Womxn in Cyber’s latest Inspirational Womxn event

At Womxn in Cyber, we are always looking for opportunities to uplift and celebrate the many success stories of our colleagues within the business and beyond. This year, we launched our ‘Inspirational Womxn’ series in the run up to International Women's Day to do exactly that. We ran a number of events to shine a light on our inspirational colleagues, be that via nominations for the ‘Inspiring Womxn Awards’ or by collaborating with the Gender Balance Network on the ‘Lessons to my 20 year old self’ event.

On 23 February, we hosted the latest installment of this series, with over 100 colleagues in attendance for the livestream. Our panel comprised of both PwC UK and external colleagues who excel in their field. The speakers came from a diverse range of backgrounds, including careers within financial services, work surrounding the behavioural motivations of cyber crime, cyber security transformation and consultancy services, as well as a technology innovation lead responsible for informing board decisions when investing in technology.

The panelists each reflected on their journey, from stories about Ibiza’s sunny shores to the challenge of imposter syndrome when starting a new position. One speaker gave an example of a career coach who attempted to dissuade her from pursuing a more hands-on technology career. She decided to ignore this advice and proceeded to develop a successful career in tech. Having the skill to take ownership of your own journey and discern whether a piece of feedback rings true stood out as an important lesson from the session.

The discussion concluded with an emphasis on the need for women to lift other women up. Whether this is through the creation of mutual mentoring opportunities or the development of new networks or forums to share stories and ideas, the collective aim to cultivate more female role models within the world of cyber and technology is a powerful motivation and something to be strived for.

In line with this goal, we have updated our name in reflection of our aim to welcome all individuals, including anyone identifying as a woman. We began this initiative with a goal of promoting and celebrating women within our industry and achieving gender equality. Embedding inclusivity in everything we do is a key part of achieving that goal. 2020 has shown us that only by coming together can we tackle some of the most complex challenges our society is facing.

If you would like to find out more about the next event in our Inspirational Womxn series, or get involved with the broader Womxn in Cyber group, please contact us.