You won a scholarship to take part in the UCE Summer Startup Programme. What does that involve?
My friend – and now business partner – and I won the Entré Enterprise Launch Challenge UCE Summer Startup Scholarship for our startup, Avium (now Farmgate Foods). I learned a lot of things about starting and running a business and pitching your idea. Winning the scholarship gave us the opportunity to continue developing our venture over the summer. It's been cool to have this new opportunity and realise that I actually can make a difference because of these new skills that I've learned.
Do you think it’s important for more women to be represented in the industry?
Being a woman in tech is so important because you bring a unique perspective. Many people don't realise that their past experiences are so important to diversity in tech, because a lot of it has been created without minorities in mind. So, you can actually create a lot of change and impact because you have a unique opinion.
What’s your advice for women considering a career in tech?
Tech and STEM are applicable to every single industry, so there are so many opportunities within it. And it's not what you’d expect it to be, with stereotypes like sitting in a dark room, coding on a black screen. It's actually the opposite! You need to be able to work in a team and communicate. It's such a great, innovative industry and it's rapidly growing. There’s a lot more support for women in tech now.
Choose three words that sum up your UC experience.
Opportunity. Community. Growth.