doesn’t seem to apply to the Arts in the same way. I attend their school every year for Jobs Jamboree Day to talk about what I do and do some fun activities with the children. A lot of the careers they see are quite vocational so talking about some of the less visible jobs in society helps them to broaden their horizons. After doing an activity with one group where they had to make a building out of lego to my requirements I asked how they found being a Project Manager and one girl put up her hand and said “stressful” – I think she got the point!Ultimately I hope that doing more computer science, robotics, coding and programming in school will allow girls to approach maths from a more creative and less theoretical perspective. When my daughter makes a virtual robot climb the stairs on her app and he does a wrong turn she is not disheartened by this, she can quickly see where it’s gone wrong, undo it and re-do it, something she doesn’t experience when she is doing her maths homework.ON THAT NOTE OF CHILDREN, HOW DO YOU JUGGLE YOUR JOB AND BEING A MUM?I have two daughters who live with us and two stepdaughters who live in Exeter and juggling this with full time work can only be achieved with a very supportive family. My girls’ dad and I are separated but he’s a brilliant dad and always shares drop offs and picks ups. My husband is a huge support for me and we always act as a team. We each work from home one day a week so we can be there for the girls at the start and end of their school day and then my mum picks up for us twice a week. My mum has been an extra parent figure to them over the years and I’m very grateful to her. It’s not easy but it’s always been very important to me to have a life alongside parenthood and for them to have a working role model mum in their lives. They are also the most lovely girls and it doesn’t enter their heads that I would be doing anything but being independent and pursuing a career – plus they prefer the breakfast when they get to go to breakfast club!WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE QUOTE?Good question……I find myself shouting teeth and shoes a lot but not sure that’s what you’re after! I always love Roald Dahl’s quote “If you have good thoughts, they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely”. Being kind and nice to other people really costs nothing and goes a long way.CHOOSE YOUR SQUAD!Just 3?! I’m honestly surrounded by the most amazing network of people, I feel very fortunate.If I had to choose 3 it would be my husband for being the most selfless person I know. He lives to look after other people and we’re so lucky to have him. Then my children for inspiring me all the time. My oldest daughter Hope is totally non-conformist with short hair, bags of energy, a wardrobe full of hero t-shirts and a quiet confidence that means she throws herself at every opportunity. I swear she can whisper to animals too. My youngest daughter Belle is hilariously funny with red hair, freckles and gorgeous dimples. She is forever pranking teachers with rubber spiders and has a wisdom way beyond her years. She’s a chip off the old block creating a floor plan on the computer complete with project schedule for her 8th birthday party (laminated of course)!Thank you Helenna, you’re an asset to the industry and looking forward to working with you and the team.#womenrock

Carly is a Senior Technical Specialist at Nationwide, a fabulous person to have in your network and a woman who is doing everything she can to help females in the industry. She is here to share valuable and insightful advice that is real, relatable and inspirational. Carly & Nationwide are continuing to make difference in people’s lives, and are celebrating Ada Lovelace Day on Tuesday 9th to celebrate Women in Tech (Link to tickets below)FROM RESEARCH ASSISTANT TO SENIOR TECHNICAL SPECIALIST AT NATIONWIDE. HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE TECH INDUSTRY?Like a lot of the women I’ve met in my career – it was purely by accident.When I was at school I disliked IT, and despite studying Physics, Chemistry, Maths and further Maths, it wasn’t once suggested to me that computers could be anything other than something you type on and play games on (two things I hated), let alone that you could actually control them and get them to do useful things AND have a career with them! (I can only imagine I assumed that they just magically knew how to do everything!).After my research contract at the Health Protection Agency (now Public Health England) came to an end, I decided to take a few months out of a ‘proper career’ and did some part-time temp work while I decided what I wanted to do.It was then that a job at the John Lewis Partnership came up. It was a Trainee Computer Operator role, kind of like an informal apprenticeship, in the Operations Bridge and Data Centre. There was a long list of computer systems that you’d end up working with, but, most importantly, the job description made it very clear that you would be taught everything you needed to know – you just needed an enquiring, and logical mind, a willingness to work shifts, and the ability to speak to people on the phone. It sounded interesting, and totally not what I’d imagined IT to be like. So, I submitted my CV, attended an assessment day, and the rest as they say, is history!WHAT DOES YOUR ROLE ENTAIL AS SENIOR TECHNICAL SPECIALIST?The role of a Senior Technical Specialist varies, depending on where you work, and part of the company you work for. In the Payments Squad at Nationwide, the team I’m based in, I focus a lot on the governance side of things, which may not sound the most appealing to some, but means I get a really broad overview of what’s happening in the industry. I chair the Payments Design Authority, which looks at things like design, security, resilience and scalability of our payments platforms.I’m also the person who co-ordinates the annual Report on Compliance assessment, working with external bodies on our Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards. I’ve also been a bit more project based, and lead on different pieces of work from a design and governance perspective.At Nationwide, we’re allowed to choose how we develop into our roles. For example, I focus more on the governance and compliance side of tech, where as some of my colleagues choose to get a little more hands on with the code, and are involved with things like code reviews.I LOVE THAT YOU SUPPORT OTHER WOMEN AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY. CAN YOU TELL ME A BIT ABOUT THE CONFERENCE YOU ARE ORGANISING FOR WOMEN RETURNS AND WOMEN STARTING IN TECH?Yes!!! I’m so excited about this event! Myself and a group of incredible women from Nationwide are hosting an Ada Lovelace Day event on Tuesday 9th October at the STEAM museum in Swindon.Our aim is to create a supportive network, for women who are either returning to tech or considering a career in tech, and just need a little bit of a confidence boost. As well as a great networking event, there’ll be talks by speakers, including Dr Sue Black OBE, Danielle Macleod and Rachel Robinson from Nationwide, alongside some hands-on workshops too – if you attend and get chance on the day, try and have a quick word with any of them, I’m so in awe of everything they’ve all achieved.Anyone interested can sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ada-lovelace-day-nationwide-supporting-women-in-technology-tickets-49980994500IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU FEEL WOULD HELP ELIMINATE UNCONSCIOUS BIAS IN RECRUITING WOMEN INTO TECHNOLOGY ROLES?I think raising more awareness that unconscious bias is actually a thing, would help. If you can get people to recognise themselves making decisions that have perhaps been influenced by unconscious bias, that would go a long way to people identifying it, and therefore avoiding it.Maybe we have to actively stop ourselves from thinking in a specific way – it’s a challenge. The fact that they’ve noticed it’s happened is a positive. They’ll hopefully be more aware if there’s a next time.WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF WOMEN AND HOW CAN WE BE A STRONG ROLE MODEL FOR THEM?There are still many challenges, when women are more likely to take extended time off to raise a family, or care for a relative, and the industry remains gender dominant.What I do think we’re obligated to do is support each other. I suppose what I’d want my niece (who’s 4) to see when she looks back in 30 years’ time is that we were the generation that lifted each other up. I really do think that we can be stronger together.HAVE YOU EVER EXPERIENCED THE IMPOSTER SYNDROME?Yes. I think this is a topic that will be covered at least a couple of times at our event – I’m hoping to be going home that day with a couple of strategies for dealing with those feelings.WHO’S YOUR SQUAD?My mum, my brother, my partner and my two best friends Charlie and Bex. I know that’s five but I’m a rebel! They are the most amazing bunch of people, and are equally happy bigging me up, coaching me through the bad times, sitting me down and telling me straight, or simply laughing at me when I say something stupid (they all laugh quite a lot!). I can be comfortable being me when I’m with them, and they help me be my best me. I love them all.WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE QUOTE?Well, apart from ‘It’s all in the reflexes.’ (Jack Burton, Big Trouble in Little China – best film ever), I suppose it’s ‘Be Fearless’ – it’s something that we were told as IBM grads, and at the time if I’m honest I thought it was very corporate, but it’s stuck with me. Every time I’m in a situation that I’m uncomfortable with, that’s what is going through my head, and it’s not done me too bad ????Thank you Carly, see you next week

Ok, so this is taken from Girl Code but something that is resonantly with me massively at the moment and something I wanted to share. I’ll try get an Interview with Cara Alwill Leyba one day, that would be insane!!The interviews in this book are so real and can relate to so many people, if you haven’t read it you must! My favourite bits are the takeaways and the extra credits, these are my top 3.Page 29:TAKE A SOCIAL MEDIA DIET‘This is hands down my top tip. Social media can be a fantastic tool for growing your business, but it can chew you up and spit you out just as fast, When you feel yourself getting on the crazy train, vow to take a break from social media. Plan your break, and even schedule it into your calendar if needed. Close out of your browsers, turn the notifications off on your phone, etc. . Set aside a two-hour break, a three-day break, whatever your need to reset your thinking and get out of ‘compare and despair’ mode.MEDITATE‘Meditation does not have to involve chanting and sitting cross-legged on the floor. To meditate simply means to clear your mind and focus on a positive, affirming thought. And there is nothing like meditation to tap into your purest thoughts and get in touch with your true self. Set aside ten minutes a day to spend in a quiet place, taking a few deep breaths. Create a mantra for yourself that makes you feel proud of who you are.’CREATE SOMETHING YOU WISH EXISTED‘Rather than looking around at what everyone else is creating, think about what you wish already existed, what story needs to be told, what product needs to be created? Out inner magic shines when we stop trying to replicate other successful ventures and innovate from our own desires. ‘And finally. ‘If you don’t go after what you want , you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no . If you don’t step forward you’re always in the same place.’On that note, we are starting the Social Media Diet, but we’ll be back in September with some amazing interviews and some VERY exciting news.Thank you#womenrock

Finalist for under 25 entrepreneur SPARKies award 2018, Finalist for best startup in the South West 2018, investment from Just Eat, Angels Den and 130 investors on Crowdcube. I’d say that is all the introduction this interview needs. Me and Jess caught up over a gin at Picco’s a few weeks back and, well she’s just a true inspiration for all of us, I went home buzzing after we met, that and the quarter finals were on! Her drive, honesty, humour and passion to support women in this industry is so endearing and I’m really excited to see what her and the team at LUX Rewards achieve over the next few years.If you’re aiming for the top, then read on……WHAT IS LUX REWARDS, HOW DID IT COME ABOUT?LUX Rewards works like Air Miles but for the restaurant world. We partner users with high quality restaurants and bars and allow them to collect points from their spend. Although most point-based companies offer 0.5% to 1.5% back (like Tescos Club card, Nectar points or Boots cards), we like to give our users maximum value: Up to 7.5% back!These points can be collected and redeemed for rewards such as spa days, wine tastings, hotel getaways and free meals!It all came about when my co-founder was working for IBM and getting points back from a wide range of expense budgets: Air miles for flights, Mariott points for hotels, AMEX for general spend… but nothing for his restaurant spend despite having most of his expense budget accorded to meals!On the flip side, high quality restaurant and bars are lacking a tool to incentivise corporate customers into their restaurants: Discounts don’t work because discounts are orientated towards price savvy customers such as students!Et Voilà LUX!DID YOU ALWAYS KNOW YOU WANTED TO OWN YOUR OWN COMPANY?Absolutely! I belong to a family of entrepreneurs and creatives so always had the ambition to have my own company. I love to take risks, network, get creative and problem solve so entrepreneurship is a natural fit for my personality.My degree did orientate me towards larger companies so I ended up working in some businesses such as AXA and TBWA. Although these companies gave me some fantastic experience, I hated feeling like a clog in a machine and the slow pace that big businesses move frustrated me.WHAT DOES YOUR DAY TO DAY LOOK LIKE?Every day is different! One day I’ll be in the LUX HQ based in the Just Eat offices in Bristol, the next I’ll be wondering around Bristol & Bath speaking to restaurants… another I’ll be in London pitching to investors. One thing that stays the same everyday: Copious cups of tea that are left half empty.YOU MENTIONED TO THAT YOU VERY RARELY MEET ANY FEMALE TECH FOUNDERS, ANY TIPS FOR WOMEN WHO WANT TO START THEIR OWN BUSINESS?Don’t see yourself as a “women entrepreneur” – you are just “an entrepreneur”! The worst thing you could do is set yourself back before you have even started just because of your gender.Yes I have very rarely found female tech founders, we are definitely a minority! However, it’s not something that can change overnight so best not get angry about it. My advice would be to use it to your advantage. There are many support groups, recognitions (such as this), awards, funding… all exclusively for women in tech business. Use them and work hard!YOU ARE A MENTOR FOR WOMEN IN BUSINESS, WHAT DOES THIS ENTAIL?There are two main things when you mentor people: On a personal level you are there to talk to them and make sure their moral is kept up! Secondly, it is helping them in areas of business they are not familiar with. So many people have great ideas but have no idea where to start when it comes to setting up a company.I WOULD LOVE TO SEE MORE WOMEN MENTORING OTHER WOMEN, AND YOU HAVE RECENTLY MENTORED TWO YOUNG LADIES IN BUSINESS. WHY DID YOU WANT TO DO IT?I read an article back in February by Fortune saying that the #MeToo movement was alienating male mentors: Male managers are now three times as likely to say they are uncomfortable mentoring women and twice as uncomfortable working alone with a woman. This creates a big problem: Most senior positions are occupied by men, and having a mentor increases your chance of moving up in your career.I really want to change this and give young professionals or entrepreneurs the confidence and advice they need. That way more females will be in senior positions to mentor others in the future! Goodbye gender pay gap!I’M SURE YOU HAVE BEEN IN A ROOM FULL OF MEN AND BEEN THE ONLY WOMAN, HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL?When I was first starting out in business it made me very angry. Not because I was the only woman, but because of the atmosphere it created. I would walk into groups of guys talking about business but as soon as I joined the conversation they would switch to very condescending subjects such as the weather. The networking event would change into a “gentleman’s club” and my co-founder (who is a man) would secure several followup meetings when I would secure none.Also being asked to get someone a drink… what’s that about??I used to simply walk out of those events (I can be fiery and didn’t want to make any enemies) but now I have taught myself how to deal with events like this.I OFTEN SUFFER FROM ‘IMPOSTER SYNDROME’. DO YOU?Absolutely – especially when I was starting out! In my head, any achievement was down to luck.This is something I have been really working on though. I feel that people can be scared of being over-confident because they don’t want to come across as cocky. But in my experience, when you are confident, people gravitate towards you. Confidence is always key!WHAT CHALLENGES HAVE YOU HAD TO OVERCOME?Naturally curious, I like to be good at EVERYTHING and understand EVERYTHING. Problem with this: you become a jack of all trades, master of none . My biggest challenge has been to accept that there are just some things I will never be great at, and that it is better to delegate tasks to people than try and figure everything out myself.WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE TO YOU?Being able to buy my groceries from M&S without worrying about my bank balance.WHAT DO YOU THINK THE TRAITS OF A KICKASS LEADER ARE?Personable, positive, convincing and good at reading people!WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE QUOTE?“Three words: Treat Yo Self” Parks and recreation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsABTmT1_M0SQUAD GOALS! IF YOU COULD PICK ANY 3 PEOPLE IN THE WORLD WHO WOULD THAT BE AND WHY?My mum: She’s a constant source of inspiration for me.James my co-founder: It can be so hard for people to work in such intense environments, remain friends and continue to be on the same brain length. I couldn’t ask for a better co-founder and squad member!Elon Musk: Because hey… he could surely pull some strings??To download LUX Rewards or find out more about Jess’s business, follow the link here to the LUX website!Jess, thank you so much#womenrock #kyliejennerwho

So women who want to have kids leave, worsening an already embarrassing gender gap in technology but this isn’t the case for Nathalie Co-Founder and Managing Director of CookiesHQ. Nathalie and Nic, can I just say, bravo to you for so many things first, for being really cool people and creating a brilliant business for Bristol. But also for coming together to help others be just a little more successful in work and life. Nathalie is a woman who is juggling business and being a mum, like a boss!Have a read of Nathalie’s story, take some notes and go smash it!There are some brilliant groups set up in Bristol to help founders and entrepreneurs. Check out WTFounders and the meet-up set up by CookiesHQ which is happening this Thursday 19th DMB #6 Successes and Failures – see you there. DBM #6 SUCCESSES AND FAILURESThursday, Jul 19, 2018, 6:30 PMBristol Engine Shed @ Temple MeadsBS1 6QH Bristol, GB53 Members WentYou will fail many times before you succeed, and you will learn more from your failures than your successes. This wisdom is widely accepted in the tech industry. But we tend to hear about businesses once they’ve succeeded, which means we’re missing half the story. How exactly do you go from failing – once, twice or many times – to success? Join us …Check out this Meetup →Q2 IDEAS: GETTING READYTuesday, Jul 17, 2018, 6:00 PMDigital Studio, NatwestTrinity Quay, Avon Street, Bristol , BS2 0PT Temple Meads, GB25 Members WentThe second part in our quarterly series – this is about knowing that you have a great business idea, understanding what it is, how to research it and where to get support before dipping into the unknown. For our speakers this quarter we have: Rosie Bennett – Centre Director of setsquared Bath which is an accelerator for virtual, pre-incubation and …Check out this Meetup →WHO ARE COOKIESHQ?CookiesHQ is a digital agency based in south Bristol. We create bespoke web and mobile apps for businesses and build lasting partnerships with them. Our clients are mostly startups and SMEs, but we work with international organisations like ARTICLE 19 and Médecins Sans Frontières as well.My husband Nic and I started CookiesHQ in 2011. Since then, we’ve grown organically into a team of nine. We mainly build applications in Ruby on Rails but we’re branching into WordPress and voice apps, and can offer design, consultancy and copywriting services too.WHY DID YOU START YOUR OWN BUSINESS?It came almost by chance. Nic was a freelance web developer, and I was looking for a new job. Nic’s client base was growing and he was struggling to manage the sales and paperwork on top of coding and client management.So he suggested that we work together. I thought about it long and hard, and still went to a few interviews – working with your partner is not a decision you take lightly. But with my background in management and marketing, I realised our skills complemented each other. So we gave it a go.WHAT HAVE BEEN THE MAIN BENEFITS?Flexibility and understanding. We have the same life objectives, and even though we don’t always agree on how to achieve them, we know that we’re working towards the same goal.We also don’t have to justify our working hours. Undeniably, I work fewer hours than Nic – even though we are equal partners in the business – simply because we decided that I would work part-time while the children are little. We always put our family first, and then we make it work with the business – that, for me, is the main benefit of working with my husband.Our main goal is to build the kind of agency that we would have liked to work for – a place where team members are happy to come to every morning, where we can provide them with interesting and challenging work, and where we are all valued as individuals and can fulfill our full potential. It sounds a bit cheesy, but we believe that profit should help us grow rather than be an end goal in itself.I’M GUESSING IT HASN’T BEEN PLAIN SAILING, WITH 2 CHILDREN AND ANOTHER ON THE WAY (CONGRATULATIONS) WHAT HAVE BEEN THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES?Thank you!We started the business, got married and had our first child within a year – it was a challenge! It took a while to find our feet, and understand what we could each bring to the business.Early on, we laid down a simple rule: no talking business after 8pm and on Sundays. At home, when one of us doesn’t feel like talking clients or projects, we just say so and save it for later. Now the children do that too – they get bored very quickly when the conversation turns to business stuff!Having these rules allows us to separate work and home life, and have quality time as a couple and a family. Work is important – especially when it’s your own business – but I don’t think it should be everything. It would be too easy to let it take over our whole lives.The first couple of years were a steep learning curve. Then came the time to hire our first employees, which is a big step for a new business. As a husband and wife team, we had to make sure that the employees would never got caught between us. This issue was partly solved by the decision to have two offices – one at home and another for the team – so we don’t always have to work from the same place. We’ve kept this principle for all our team – they can choose to work remotely whenever they want.Overall, I would say that the benefits have outweighed the challenges. We’re still married and had more children, so I guess that’s a good sign!YOU ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT WOMEN IN BUSINESS. DO YOU THINK WOMEN IN BUSINESS NEED MORE SUPPORT/MORE POSITIVE ROLE MODELS, PARTICULARLY MOTHERS IN BUSINESS?These last couple of years have seen a rise in positive role models for women in business, and, even though there is still a long way to go, I think we’re going in the right direction.I do think that mothers (and fathers!) in business need more support and would benefit from a change of mentality. You can run a successful company without working all hours of the day and night, or sacrificing your family life. It might take longer, but slow and steady is not a bad way to build up a business. We aren’t less committed or less capable – we’ve just realised that we don’t have to choose between fulfilling our career ambitions and raising a family.HAS RUNNING YOUR OWN BUSINESS ALLOWED YOU TO SPEND MORE TIME WITH YOUR CHILDREN?Yes and no. It’s all about how you manage the time you have. Nic and I do have to attend meetings and events, sometimes in the evening, which means that our children tend to go to sports clubs and after-school clubs quite a lot, compared to other kids.But I also have the freedom and flexibility to take a couple of hours off to attend the school’s Christmas performance or sports day – that’s what makes it worth it.FLEXIBLE WORKING IS SO IMPORTANT TO MANY MUMS AND DADS, HOW CAN COMPANIES SUPPORT FLEXIBLE WORKING?Most workplaces can adapt to accommodate flexible working.The problem is that many mothers who return to work struggle to find interesting, challenging part-time roles. Going part-time shouldn’t mean you have to do a boring job, or a job for which you’re overqualified.I think that’s what missing – appropriate part-time jobs. Women don’t lose skills just because they’ve had children. If anything, they have to become more productive and organised, because they know how to make the most of the limited time they have, no matter what task they’re tackling.Besides, traditional working hours (9am to 6pm) are incredibly difficult for parents to fit around. Children need dropping off and picking up from nursery or school at specific times. Employers can help by adapting their ways of working, which doesn’t require much effort.We recently hired a software tester, Sarah, who is mum of two and works for us part-time. She works 4 days a week, during school hours, so she can be there to pick up her kids at the end of the day. We’ve had to adapt our meeting times so she can take part but, apart from that, it has worked seamlessly for us and for her.Employers need to understand that mothers returning to work are often after more than just a paycheck. Yes, they want and deserve to earn money like any other employee, but the quality of the work and the prospect of a good work/life balance is more important.WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE QUOTE?A poster on our office wall reads ‘No one said it would be easy.’ I’m not sure where it’s from, but it couldn’t be more true. Not every day is going to be easy, not every day will be fun, but it’ll all be worth it in the end. Sometimes you just need to remind yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing and what you’re trying to achieve. I believe that the ability to remain positive and look at the bigger picture when things get tough is an invaluable quality for an entrepreneur.ARE YOU RECRUITING AT THE MOMENT?We are recruiting for maternity cover for our project manager, Gemma, who is going on maternity leave quite soon. We’re looking for someone who has at least a couple of years’ experience, good knowledge and understanding of the web and tech industry and great communication and multitasking skills.We are also looking for an experienced UX/ UI designer to work on a variety of visual and interaction design projects, both for internal and client products.If either of these sounds like you, please see our website for more information and how to apply.We are always on the lookout for talented developers, so feel free to email me at nathalie@cookieshq.co.uk and tell me why you’d be a good fit for CookiesHQ.Thanks Nathalie#womenrock

What’s Jisc?Jisc is a Bristol-based membership organisation for the UK’s universities, colleges and skills training organisations.It provides them with big-ticket shared digital infrastructure, including this country’s national research and education network, which is one of the busiest in Europe and serves 18m users. It’s called the Janet Network and it is super-fast, reliable, secure and built to handle the huge volumes of traffic that education and research organisations generate.Jisc provides many other shared services, including data centres so that researchers can store their data and share it securely with others. It also negotiates cost-effective deals and preferential service levels with commercial suppliers and offers advice and training on many different topics.It’s just the kind of place that you’d expect to find stuffed with men who took the traditional science, technology, engineering, maths (STEM) sort of route into work. But now Jisc has launched a programme to make sure it’s a great place to work for women, as well as for everyone with skills and talents to offer but who don’t necessarily fit the into the typical techy mould.Meet Frances Burton, fashion and textile designer turned cyber security expert. Frances is a security services manager, based at Jisc’s security operations centre in Harwell, Oxfordshire.One of three women security specialists in her team of 24 people (there are also a couple of women working in non-technical jobs), she says that her ability to touch-type was enough to launch her into a career in IT.HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN THE ROLE?I’ve been in Jisc’s cyber security division since 2017, but I’ve been with the organisation for about ten and a half years in all. My first job here was in research, I moved for a while into customer engagement and then found myself in security in 2015. We set up the dedicated security operations centre last year, and here I am!TELL US ABOUT YOUR CAREER PATHI went to college to train as a fashion and textiles designer but in those days they didn’t really bother to help you explore the kinds of jobs you might be qualified for, and I left with very little idea of what do next. So I got a job as an office junior at the Atomic Energy Authority (AEA). At that time the AEA had one of the first text-based databases and I got the job of demonstrating it purely because I could touch-type.As it turned out, I had an aptitude for the technology and so I grabbed the opportunity and became an operator. I then went on to get involved with other business systems and IT services. When I had my daughter I had a bit of a break from work and started an Open University degree in information and communication technology (ICT). Later, I got a job in a school to fit in with her school hours and then progressed to working with Jisc authentication services.Since then, I’ve kept an eye open for opportunities and taken them whenever they looked promising. I’ve been lucky – people have always been supportive and believed in me.IS A MALE-DOMINATED ENVIRONMENT INTIMIDATING FOR TALENTED WOMEN?It’s certainly true that there are still more men than women on my team, but I’ve never found it intimidating and I’ve never experienced any prejudice. To be honest, I’ve never felt at a disadvantage in any of the predominantly male environments I’ve worked in. Perhaps I just don’t notice it – my parents raised us to think of ourselves as people not just boys or girls, and to believe that we could achieve whatever we wanted if we were willing to work at it.Being the only woman can even have its advantages. I’m often the only one in a project team and it does mean that you don’t face a queue for the loo.WHAT WOULD ATTRACT MORE WOMEN INTO TECHNICAL ROLES?I think that the education system needs an overhaul. These days kids have to start choosing a direction quite early on and it can really limit their options later. We know that boys are more likely than girls to pick STEM subjects at an early age and this sets boys and girls on different paths.I chose arty subjects like many girls, but back then it was pretty easy for me to switch direction. I think it would be a lot trickier now and this means that employers can lose out on some great talent.I do think that the world is waking up to this problem. The Cyber Security Challenge is trying to create a more diverse pipeline of talent to work in cyber security, which is highly promising. And at Jisc we’re taking steps to cast our net more widely to attract talent from the widest possible pool.That means, for example, placing job ads in different media, wording them differently and being less prescriptive about the skills we’re looking for. Technical skills can always be taught to promising candidates who have aptitude and a range of other useful skills that transfer into this environment. Their different perspectives may well give us fresh ways of looking at problems.We’re very keen to recruit more women and we have our first female cyber security degree apprentice, Nicole. We’re making her training as broad as we possibly can so that she has freedom to make choices about her career progression.LASTLY, WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE QUOTE?It’s one from Dolly Parton. Someone asked her how she gets her hair to look as it does. Her answer? “I don’t know, I’m never there.”And there you were, thinking I’d say something worthy about women working in a man’s world. Thanks Frances, and the team at Jisc#womenrock

One of my now friends who I have met through the WTH (Women’s Tech Hub) pulled me to one side at an event a few weeks ago to talk about how to approach the topic of a pay-rise – her annual review was coming up and she’d never asked for a pay-rise before.A little research later and I found that…. According to the Chartered Management Institute, men are twice as likely as women to ask for a pay rise – and just as shocking is the fact that three in five women have never even asked for a pay rise ever!So a question absolutely worthy of this week’s blog post! Why aren’t we asking?!Salaries are usually quite a personal topic, and potentially quite emotive too – it’s also a negotiation which not everyone finds comfortable – okay it kinda comes naturally to me but I do it every day and my dad (aka delboy) taught me the art of negotiation when I was younger and didn’t want to pay £1000 for my 1990 white corsa when I was 17! 10 minutes later, driving away in my first car with £200 off and a free fluffy dice and steering wheel cover, winning!Anyway – negotiations make some people uncomfortable although you can’t let that hold you back! The key is preparation, take the following steps to help you with potential negotiations.Know your worth: Give yourself some bloody credit, too often I hear ladies tell me about their amazing achievements at work and all too often it goes un-noticed because we don’t realise our worth! It’s not about what you are earning in comparison to colleagues (this can be counter-productive), but more about market value. Look at ads for jobs fitting your skill-set, what salaries are being paid in the local market? Also use salary checker websites like IT Jobs Watch to try and establish what the ‘going-rate’ is for those with your skillset – https://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/. Please note – if you are on more than the average that doesn’t mean you can’t ask! You will just need to be prepared to perhaps build a better case! Prepare your evidence: Be prepared to highlight the great things you have achieved, maybe you introduced a change that has seen an increase in productivity in your team, or you’ve completed a project well ahead of deadline day, or maybe you’ve gone above and beyond to meet a deadline – document it, maybe even obtain testimonials from colleagues and be ready to talk about it! Deliver it well: Present your case clearly, be polite and graceful (no steaming in with ‘I want XYZ or I’m outta here’) but don’t apologise for asking! Be confident! Be Sasha! Also specifics are more likely to resonate and always base the conversation/evidence on facts. Timing is also key, perhaps book the conversation in, it is important your manager doesn’t feel ambushed and the whole process is done in a considered and adult fashion. It’s also important to remember that it’s just a conversation at the end of the day and nothing to be scared about. Have a plan B – If your manager doesn’t agree to the pay-rise remain polite, ask for feedback on how you can work towards a pay-rise in the future. What can you do to add more value? Agree on an action plan alongside timescales that will warrant a pay increase in the future.Having offered advice to many men and women over the years on this subject I am more than happy to continue to do so. A good recruitment partnership is about far more than just discussing a live job or setting up an interview up. If you have any career or work related questions and you would like some support with or fancy picking my brains about then please pick up the phone and lets have a chat.Anyway, I’m off to ask for a pay-rise.#itscominghome #womenrock

We are thrilled to have Jisc as one of key sponsors for 2018! When I first spoke with the team at Jisc and Simone I knew they were a company who would fly the flag and have a solid plan to ‘making change happen’. We are going to create a leading-edge community with passion, and tap into a huge audience that wants to join the Women Rock movement. Simone is a people business partner, working out of Jisc’s London offices. Jisc has a ‘people plan’ and she helps to deliver it, leading on equality, diversity and inclusion. When she’s not doing that, she’s an enthusiastic baker who’s overly modest about her abilities and also a keen walker and cyclist.WHO ARE JISC?Jisc is a membership organisation for the UK’s universities, colleges and skills training organisations with offices across the UK, including Bristol.Jisc provides its members and customers with big-ticket shared digital infrastructure, including this country’s national research and education network (NREN), which is one of the busiest in Europe and serves 18m users. It’s called the Janet Network and it is super-fast, reliable, secure and built to handle the huge volumes of traffic that education and research organisations generate.Jisc is a member organisation dedicated to saving the UK’s education sector money with shared services, including data centres so that researchers can store their data and share it securely with others. It also negotiates cost-effective deals and preferential service levels with commercial suppliers and offers advice and training on many different topics to help members work smarter through digital technologies.Sounds like it may be full of nerdy men in sandals? Possibly so, once upon a time, but that’s been changing fast. And change is accelerating now that Jisc has launched a programme to make it a great place to work for women, as well as for others who have lots to offer but don’t necessarily fit the into the typical techy mould.WHAT IS YOUR DAY-TO-DAY ROLE AS PEOPLE MANAGER AT JISC?I aim to support managers and staff right through the employee ‘journey’, from the moment when we place the job ad or pick up a cv to beyond the point when they leave us. We want good people to stay with us and develop, but if they choose to move on then we’d like them to leave as advocates of Jisc. It’s important to us that Jisc is a great place to work. Of course, different people will have different reasons to think so, and it’s my job to make sure we’re imaginative and supportive enough to be a great employer for all sorts of people.HOW DO YOU SUPPORT WOMEN WHO WORK IN TECHNOLOGY JOBS AT JISC?Well, we strive to support all our female and male staff right across the organisation in the same way – by being open, responsive and as flexible as we can to support individual needs and aspirations.But it’s certainly true that women are under-represented in technology jobs generally and it is not just girls, there is a general lack of diversity in the sector. We are doing various things to even things up, both at Jisc and across the education and research sector generally.For example, we’ll be working with STEM ambassadors to encourage everyone to think seriously about studying science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects and we took part in ‘Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work Day’ this year for the first time. The primary school girls were so enthusiastic and some showed real early promise. One seven-year old showed an impressive level of understanding of direct denial of service (DDoS) attacks and of some of the steps we take to protect our members against them. Her dad is one of our technical staff and it’d be great if she wanted to follow in his footsteps.We’re going to start offering teachers placements at Jisc so they can discover the breadth of opportunities that exist in technology jobs and then go back into their schools enthusiastic and ready to spread the word.And we’re doing some work on unconscious bias, reviewing our policies and guidance to make sure we recruit on merit and providing training for our staff to demonstrate how bias can play itself out in the workplace. We are not just addressing unconscious bias by dragging our people through training, it is far deeper than that, for example through widening our perspectives we can reduce our biases so we’re running a campaign called ‘this is me’, encouraging our people to share their own stories with colleagues so that we can walk a mile in each other’s shoes, to widen all our perspectives and demonstrate that we respect, value and celebrate difference. This is not only about supporting women in a traditionally male-dominated environment, it’s also about celebrating diversity.HOW ARE YOU ATTRACTING WOMEN TO APPLY FOR JISC?There’s lots that we plan to do on this but as a start we’ve adopted some simple, practical steps that we hope will tempt more women to think about giving it a go. We’re overhauling the careers pages on our website, and being more mindful of the language we use in our adverts for example. We never advertise jobs as full time because lots of people, and particularly women, need flexibility. We’re certainly not slaves to the nine-to-five model. And we’re thinking again about where we recruit, and how to reach the widest possible pool of potential recruits.We’re moving increasingly towards smarter working, not longer working. The long hours culture tends to disadvantage women more than men. Still true, after all these years!And we’re reviewing our family leave policy to ensure that it meets more diverse needs. This will benefit both men and women because we’re focused on genuine equality. So we’re making sure that the policy is more flexible, allowing for the usual maternity and paternity leave and also adoption leave and shared parental leave. And when men opt to take this leave they’ll get the same contractual enhancements as women.ARE TALENTED WOMEN INTIMIDATED IN A MALE-DOMINATED WORKING ENVIRONMENT?It’s so hard to answer this question. I’m as sure as I can be that the men who work in our technical departments don’t intend to intimidate. Some women might sometimes feel at a disadvantage, it’s human nature when you’re in the minority. But what I can say with absolute certainty is that we’re working on making sure that Jisc is welcoming to women, listening to their voices, valuing their contribution and offering great opportunities for fulfilling work and ongoing career development.AND FROM ME TO YOU.‘Privilege is invisible to those who have it’. – Michael Kimmel, a professor at Stony Brook University in New York. For me this gets people to stop and think when they get stuck and don’t see it.Diversity is not about quotas, it is exciting. Gaining true representation creates more rounded, innovative, dynamic and impactful products, actions and solutions. That benefits everyone.At Jisc we’ve made a good start on changing things, at least in our own back yard. Thanks Simone & the team at Jisc, so excited to have you as our sponsors.#Womenrock

The first “Women Rock” event took place at the newly renamed DevOpsGroup in Cardiff last Thursday ( 21st June ’18) and despite Ed Sheeran pulling in 60,000 fans to a packed Principality stadium less than a mile away, the turnout was fantastic.There were plenty of thought provoking stories shared – challenges, successes and inspiration. Exactly why this event was created!I was a bit emotional when I arrived, stuck in the car from Bristol for 4 hours, arrived an hour late, ran from the car park arms full with banners and balloons and then smashed a glass of prosecco when introducing myself, GO ME! Really, the reason for the emotions was because I got to see what I have created and what was plain to see is people are extremely passionate about this ‘movement’ and excited to see how things develop. Mark Elias, IT Infrastructure Manager at Coastal Housing Group quoted    ‘The event was full of passion, purpose, fire, care, tenderness and awareness.’ It really was!We heard from Charlotte Bennett – Information Security, Product Development & Diversity at Admiral , Emma Hopkinson-Spark  – Delivery Director at 101 Ways, Kate Jones – Operations Director at The DevOps Group & Louise David – BD lead at Chwarae Teg. The theme of the evening was …… them. I didn’t want this to be another event where we speak and hear about diversity and the problems with the industry, we know there are issues, this evening was about all of us and the ladies successful careers. We also heard about what their respective organisations are doing to attract, promote and retain female talent which is pushing the boundaries and creating opportunities.We are looking forward to the next event in just a few months’ time, you won’t want to miss it. In the meantime we will be sharing the stories of many more inspirational women around the South West & Wales.Finally a special thanks to James Smith – Devops Group for stepping up and covering whilst I was re-routed around the countryside end of Newport…………. TWICE! and to the whole team at The DevOps Group for sponsoring and hosting the event.CONNECT, LEARN AND TAKE ACTION ON GENDER DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION.#womenrock