"A weekend extravaganza for girls to learn about the ins and outs of starting their own business without technical boundaries. We are all about the future CEOs and making sure that girls are supported and have the skills to reach their full potential."
This was the first event of its kind I had been to, and man (pun intended), I did not regret it. Part of Leeds Digital Festival, hosted and organised (in just SIX weeks) by the wonderful Ivana, the event was a roaring success. We had a plethora of inspirational women talk to us about their tech journeys, we were taught the basics of HTML5 by some wonderful students from the University of Leeds, attended workshops on testing & had the pleasure of visiting the Lumen exhibition. We were also asked, in small groups, to generate, develop and present on a tech related business idea.
With such a nurturing and supportive environment, there was no doubt that all attendees would achieve something phenomenal. I myself am quite nervous when it comes to public speaking, but in the space of just two days I had to challenge that fear numerous times. Subsequently I got some awesome feedback from some very successful people. All judgments and preconceived notions were put aside as soon as we entered the building, and this really allowed for friendships to blossom, lessons to be learnt and skills to be developed.
The networking opportunities were one-of-a-kind, especially for a techy newbie like myself! I’d like to thank Claudia Wootten and Natasha Sayce-Zelem for taking the time out of their extremely busy schedules to give me invaluable advice, and for offering me the opportunity to expand my network further.
Thank you to all the wonderful speakers, attendees and organisers - I feel so motivated and inspired to progress in the industry.