Urban Synergy were at CTK Aquinas with 130 sixth form students aged 16-17 years to celebrate International Women’s Day. The theme this year is “Inspire, Aspire & Achieve” also “Inspire inclusion.”
Dianne Johnson from Urban Synergy interviewed Leila Thomas - CEO of Urban Synergy and Technology professional at London Stock Exchange Group where she talked about sometimes early in her career of being the only female and person of colour in the room and how she managed those situations.
Dianne also interviewed Sharon Blackman OBE - Managing Director and Global Head of Services at Citi. The students were interested in her background as a qualified Barrister and New York Attorney and also her career journey and aspirations. Sharon had a lot of great advice for the students including treating university like work and putting in a full day to get the best exam results i.e. 9-5.
Jacquline Alcindor - Global Diversity & Inclusion Programme Partner at Legal & General Investment Management was the final panellist and we asked her about her role and the important skill sets needed working in Diversity & Inclusion. She also talked about bringing your authentic self to work but at the same time for young students to remember that they are on the first rung of the ladder and it was important that you are also presentable for the work environment and respect other cultures and customs and also the importance of being nice to people.
There were lots of questions from the students to all of the panellists, including whether the subjects they were studying were transferable to other industries.
Thank you to Holly Power, Principal and Roschelle Shakes, Assistant Principal for hosting us, it was a great morning.