The first “Women Rock” event took place at the newly renamed DevOpsGroup in Cardiff last Thursday ( 21st June ’18) and despite Ed Sheeran pulling in 60,000 fans to a packed Principality stadium less than a mile away, the turnout was fantastic.

There were plenty of thought provoking stories shared – challenges, successes and inspiration. Exactly why this event was created!

I was a bit emotional when I arrived, stuck in the car from Bristol for 4 hours, arrived an hour late, ran from the car park arms full with banners and balloons and then smashed a glass of prosecco when introducing myself, GO ME! Really, the reason for the emotions was because I got to see what I have created and what was plain to see is people are extremely passionate about this ‘movement’ and excited to see how things develop. Mark Elias, IT Infrastructure Manager at Coastal Housing Group quoted    ‘The event was full of passion, purpose, fire, care, tenderness and awareness.’ It really was!

We heard from Charlotte Bennett – Information Security, Product Development & Diversity at Admiral , Emma Hopkinson-Spark  – Delivery Director at 101 Ways, Kate Jones – Operations Director at The DevOps Group & Louise David – BD lead at Chwarae Teg. The theme of the evening was …… them. I didn’t want this to be another event where we speak and hear about diversity and the problems with the industry, we know there are issues, this evening was about all of us and the ladies successful careers. We also heard about what their respective organisations are doing to attract, promote and retain female talent which is pushing the boundaries and creating opportunities.

We are looking forward to the next event in just a few months’ time, you won’t want to miss it. In the meantime we will be sharing the stories of many more inspirational women around the South West & Wales.

Finally a special thanks to James Smith – Devops Group for stepping up and covering whilst I was re-routed around the countryside end of Newport…………. TWICE! and to the whole team at The DevOps Group for sponsoring and hosting the event.

CONNECT, LEARN AND TAKE ACTION ON GENDER DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION.

#womenrock