Well, good morning. Good evening. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Nancy and my pronouncer. She and I'm the founder of Limited, which provides coaching, consulting workshops and talks uh both for individuals, tech organizations and communities. I'm currently based in Brighton.

This is me sitting on a giant um deck chair in which is in the UK. And I've had adventures in tech for 30 years now uh with 15 years in Canada and France and I'm gonna dive into my talk. My contact details are there. I love connecting and today I'm making the case for bridging the inspiration gap and this is through the power of sharing our stories. So in this talk, I'm gonna share some highlights from my career as well as some research relating to gender diversity and equity. And I've got four core messages. I think you're meant to only have three. But anyway, I'm having four. I've thrown another one in there. So number one, I believe you have a superpower. Number two, if my story matters, then your story matters. Number three, the planet needs women in tech. And I think you've probably seen that from all the different presentations as well. And number four is your career in tech can go anywhere you want. So I'm just hoping that my story might inspire anyone listening in about what's possible for you and also inspire you to share your story if you've already had some adventures in tech. And I also believe that uh we all have this superpower of inspiring others and I've got one little story to share. That's kind of a recent story.

So about two months ago, uh a work colleague that I was um worked with about 25 years ago in Brighton, which is where I got my first job as a software engineer. Um And that's where I started my career in tech. And she had read a recent newsletter that I had around it centered around this talk that I'm doing, which is um we all have the power to inspire. And she said that really resonated with her. And she said to me, I could pinpoint the exact moment that she decided to get into tech. And it was when I shared my story about how I got into tech and I'm gonna share that with you now. Uh So basically I had um got a degree, I went to Brighton, I got a geography degree, but I felt quite lost after that degree. I didn't know where to take my career. And I decided to do a bit of research. And I found a course which was a master's in information systems. At this point, I'd never written a line of code. I didn't even have a computer back in the nineties. Uh, but I dove in. Loved it and I got a job in tech as soon as I, I graduated and I was, sat with, with, with, you know, my colleague and I was sharing this story and at the same time I was showing her the code that I was writing and she just looked and she went, oh, that's it.

Is it. And she just was really intrigued. And at that point, she decided to go into tech and now she's a senior software engineer and loves it. So one little story can just spark something in someone else. So I've got a, a quiz. Um I'm not using Zoom for this but um what percentage of people hide their successes from others? So just write down a number. So what percentage of people hide successes from others? And this is from a 2021 study, I'll give you a moment scribble a number. So the number is 82%. So that's a lot of people not sharing things that are going on for them. And this is hiding successes from loved ones, from colleagues from friends. And this is something that really resonated with me uh just in this last uh year and a half. So I've spent most of my career not only um hiding accomplishments but actively downplaying accomplishments. So if somebody asked me what I was doing. I would tend to say, oh, I just do this thing in tech when, in fact, after eight years after starting as a software engineer, I became a global director of an international company, but I didn't share that with anyone because I felt that um I would be showing off or, you know, bragging all that kind of stuff.

And I've been unpacking a little bit of that and in the last year and a half, um through being an iron remarkable facilitator which I will talk about. Um And there's a lot of gender modesty norms and my gender modesty norms has come from um my background, I was Irish Catholic. Um and there's a lot of cultural and familial norms that mean that modesty is something that is upheld as kind of a virtue and a value. So I had a big fear about bragging and showing off. However, I've read some research recently that was quite surprising and that is around the fact that um women tend not to share accomplishments become more invisible. And this kind of not coming out there means that there's not role models there for you to aspire to. And I wish that I could see someone from my background uh that looked like me that, that, that I could aspire to and I didn't really see those role models throughout my career. So it's time for me to stop hiding. So, and that's why I'm doing this talk. So there's some data. Um so the global gender gap and this is um the recent estimate from the United Nations in that it will take 300 years to cho close the global gender gap.

And that is shocking and that's made up of things like a an index that's made up of health, political empowerment, economic participation and education. The other stat is that's less than one third of, of women are tech professionals globally. And in artificial intelligence, only about one in five workers is a woman. And of course, there's a lot of discussion about A I at the moment and the way it's shaping our future. And there's a big fear of course about gender bias. So a recent study done by Stanford showed that 44% of A I displayed gender bias. So that's quite a shocking um number. And what about some other data around sort of uh uh venture capitalist funding for people starting companies? So, a recent study on Crunch base, which has a lot of the companies that are startups in there showed that only 2% of venture capitalist capital funding goes to female founders. And if you're not a big fan of uh can or if you haven't started using it, the wonderful Melanie Perkins who um got rejected by 100 VC has now got a $26 billion startup and it's ready to take on Microsoft and Google and can is a beautiful product. So there is a business case for, for having women in tech and in leadership. Of course, during this conference, there's oodles of data. I've been so impressed by all of the information in this conference and this is just one number.

So 50 53% better performance for companies versus companies without women directors. And this is a study done by catalyst which is an amazing organization. They've been doing um research since the sixties about uh gender diversity and equity. And so there's, there's lots of other stats, more innovation, more revenue, more inclusive cultures, there's, there's a lot out there. However, um there are a lot of systemic barriers that, that are getting the way and work against women and other underrepresented groups trying to get into tech and into leadership. So women are not a monolith. I am a white woman. I'm cisgender, I'm heterosexual, I'm neurotypical.

Um And my experience will be very different from another woman that has different identity characteristics. For example, women of color face much more um barriers than, than I would have done in my career. And so it's really important to really tune into that and be aware that it's not the same for everybody. Um So other systemic barriers, uh the motherhood penalty. So when mothers leave uh to have a child and come back to work, they will make less money after a child. Whereas a father will get a fatherhood bonus men tend to earn more money after they get a child. So um there's many systemic barriers around hiring policies, uh gender stereotypes in leadership. And I'm gonna talk about my experience with that as well. Racism um access to networks, access to resources and so on. So there, there's, there's a lot going on. But beyond the business case, equity is a moral issue. And this was really highlighted recently at the United Nation uh conference um uh around gender equity. And this is a statement from Antonio Guterres, which is the math is simple without the insights and creativity of half the world, science and technology will fulfill just half their potential. So, you know, a a really powerful statement.

So where are we, we've got less role models, less women in tech, we've got gender modesty norms, however, and, and this kind of leads us to this inspiration gap. However, I wanna, I wanna say one thing uh this inspiration gap doesn't, doesn't fill in the inspiration gap, doesn't fix the systems systems that are not designed for women. So I just want to make that clear. I'm not a big fan of us having to lean into a, to a broken system. So, um but there is an inspiration gap and there is something very powerful about us hearing each other's stories. So I'm gonna dive in now to a little bit of my story. So let me start at the beginning. Um So as I've mentioned earlier, I'm an Irish Catholic kid. Um I was born to immigrants who came to England in the sixties and um working class. So born in social housing and kids like me didn't go to university. So in my leaving year at school when I was 18, I was only one of two of people from my school that went to university from my year at school. So of 100 and 80 kids and my parents had really instilled in me the the importance of education as, as a way to unlock a better life. So um I just went after education, but I didn't really know what I was gonna do with that education.

I wanted financial security. I wanted to see the world. So I was kind of, I got my degree and I was floundering and as I mentioned, that's when I found uh the, the master's in information system and, and dove into that. So I immediately got a job um as a software engineer and within about two months of joining the company, um my boss at the time who was very inspirational to me had said to me, I think you are going to be a director of this company and he saw talent in me and he told me that and that's a really important lesson that I, you know, that, that you have the power to share with people when you actually see someone has talent.

Um I did a lot of the hiring um of my team in, in, in that, in that company. Um So I ended up hiring a lot of women. So it was quite unusual in that my early career in tech was 70% women engineers around me. Um I hired people that had talent that weren't necessarily technical or had coding backgrounds. And we, if we saw someone had talent, we would, we would we provide support to them to get them into a technical career. So I basically um what else do I wanna say here? Yes. So the other thing is I, I found that I spent a lot of time kind of masking my personality, like trying to fit in and be professional. And I think this, this picture uh really sort of uh tells the story for me. So kind of what we think we should be and who we can be. So I'm, I'm much more on the right hand side now, so Jenny, so fast forward. So I've been in so many different roles in tech and you don't have to stay in coding if coding is not your thing. And I, I moved out of coding because what I was really good at was communicating between the business and the technical community. So I spent a lot of time on product strategy on setting up user experience teams, uh rolling out agile ways of working. So change management and I ended up um being responsible for uh a whole suite of global products with having global teams.

I changed role every sort of 2 to 3 years. So I said yes to a lot of things. However, sometimes I said no, um I said no to some positions that I didn't feel I was ready for because I couldn't see other women in those roles. So I turned down vice president positions because I just thought that they, that they were mistaken in some way. I couldn't really do that job. Um I've traveled to almost every continent um or in fact, I've traveled to every continent, spent, spent a lot of time both writing code and presenting and um talking to, talking to the customers that were going to use the product that we were creating. And more recently, I've pivoted uh to do, do some more learning. So I got a masters in coaching, psychology and positive psychology and started a company a year and a half ago because there's always, there's always new things to do and new uh journeys to have. So my achievements are um people so empowering people that if I'm gonna say one thing in my career, I'm most proud of. It's empowering others. Um seeing the humanity in the people that you work with, mentoring people, seeing what peop other people teach you a lot about yourself.

Um creating awesome teams. The secret source of beautiful products is awesome teams. You can be as technical and you can have all these wonderful skills and have the best architect in the planet. If people can't talk to each other, you're not going to build a product that people want to use. So, uh the secret source is awesome teams. Um seeing people flourish. That's kind of what I'm really, really proud of. My adventures have been in making products. I've made many different products, some from the ground up, some I've had to retire and let them go. They become like a baby to you. You get very attached to sort of the products you create and also um adventures in ways of working. So I was a very early adopter of agile. Um And I've always been a big proponent of user experience back early early in my career. Mostly, uh we design the interfaces ourselves without really thinking about user experience. And um balance is a big something I'm really proud of.

So I'm proud of that because I took a sabbatical every five years. And what's really important to know if you're somebody that wants to also have breaks in your career is that you, it's never too late or too early to start building a network. So have a network so that you can, if you do want to take a career break, you could actually um uh do that and, and, and be able to get a job at the end of it. So I'm gonna move a little bit quicker. Some of the challenges, self doubt, trying to fit in establishing myself in a male working environment. Um I'm too strong, I'm too soft, I'm too compassionate. I'm not hard enough. All of these kind of things come into play as a female uh leader. So I've got a little letter letter to my younger self and I hope this is gonna help you. Number one, you're not alone, don't go it alone. Use mentors, get a coach, Um You know, nurture your network. Um There are this community, meet people, share your, share your details and, and support each other. Um You're not an impostor reframe impostor syndrome. There's an amazing article which says, stop, stop telling women they have impostor syndrome. The reason I felt I didn't belong is because nobody looked like me and the system wasn't designed for me. That's that, that's the fact of it.

So, so you're, you're, you're not an impostor and the way you feel is because of the system, um you can be what you can't see. That's a really important lesson. Sometimes you do need to be the first. So you know, take that brave step and use your network. You can be what others see. So if someone tells you, they see potential, listen, listen to them, you know, they, they, they're seeing something you can't see and you can be, yeah, you can have the career that you've always wanted. So what's your superpower? So remember my, my story at the start is um I believe you have a superpower to inspire others. The fact that you're at this conference, maybe you haven't started a career in tech that is inspiring that you're here and you're learning, tell others to come along that are thinking about getting into tech. So if my story matters, your story matters. And finally, um I run, I am, I, I am remarkable workshops and this is um if you, if you do the little QR Code there, you can find a workshop that I'm actually running tomorrow morning. I have a whole bunch of resources. So take a screen capture. This is communities you can join and also some resources. If you're somebody that's interested in presenting um an a conference like this or any kind of pre presentation, how to own the room is a great book. So take a screen capture. This is my team.

Uh You can find us and go on the website and this is how to um stay in contact with me. So the planet needs women in tech and in leadership and I really appreciate you listening. I haven't been monitoring the chat because I've been going blah, blah, blah. Um But if I can support you on your journey, please connect my network is your network and this is from the heart. So um I say goodbye to you all. I'm gonna have a, I think I've only got one minute to go. So I'm gonna have a quick look at the chat and um you can connect me on linkedin if you've got questions or you just want to connect. So take care everyone. Have a good day. Bye bye. Oh, thank you for the comments. I can see them. Lovely. Oh, thank you. I'm gonna disconnect because I've only got 20 minutes. So everyone.