“Never listen to someone who tells you that you’re too much.”

If there’s one thing Chloe Coleman, CEO of Vouchsafe, has learned, it’s that being bold, curious, and unapologetically yourself is the secret to success.

Starting her career in journalism before pivoting to tech, Chloe’s journey took her from building websites to landing a spot in the Civil Service Digital, Data & Tech Fast Stream. It was there—working on Universal Credit—that she saw a problem she couldn’t ignore. The hiring process needed a fix. So, she built Vouchsafe to ensure talent is judged on skills, not biases.

With ADHD shaping both her strengths and challenges, Chloe is passionate about creating a workplace where neurodiverse thinkers thrive, where different backgrounds are celebrated, and where trying something out of the ordinary is the norm.

Oh, and when she’s not leading a game-changing company? You might find her knitting. Because why not?

Hey Chloe, thanks for sharing your experience with Women Rock! Can you tell us about your background and why you started Vouchsafe?

It’s been a weird, wiggly line of a career, but absolutely.

At first, I trained to be a journalist. I had grand notions of delivering something of importance and purpose to the public. To defend rights and expose evils. Turns out, working in the national press often…does not feel like that…at all. I thought I’d be wielding the most impactful of weapons; the written word. The day I interviewed Jilly Cooper, I had a realisation that would take longer than I thought. (No disrespect to JC tho, legend).

So, after a year building and maintaining a website for an accountancy firm in Sheffield, I applied for the Civil Service Digital, Data & Tech Fast Stream, and surprised myself by getting a place.

In those 3 years, I fell in love with user research and public service delivery. I then worked at DWP on Universal Credit for a few years, and every day was important. And, it’s where I first saw the problem that we built Vouchsafe to fix.

People needed access to a service they deserved. That they needed. That they were entitled to. But they couldn’t prove who they were because passports and driving licences are hard to get and expensive. Work coaches working in Job Centres did everything they could, but sometimes, it wasn’t enough.

After running a small consultancy for a while, my co-founder Jaye and I decided to rearrange our company around solving this problem.

What observations on ED&I have you made throughout your career in the civil service, contracting, and starting Vouchsafe?

I worked in the Civil Service through a really culturally interesting time. In one of my first roles on the Fast Stream, I was tasked with arranging an internal conference for International Women’s Day. One man who attended said that “a woman who breastfed at the back of the room was a bit too much feminism”, but that kind of overt sexism was rare in my experience, but I’m sure it went on.

I was there when George Floyd was murdered, and in the wake of his death, colleagues recounted the racism they had experienced.

I also found the way that the Civil Service recruits fascinating - when I was going through applications, we wouldn’t see your name or background or gender. It meant we judged your experience with fewer implicit biases.

This is something we’ve tried to bring into Vouchsafe, and I’m so proud we do. We aren’t perfect. But at the point we realised we accidentally had no men on the payroll, I did feel quite proud.

We also try to do small things that make a big impact. I have ADHD, so I wanted to make sure we had a neurodiverse-friendly environment. You make a company work for neurodiverse people, it will work for neurotypical people. We have places to relax, everyone gets noise-cancelling headphones, and flexible working practices.

Throughout your career, you have undoubtedly encountered some inspiring people, who are they, and what made them so?

I will accidentally miss people out, because there have been so many, and for that, I am sorry.

There were several managers I had in the Civil Service, and to name them all - Sara Balabanoff, Paddy Salter, Elli Panagopulous & Adrian Woodcock. Each person taught me what it looked like to be a brilliant leader, each in a different way. Never met people with more patience than those dealing with a 22-26 year old, newly ADHD-diagnosed Chloe Coleman.

In the start up world now, there are too many to count.

Solomia Boretska makes me cry every time she talks about her start-up, Lendocare. No one pitches like her, because she knows and cares about the social impact of her company in her very soul.

Candice Hampson coached me to enable me to make hard decisions and (try to) communicate them with strength and empathy.

Nat Whalley was the first person I went to with the most basic startup-land questions, and is so brilliant and helpful with her advice that I’m not sure she’ll ever get rid of me (sorry!)

Can you tell us how having ADHD has impacted your career - the good and the bad?

The bad is what you’d expect. My concentration levels are weird, my prioritisation sucks, and my emotional dysregulation means that sometimes I am on a rollercoaster.

The good things though? I like to think my ADHD makes me more empathetic, or at least have a deeper emotional understanding of people and situations. Which I hope makes me a good leader (but you’ll have to ask people who aren’t me about that).

It also makes me a total, all-consuming nerd. And, beyond just being useful for a pub quiz, it’s pretty darn helpful when you’re co-running a start up in a pretty nerdy area.

What advice would you give a younger Chloe Coleman?

Pick your battles. Never listen to someone who tells you that you’re “too much”. Don’t try stand up. Drink less coffee. Somehow patent your Facebook page called “Overheard in Waitrose”.

As Vouchsafe grows, can you tell us more about your team and what you look for in a modern workforce within Tech?

I look for people who can explain complicated concepts with patience and kindness. If someone asks you a question and you roll your eyes and condescend, then you’re not gonna fit in with this team.

We look for people who aren’t afraid to try something out of the ordinary, or doing it in a different way. This means we end up with a brilliant, diverse team, from different backgrounds and with rich experience.

What do you do outside of work?

Knit, mostly. (I mean, I do that at work as well)

My favourite vibe is listening to fraud themed true crime podcasts while I knit. Nothing like hearing about a romance scam while you’re doing a purl row on a cardigan for your sister’s baby.

But creativity is really important, and I can’t find anything that scratches a self-confidence itch like someone going “oh my gosh, I love your jumper” and getting to go “thaaaaanks, I made it!”.

How did ChatGPT roast you?

You're running a seven-person startup, yet your to-do list looks like it belongs to a Fortune 500 CEO with a caffeine problem.

Oh, and LinkedIn posts about ADHD? Bold move roasting yourself on neurodiversity while crafting the world's most ADHD-unfriendly list of tasks. Your brain must be running on a mix of adrenaline and sheer chaos.

What is your favourite song for our Women Rock playlist?

Lose Yourself - Eminem.

Back in 2004, my Dad, a 31 year-old electrician, made the crazy decision to start his own business.

I remember him playing Lose Yourself in the car to fire himself up before going to his first jobs. Now, he plays it in the car to fire himself up before his board meetings. We tried to rap the whole thing together about 4 minutes before I walked down the aisle at my wedding.

It never fails to make me feel invincible.

What book would you recommend for our Women Rock bookshelf?

OKAY - it’s a chunky one - The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro. It’s a biography of Robert Moses. He was never an elected official, but he was a civil servant in New York. He cut through a hell of a lot of red tape and created parks, highways, swimming pools etc. But, he was also racist and hugely problematic. His grandmother didn’t care what anyone thought of her. I’ve bastardised Caro’s amazing journalism with this 4 sentence review. It’s over 1000 pages. There’s a brilliant podcast series on it by 99% Invisible! I recommend that over a 1000 page book!

What is your favourite quote?

"Though she be but little, she is fierce!”, said by Helena about Hermia in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Interviewed by Tom Longdon