To celebrate International Women’s Day, Women 4.0 invited four speakers from C4DI to speak about their career journeys.
Claire Clark, Director of Development at C4DI-based IoT App Development Consultancy Sauce, co-founded Women 4.0 in 2017 in collaboration with Barclays Eagle Labs.
Today, the biannual event serves as a platform to highlight successful women in industry, inspiring all people and leading a positive path for the next generation.
“I’m extremely proud of the incredible impact Women 4.0 has achieved since it first began just over two years ago,” Claire tells us.
After a short introduction from Claire, Louise Cooke Community Manager at C4DI spoke about her journey into the tech sector:
“This role gives me so much job satisfaction; I love connecting people who may not have otherwise connected and helping them to succeed.”
Louise is the red thread of the C4DI community, joining up startups, businesses and individuals, helping them to create an abundance of opportunity within Hull’s tech sector.
Before joining the C4DI team, Louise came from a traditionally non-technical background, but her skills have given her a unique insight into how to work with people and help them achieve more.
Louise Cooke, C4DI Community Manager (Photo: Moodbeam)
Director of Bloom Creative, Courtney Farrow was up next.
“After attending quite a few of the Women 4.0 events in the past, it’s surreal that I’m stood up here telling my own story,” Courtney began.
Courtney started freelance copywriting a day after finishing her final exams for her degree in History and now has built Bloom Creative, providing copywriting and digital marketing services to a range of tech and non-tech companies.
“I would have never expected to be working with some of Hull’s most well-known technology companies, but the skills I developed through blogging and my degree have given me the ability to help tech businesses develop a human voice that resonates with their customers,” she adds.
Courtney Farrow, Founder of Bloom Creative (Photo: Barclays Eagle Labs)
Following on, Lucy Blackley, Founder of Bombyx PLM, spoke about her journey from clothing to coding:
“After working for twelve years in the product development industry working for global brands like Arcadia, Next and Topshop, I decided to create my own Product Lifecycle Management software as a side hobby,” she reveals.
Today, Bombyx is a growing tech business, helping people streamline their processes and focus on their innovations.
Lucy Blackley, Founder of Bombyx PLM (Photo: Moodbeam)
The final speaker was Co-Founder of Moodbeam, Christina Colmer-McHugh.
Moodbeam is a groundbreaking company aiming to transform the world of emotional development with a digital wearable.
Previously a journalist and PR specialist, Christina was inspired by a situation affecting her seven-year-old daughter:
“I had an idea niggling away in the back of my mind, for a device that could be used by children to communicate how they were feeling. But, as a journalist, I had no idea how to create this. I teamed up with Jonathan Elvidge and we’ve worked tirelessly to evolve this idea.”
Now, Moodbeam provides wearers with a completely new way of tracking how they feel in a simple, concise way.
Christina Colmer-McHugh Co-Founder and Director of Moodbeam (Photo: Moodbeam)
“I’m really grateful of and always taken aback by all of the amazing support received from the sponsors, speakers and attendees of the events,” Claire tells us.
“Every story shared at Women 4.0 has been so inspirational and each event has been highly successful so far. This is evident by the fantastic feedback shared by those who were fortunate to get hold of tickets to attend the events - as the events have always sold out and usually within a week or so.”
Another excellent event! Well done to all the speakers and the Women 4.0 organising team! Looking forward to the next one #IWD2020 #MakeADifference #EachforEqual
— Paul Bryce (@PBrycey) March 7, 2020Big thank you team Women 4.0!
— Ruchi (@RuchiraParchur) March 6, 2020
Inspiration, Positivity, Motivation, Good vibes, and a happy start to a great weekend.
My #mood is definitely 💛 today!@MoodbeamLife @colmermchugh @BombyxPLM @_bloomltd @C4DIHull @ccclaireclark @eagle_labs_hull pic.twitter.com/7JlSdDPYD3
“On top of all the positive feedback we’ve received, we’ve also seen our attendees take positive action. For example, one person has set up a women’s support network group at the global company they work for, and another has set up their own business,” Claire enthuses.
Barclays Eagle Labs Manager David Summerbell adds:
“What an amazing afternoon showcasing founder stories from such an inspirational place, highlighting their challenges and how these amazing businesswomen have overcome them to be influencers in their field.”
Women 4.0 March 2020 Attendees and Speakers (Photo: Barclays Eagle Labs)
The afternoon ended with a raffle draw to underline Women 4.0’s aim of inspire, learn and take positive action.
Bombyx PLM donated three copies of Mary Portas’ Work Like a Woman signed Mary herself, C4DI gifted a free two-month community membership, hosts Rollits LLP gave away an Amazon Kindle, Bloom Creative donated a free LinkedIn audit and coaching session and Moodbeam gifted one of their multi-award-winning wearables.
To find out more about Women 4.0, please contact David Summerbell via ds@c4di.net.