Next Tech Girls

Check out the video recap of our second annual festival, #NextTechFest2024 which took place in London last month. It was an amazing day filled with panel conversations, networking opportunities, mentoring sessions, tech and career growth workshops and a strong sense of connection among our community 💜 Be sure to follow us on our social media platforms and sign up for our newsletter to get exclusive access to early announcements of our events, workshops, speaker details, and much more!! https://lnkd.in/e8naAkKM Thank you NatWest Group team for hosting! Thanks again to our sponsors Digitas UK, Empiric, Publicis Media, Sky, Renault Group, Mobilize Financial Services - UK, Makers, Triad Group Plc, Holiday Extras, Saragossa and Day One | helping you hire better. And thank you to Whering, Just Like Me & MIXD Reality, DataFit, Ignota Labs and University of Greenwich for your support! Let’s #SmashTheStereotype #WomenInTech #NextTechGirls #NextTechFest2024

We can't believe Next Tech Fest was over a week ago already – and what a success! 🎉 We're thrilled to see the incredible growth of our community since last year. We've published a full recap on our blog, showcasing the amazing impact this event is making. 🔗 Read the full blog post here: https://lnkd.in/gSm25aBe Here's a sneak peek at the highlights! 💜 📈 Next Tech Fest in Numbers  200% attendee growth year on year! 30 mentors from 20 leading tech companies 8 workshops, 2 panels, and 2 speed mentoring sessions 100% of attendees left feeling inspired! 🔑 Don't miss our 5 key takeaways for launching your tech career, straight from industry experts A huge thank you to all our sponsors, speakers, and the amazing NatWest Group for making the event possible. Do you want to join our community of changemakers? The wheels are already in motion for Next Tech Fest 2025! Learn how you can sponsor the event, inspire as a role model, or share your expertise as a speaker, contact Gayle Thompson-Igwebike. Together, let’s smash the stereotype for women in tech 💥 #NextTechFest2024 #TechGirls #STEM #SmashTheStereotype #WomenInTech

👏WE👏LOVE👏TO👏SEE👏IT👏 If there was one thing that left me totally awe-struck at #NextTechFest2024 last week, it was getting to chat with a cohort of enthusiastic, driven girls during the speed-mentoring sessions. It makes me VERY excited for the future of technology to meet so many young women currently studying Computer Science at GCSE and A-level and planning to pursue it at university too 👩💻 The future looks so bright! 🌟 Shout out to Next Tech Girls for offering so many opportunities for young women to explore a future career in tech and #SmashTheStereotype 💪 BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT article: https://lnkd.in/euqUdSJ8 #WomenInTechnology

Here’s me speaking on emergent tech at #NextTechFest2024 last week 🤓 A buzzing experience to see hundreds of girls and women from diverse backgrounds and experiences come together, all passionate about tech! I’m left so inspired by girls I met. One of them is about to start an undergrad in artificial intelligence, another is switching from medicine to tech, and some are just getting their GCSEs but already know their career paths. I’m super impressed by their intellect, their keenness and clear vision for their future. This is why Next Tech Fest is so vital—not just for the tech industry, but for all young women. Each time I attend, I feel a bit wistful about not having this when I was at school. It genuinely makes such a difference - seeing the diverse career paths in tech (and in my case, a very creative one, which I never realised was a thing in my teens), experiencing coding for the first time in Minecraft(!), listening to panels from leading women in tech, and being surrounded by girls who share the same excitement. A day like this is genuinely changing perceptions of women in tech and setting girls on their paths with confidence. 👩🏻💻💥 Thank you so much for having me again Emily Hall-Strutt and Gayle Thompson-Igwebike. This year is a massive success with our #Natwest venue filled to the brims - can't wait to see what next year holds for Next Tech Girls! And a big shoutout to the Digitas dream team Gemma Daly and Jessica Priest Sarah Hackett 🦄 ✨

Forget Taylor Swift, Summer 2024 was all about Next Tech Girls Next Tech Fest! ✨ It's taken me a week to recover and collect my thoughts. What a day 🤯 I'm in awe of how much the community has grown since our first Next Tech Fest last summer - from around 100 attendees to over 300 with a waiting list! Safe to say we're going to need an even bigger venue next year...😅 Seeing it all come together and feeling the buzz of hundreds of girls and women connecting, making new friends and learning new skills made all the late nights planning and organising it during my maternity leave worth it. I especially loved the panel discussions (which I wish could have lasted longer), catching up with girls and women I'd met at previous NTG events, and meeting new ones! 💜 The event would not have been the huge success it was without the hard work and passion of Gayle Thompson-Igwebike, who was absolutely in her element as host/MC for the day (check out our latest video on Instagram or TikTok for some clips of her hyping up the crowd) 👏 We are so grateful for the support of our hosts NatWest Group, especially Wincie Wong, Danielle Padfield, Cally Smith, Zenab Ishani and all the NatWest volunteers on the day. Then there's the rest of team NTG, all the sponsors, speakers, coordinators and mentors - too many to name! - you know who you are and we are so thankful for you lending your time and expertise to our community 🙏 I have to give special mention to my little ally Henry, who came along to the event with me. He sat on my lap while I moderated two panels and delighted in being passed around for cuddles with various doting community members! Trying to feed him on stage was an awkward yet empowering experience and one I won't forget any time soon 🤱 Whenever I spend time with the NTG community I am left so inspired and with such hope for the future - not just of the tech industry. These young women are driven, intelligent, creative and kind. I am proud to play a small part in their career journeys and can't wait to see what they all achieve 🤩 Bring on Next Tech Fest 2025!! 💪 #NextTechFest2024 #CommunityBuilding #DiversityInTech #WomenInTech #NextGeneration

Better late than never they say, First time at the Next Tech Fest hosted by NatWest and Next Tech Girls and I would say, I absolutely enjoyed every bits of it, I’ve never been more proud of that brave decision I took as a 17 year old immigrant to drop my lifelong dream(or so I thought) of becoming a medical doctor to pursue tech. It felt surreal being in the same room with so many well accomplished female leaders in the tech industry as well as other girls who are aspiring like me. The day started with a Pathways to Tech session, featuring four remarkable women who shared their journeys in tech. From cloud engineers to software engineers and technical engineers, their stories definitely left me inspired and motivated. I also took part in the Budget Like a Boss interactive workshop organised by Sheena Hales BEM (she/her) and it was really worthwhile, managing my finances has never been more easier, juggling part time work with full time school, I struggle to keep track of my spending and earning but that’s definitely changing after this workshop. And of course, we had a deep dive into emerging technologies,exploring virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality. I was really impressed by what you could do with Artificial Intelligence, I mean, I did know you could do wonders with it, but it really is amazing and mind blowing. Last but not the least, a speed mentoring session crowned the day, I had the pleasure of connecting with three amazing women from different parts of the industry . Thank you so much Gayle Thompson-Igwebike and Emily Hall-Strutt for organising this, the women that you are!!!!! Queeens!! It was really nice meeting you again Gayle!!! SMASH THE STEREOTYPE!!!!

On August 21st, I had the incredible opportunity to attend the #NextTechFest24 hosted by the Next Tech Girls. It was a fantastic and amazing opportunity to connect with women and girls in tech and learn about their experiences in the Tech field. 🌟👩💻 My first session started at 11a.m. with the "Pathways to Tech" panel session, where Jennifer Okoh, Rosie Waite, Libbie Martin and Kam O'Donnell shared their inspiring experiences and stories of how they entered the tech industry. They discussed various routes, including apprenticeships, degrees, career switching, and bootcamps, which gave me valuable insights into the many different pathways that lead to a successful tech career. 🚀💼 The next session at 12 p.m. was hosted by NatWest Group and was a Minecraft pair programming session. During the session, we paired up with another participant to code a Minecraft character to move around to do certain tasks using Python. This approach was quite different from how I usually code as an A-Level student, making it an engaging experience. The team from NatWest Group was incredibly kind and provided great support whenever issues in the code came up. A big thank you to NatWest Group for organizing this event! 💻 The next event at 2p.m. was a speed mentoring session where I was able to talk to four mentors: Zoe Bello, Kiera Mears, Kasia D. , Kelsey Robb. We discussed about individual experiences at their jobs and it was lovely to chat and get to know each mentor a bit. One mentor also mentioned that she was in the interviewing process at Google and shared what made candidates stand out to her. Another mentor shared some great advice on interviews and applications, and emphasized how important it was to research a company thoroughly and ask insightful questions to stand out! 🤝🌟 The event concluded with attending the "You are enough" workshop run by Day One | helping you hire better which introduced us to key skills needed for interviews, common interview questions and again how to stand out among other candidates. 💡 A big thanks to Gayle Thompson-Igwebike for bringing such a great energy to the event, and to Emily Hall-Strutt for being an amazing host at the Pathways to Tech panel! Overall the event was amazing and it was also a wonderful opportunity to connect with more people who share similar interests!! 🤗 #computerscience

What a time it is to be a woman in tech. 200 young women from diverse background ready to kick start their careers in tech attended the #NextTechFest2024 event organized by Next Tech Girls. The energy they brought, was positively contagious. I had the privilege of mentoring 13 incredible young women at the speed mentoring sessions. These future women tech leaders truly inspired me with their energy, determination, and well-prepared questions. One of them is obsessed with planes and wants to be an aeronautics engineer. Another one me blew away with her ambition. While she's considering a path in robotics engineering, she’s also deeply focused on the diversity, bias, and ethical aspects of the field. It's impressive to see someone so young thinking about these crucial issues from the very start of her journey. She asked for advice on side projects she could tackle to kickstart her journey 😮 when I was in year 13, I wasn’t even thinking about anything that ambitious! It was rewarding to share my own journey as a career switcher from HR to product manager in tech building digital health products, hoping to support them in shaping their own paths in this exciting field. I also had the pleasure of meeting two amazing founders, and hearing about their founder journeys. Layla Hosseini-Gerami of Ignota Labs is using explainable AI to revolutionise drug discovery and safety. Pamela Aculey of Just Like Me & MIXD Reality’s interactive picture books, powered by Augmented Reality Technology( AR) to make stories more inclusive for neurodivergent children is truly remarkable. I was thrilled by the demo. A personal highlight for me was meeting Emily Hall-Strutt’s adorable baby! absolutely obsessed 😍 Let’s continue to #smashthestereotype because Initiatives like this are making a real impact by getting more girls involved in tech. Huge congratulations to Gayle Thompson-Igwebike, the NTG team, #NTGRoleModels, speakers and other mentors for such an EPIC event. 👏 #StemCareers #TechCareers #WomeninTechnology #CareerMentor

A time was had! 🙌🏾 💥 I don't know about you, but sometimes I need a real social boost and in-person injection of inspiration after endless months of remote working… Well, one thing I know for sure is that my social bucket will be filled with any Next Tech Girls event that I attend - and #NextTechFest24 did not disappoint! Next Tech Girls crafted a day of interactivity, inspiration and conversation amongst women in tech, women looking to enter tech and super engaged students looking to explore careers in tech. The venue was electric! ⚡ Huge congratulation to the Next Tech Girls team on your second #NextTechFest24 - the growth of attendance and event agenda was amazing. Emily Hall-Strutt & Gayle Thompson-Igwebike you’re truly building a community that matters 💜 There’s room for everyone #smashthestereotype! #womenintechnology #nexttechgirls2024 #techgirls #STEM

Yesterday I was given the opportunity to be part of a panel alongside some amazing women discussing the different routes available to girls wanting to pursue a career in tech at #nexttechfest hosted by Next Tech Girls. I was able to talk about my journey as a software development apprentice at Holiday Extras, why I chose to pursue a career in tech and my experience as both an apprentice and an engineer. Public speaking is not something that comes naturally to me but since making the jump into software engineering I’ve been aiming to spend as much time as possible outside of my comfort zone to enable lots of growth and learning. I went along with the hopes of encouraging and hopefully inspiring the next generation of women in tech but I wasn’t expecting to come away feeling so inspired myself! To see so many young girls taking time out of their summer to attend talks and workshops was amazing! When speaking to some of them it was incredible how motivated and dedicated they already are to their future careers and it made me excited for a more female future in tech 😊. Thanks to the wonderful Gayle Thompson-Igwebike and Emily Hall-Strutt for both putting on this fab event and also for creating such a fantastic community.