A few weeks ago, when I joined the Women in Power network, I shared that one of my goals was to step back into FinTech and continue growing my career towards Head of Engineering. The encouragement, advice, and confidence from this community gave me the push I needed to stop waiting for the “perfect time” and start taking action. I’ve now taken that first step and started exploring leadership opportunities in FinTech. Whether this particular opportunity works out or not, I’m glad I’ve moved from thinking about it to doing something about it. Thank you to everyone who encouraged me to back myself. Sometimes the hardest part isn’t the interview, it’s having the confidence to put yourself forward in the first place. Here’s to taking the first step. 🚀

What a fantastic session with Aimee! Those who joined us, what did you enjoy most? Here's the link: https://www.skool.com/women-in-tech-power-network/classroom/f8cdf7b3?md=3084e751724c460bb38989b6cc71790b Please do share you thoughts ❤️ Who else would you like me to invite? I need to get in touch with Mike Wooldridge (Oxford AI Professor and now FRS!!) again to get a date in the diary for him to speak to us, so I'll do that now. Happy Monday and Greetings from Juan Les Pins! Lots of love Sue xxx

I really enjoyed this news piece - not surprised by Grok results, which made me laugh out loud as well as cry. However, Claude made me think as well - a peaceful homogeneous society? I would crave diversity! What do you think? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDgRa74DpJE

I'm just doing my pre-work for this evening's session of the Carruthers & Jackson CDO summer school, which a guy called Scott Taylor will be leading. It included watching a fun video of The Data Puppets, and who did I see in the credits but our very own @Susan Walsh! Susan, you're just *everywhere*! It's fun, worth a watch everyone!

I thought I'd share something I've been involved with this week as it's a little out of the ordinary run of things. I work in local government- it's a bit like going to a hypermarket where you can get everything from a loaf of bread to the kitchen sink. The range of services we deliver is really diverse and the supporting services (or corporate enablers as they're now known) equally so 🛒 We have a Governance Directorate which covers Legal, Audit, H&S etc but also our Democratic Service. This area manages the democratic process and supports our elected local councillors in their roles, along with the committee process - meetings and statutory responsibilities etc 📕 Part of that is to manage the Local elections every 4 years and by elections if someone in one of the Wards in the borough resigns their seat or passes away. This week I worked on a by election. Each polling station has a Presiding Officer to manage the station and Poll Clerks who check people are eligible to vote and that they have ID before handing the ballot paper over. I've been a Presiding Officer many times now. It's a long old day - 6.15am to prep, open at 7am, close the voting at 10pm and then take the ballot box to the count centre. Some people then carry on and work on the count - I've only ever done that once, it's exhausting! 🗳 It's an interesting experience as you get to help lots of different people cast their vote and see the various candidates who are keen to keep up with the numbers through the day. It's also fascinating to see the data that comes out - obviously which party won is important but then looking at the margin of the win, who came second and third, did a party split the vote, what was the turnout... etc etc 📉📊📈 We obviously have to stay politically neutral and support the process, to make sure everyone is allowed to exercise their democratic right to vote. Some elections have a low turnout which makes the day very long, but this one achieved just over 40% (including postal votes) so the day flew by. The recent polarisation of politics seems to be driving an increase in participation, which has to be a good thing. It's always great to see young people coming in to vote for the first time and I also always think about the sacrifices made by the Suffragettes for women to have the right to vote - that always keeps me going through a very long day! 💜