Introduction to a ‘non-techies’ journey into tech

I’ve finally decided to pick up one of my past passions, writing, (although not a “writer, writer”) and share my journey into being a ‘Woman in Tech’. A space, like many corporate spaces, traditionally dominated by men, without overlaying other diverse identifiers such as race, religion and sexual orientation. Before I start sharing exactly what I do in my tech role in the UK’s largest retail conglomerate — including one of the nation’s favourite food, general merchandise, clothing, furniture and banking businesses and on the start-up scene, I wanted to retrace my steps beforehand in this blog.

I am a strategy and innovation professional and have been in this field for the past 8 years and counting. After finishing law school, I started my career in strategy consulting, I worked with FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies across all industries on the c-suite’s strategic roadmap, equipping their teams with SME (subject matter expert) best practice. This is when I learnt how to diagnose client problems, come up with viable and tailored solutions and curate a great deck (PowerPoint presentation). After a stint at a Big Four management consultancy firm which was invaluable, I decided I wanted to move in-house so I could truly lead strategy programmes from inception to delivery and thereafter, and also not live out of my suitcase and rely on hotel or restaurant food…