We’re delighted to share this guest feature by Zahraa Murtaza of GFT. Zahraa was a panellist at Digital Her Day, and she’s written the following article about her experiences of the day. Thanks Zahraa!
Digital Her Day 2024: A Panellist’s View
by Zahraa Murtaza
Thursday 8th February marked the fourth day of the Manchester Digital Skills Festival – Digital Her Day.
The day consisted of keynote speeches, panel discussions and interactive workshops – with a whopping 240 tickets – sold out!
The event started at 1.15pm with a much-needed Warm Welcome from Digital Her on a snowy Manchester afternoon.
The event was hosted by Digital Her and sponsored by Booking.com and GlobalLogic UK&I.
The first session was headlined ‘Rewriting the Code: Challenging the Conversation in Women’s Tech Journeys’, hosted by the inspiring Morna McAuley.
Key Takeaways
- What a ‘quiet’ revolution is and how it can make a loud impact
- Questioning gender norms really is the catalyst for triumph and transformation
- Inspired us to learn and unlearn to pave the way for a more inclusive and innovative technology industry
We then heard from a fellow Digital Her member and role model Mino Rakotolehibe, giving a very inspiring Lighting Talk. Titled ‘Lighting Talk from a Digital Her community Member’
Key Takeaways
- How to inspire the next generation by fostering a culture of inclusivity and support
- To be a true and impactful leader you need to be inclusive and an ally to those you manage as well as those you inspire
- Lead by example
- To cultivate an inclusive culture, you need to actively support and be advocate for one another, and foster a sense of belonging by breaking down barriers
- We need to collaborate with a diverse perspective of individuals in order to achieve shared goals and drive a positive change together.
What a prequel to the Digital Her Breakfast talks on International Women’s Day (8th March 2024)! Mino was a great advocate for why mentors are important and the amazing work being done by Digital Her and the Digital Her mentors.
Before the coffee break, we had an interactive workshop – Looking Back to Look Forward conducted by Caroline Atherton from Auto Trader
Key Takeaways
- How we should capture the achievements we’ve made especially within the last 12 months
- Use our achievements as stepping stones to further drive our growth for the future!
- Create actions through our achievements to further grow ourselves
I was invited to participate on a panel discussing Allyship Amongst Women in Tech and Why It’s Important, moderated by Paige Dawson. I sat alongside Monalisa Mathur, Lisa Matthews and Jenni Foster.
They key questions asked were:
- What do you think allyship means and why is it important to you?
- What are some less than ideal examples of allyship that you have experienced, and how would you suggest they improve?
- What are some good examples of allyship you have experienced?
- What barriers have you experienced when it comes to allyship? This could be a barrier to you being an ally to others, or a barrier you have noticed others struggling with.
- A ‘lightbulb moment’ is the moment where we switch on to an idea or an ethos, which has often been building for a while. What was your lightbulb moment when it comes to the importance of allyship?
- If there was one takeaway that you could offer to the audience regarding allyship, what would it be?
Key Takeaways
- Allyship means different things to different individuals, but the main theme is being heard and listened to, as well as not being prejudged
- Allyship is key in unlocking individuals’ strengths and making them a better and more capable employee
- Females aren’t the only people who need allies as we never know what someone is going through
- We need to ensure everyone is brought along with us on the journey and we can’t segregate anyone, including our male allies
- Be open to others’ experiences and backgrounds
- No one is perfect and we’re all still learning about each other
- We need to speak up if we feel we’re being marginalised for something we can’t change about ourselves
- It’s not an individual’s fault for feeling they’ve not been a good ally – if they’ve never experienced other cultures and individuals before, how are they meant to know?
The audience members had asked ‘how can we bring our male allies with us next time rather than speak to a group of women about women? I mentioned how, at GFT our focus group is not just Women at GFT, we’re Women at GFT and our allies. We need to stop being afraid when we hear the words ‘females in tech’ that this is only exclusive to females – we need to avoid going backwards in our DE&IB journey by segregating males and females. We need to be open to everyone and bring everyone along this learning journey. No one has the right answer.
Once the panel had concluded, we split up into two interactive sessions:
Revolutionising how we look at careers. Helping you own & plan your story hosted by the fabulous Olivia Logan and Lucy Dutton
and
Early Tech Careers Breakout Group – Meet the Role Models with GlobalLogic conducted by true role models
Galina Ostroumova
Valarie Le Clerc
Monalisa Mathur
Paige Dawson
I had the chance to participate in the session covered by Booking.com around revolutionising how we look at careers.
Key Takeaways
- Don’t rush your goals
- Think strategically about what you can achieve in small steps
- Never forget to reflect back on all the skills you have
- Use a SWOT analysis on yourself to figure out your internal strengths and weaknesses and any external opportunities and threats you could face.
After a fabulous event, we finally wrapped up the day with Emma Grant giving us some key takeaways from the amazing sessions.
Can’t wait for the next Digital Her event on International Women’s Day – Digital Her Inspirational Breakfast: International Women’s Day 2024 Edition on the theme of Inspire Inclusion.
