This post has been written by Hadiyah, 16 who attended our Meet the Stemettes panel event at NTT on 26th October.
During the October half term, I attended a Stemettes event with NTT Europe at their headquarters in London. It stands for Nippon Telegraph and Telephone and it is a Japanese company that has offices in over 110 cities.
The event started with a quick introduction to the women on the panel. It was full of incredible women such as Ella Willsmore, who was only 17 years old to Dr Clare Anyiam-Osigwe who founded her own beauty company, Premae. We then had the Q&A session, where the audience was free to ask questions, and were given some sweets for asking a question! It’s not a Stemettes event if there’s no food!
Afterwards, we had a networking session where we individually spoke to each panellist. We asked each woman questions and learnt more about their journey into STEM, which was not always a straight path. The best advice I received was from Louise Maynard-Atem. She earned her degree in chemistry, and following that, she worked as an operational research analyst, and then in cyber security. She is, in her own words, “the poster child for STEM.” She showed me that the choices I make now are not forever, which was something I needed to hear. I am 16, I have just chosen my A Levels and I will be choosing a degree and university soon. Whilst these choices feel like the most important ones in my life, the only important choice is choosing a course that will make me happy.
I was chosen for one of four work shadowing placements. I shadowed Stefanie Bialas, a business analyst at NTT. She showed me around the whole office and explained the different departments and their roles within the company. I got the chance to talk to many professionals which helped me to see the variety of jobs that exist. Stefanie then helped me with creating a LinkedIn account. This will help me to further my professional network.
I enjoyed the entire day. It made me feel more knowledgeable and comfortable with building a career in STEM, and I definitely will be attending all further STEMettes events, and not just for the free food!
Thank you to our panellists: Jana Novohradska, Shally Shefer, Shrutica Patel, Dr Clare Anyiam-Osigwe BEM, Sophie Parker, Ella Wilsmore, Louise Maynard-Atem & Alex Sullivan. And a huge thank you to the event sponsor & host NTT Communications. Photos from the event are up on our Flickr.
We run panel events throughout the year – they are listed on our home page but you’ll hear about them first via our mailing list.
