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To celebrate International Women's Day, we spoke to females from across the Xcede Group teams. We discussed their careers, challenges they have overcome to get to where they are today, and how they are working to #EmbraceEquality.
First up, is an interview with Group Systems Manager, Amy Vine.
What is your previous experience / has your career path looked like?
My Career only really started in 2010 when I joined (what is now) the Xcede Group as an Operations Manager. Dan Oakes & Adam Marsh entrusted me with more and more responsibility. This is where my flair for tech became apparent and nurtured. I must mention Kyloe Partners and (at the time) the two couples that owned the organisation. Both of the women owners had entirely different approaches and skill sets but were equally inspiring. I never felt that I was being treated any differently to my male peers and certainly not given any special treatment when I was travelling all over Europe at weird and wonderful times of the day and night seeing clients, which was entirely out of my comfort zone, but so very rewarding. I honestly don’t think it crossed their minds to treat me differently.
Name a woman that has inspired you?
I thought long and hard about this question and there is no one particular woman that has inspired me, as many have touched my life over the years. Seeing a woman on TV who has broken through the glass ceiling has always given me a fist-pump feeling; first female prime minister, first female speaker in the house of commons, first female first minister, to name but a few. I am also fortunate to have had inspiring women in my private life. My cousin,Sarah Beauvallet, was, and is, a trailblazer in the traditionally male dominated banking sector. My mum was a strong and self-confident woman, again, breaking boundaries in her work life but also inspiring me to work hard and just be the best I can at what I do.
What challenges have you faced along the way and what did you do to overcome them?
In all honesty I don’t feel I have faced many challenges, other than my own personal barriers. I have always had both female and male leaders that have acknowledged my strengths and encouraged me. I do feel that at the stage of the career I am at now, I look around for mentors and, being in tech, they are generally men who I don’t feel I could open up to about my weaknesses and how to improve on them. So, no real past challenges, but a current one.
What is the best piece of advice you would give to a younger you?
Probably the advice I still give myself now, hold your head high and believe in your knowledge and self. If someone gives you unconstructive negative feedback, it’s probably more an issue with them than it is with you.
How will you #EmbraceEquity for women’s equality today and beyond?
I will continue to do what I do now, be a mentor to women that pass through my life; to believe in themselves and develop their strengths. Also, encourage workplaces to be accommodating of family commitments: the school run, the doctors’ appointments, the sick child, both for working women and working men.
