WRC-Dropbox-October-01-2

a reality if you had the idea.
For us, we find it liberating to allow the girls to explore
when we give them tasks, it’s always done to a theme,
so that is how we explore with young women, even if
they are not interested in STEM.
Q: We're currently seeing an explosion in the ability
for people to collaborate. This is due to many factors,
but amongst them is a new generation mobile
devices, apps, cloud-based applications, and the
increasing availability of inexpensive internet access.
As someone who is focused on ensuring females will
be at the forefront of tech's evolution, how do you see
this trend impacting the young women you work with?
Anne-Marie: In terms of the increase in being able to
collaborate across different places, what we are seeing
is that it is allowing people from different places to
work together.
But also for the young women, it’s
meaning that when they start
working there is going to be a
better environment, an
environment that’s more likely
to be empowering for them
and allow them to flourish.
Because it’s using more of
an altruistic, more
collaborative side to get
things done in a way that
allows them to be more
successful than people that
do not take advantage of that
collaboration - of that
teamwork - and of using those
devices and of that community
building effectively to make
things happen, to make change
and to grow whatever it is that
they are doing or building.
You are seeing this a lot with this generation. Young
women are doing very well in a space that is
completely new where you are seeing that less from the
kind of traditional groups who are used to hierarchies
and closed types of working.
Q: Anne-Marie, for 14 and 15-year old STEMettes,
what does the tech sector look like for them in 2028?
Anne-Marie: My hope is that by 2028 those 14 and
15-year-olds will have more routes than ever, not only
to access tech, but to be drivers and creators in tech.
Also, there will have been a whole generation of digital
natives and they will be able to think through and even
anticipate more of the unintended consequences of our
relationships with tech than the current generations
have been able to.
There is a lot of chat about ethics, there is a lot of chat
about how the workplace is changing and I think by
then we are looking at more home and life and how we
interact with each other.
So thinking about 14 and 15-year-olds it won’t be
purely about profit.
It’s not that money will ever stop talking, but there will
be other facets alongside money that talk, which
means if we’re discussing privacy, security and
well-being, all of that will be baked into either
technologies that are taking off, or companies that are
doing well.
As referenced above, Anne-Marie is one Oxford University’s
youngest graduates. After a career in finance she turned her
attention full-time to the STEMettes, a lauded and
award-winning social enterprise. You can keep up with
Anne-Marie on Twitter and the STEMettes website.
Anne-Marie Imafidon,
founder and CEO of
STEMettes.org, speaking at
the CYBERUK 2018 security
conference in Manchester,
England.
FLOW OCTOBER 2018
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