The brand new chancellor of a Scottish college, who describes herself as an “unintended trailblazer”, has mentioned she is going to fulfil the function for the frequent good.
Anne-Marie Imafidon has spent her profession serving to younger ladies break into the largely male-dominated science, know-how, engineering and maths (Stem).
Recognised all over the world for founding Stemettes, a social enterprise which inspires ladies and younger ladies to enter the sphere, Dr Imafidon shall be formally put in as chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian College (GCU) on July 2.
She shall be changing singer and campaigner Annie Lennox, the college’s earlier chancellor.
As Scotland’s largest trendy college, GCU promotes ladies’s participation in Stem via its outreach programmes, mentoring, and by providing scholarships for ladies in engineering, and has additionally obtained awards for its dedication to gender equality.
Initially from London, Dr Imafidon, 33, has labored on a variety of Stem tasks, together with writing books on the business, internet hosting podcasts and showing on tv reveals, and Stemettes has reached round 60,000 younger ladies.
Forward of her set up as chancellor, she mentioned she is “actually excited” to be working with GCU, and that she plans to be a “chancellor for the frequent good” – a key worth held by the college.
She mentioned: “I really arrange fairly plenty of totally different companies earlier than I began Stemettes as an organisation and ran a networking occasions firm at one level with my associates.”
It was her early experiences of assorted types of discrimination that led her to assist make Stem industries a extra accepting area for ladies.
She mentioned: “There are many issues that had been totally different about me that by no means actually appeared to crop up in conversations or as we had been constructing databases or no matter else.
“It’s all the time been an attention-grabbing one to form of replicate on being in that minority and one thing that, at instances, can also be a shrinking minority in technical areas.
“Stem has all the time been one thing I’ve loved doing, as a passion in addition to a profession, and it’s solely as I’ve obtained older and been extra perceptive.
“It’s attention-grabbing to replicate on being in that minority and one thing that, at instances, can also be a shrinking minority in technical areas.
“I’ve regarded up and regarded round in these rooms and seen there’s one thing off about me being one of many solely ladies on this area. I’ve ended up being an unintended trailblazer, recognising there’s an issue and desirous to do one thing about it. I’ve been pushed and motivated, and likewise lucky, to have an effect on altering the state of affairs.
“Beginning Stemettes was a response to me noticing that I used to be one in all only a few ladies within the room. There’s a knock-on influence not only for people entering into male-dominated tech areas, but in addition for the financial system at giant.
“I began Stemettes with the realisation that, if I ever have youngsters, I don’t need them to replicate on the truth that their mum is likely one of the solely ones left in an area that’s driving a lot of what’s occurring on the planet.
“If I’ve any ladies, I don’t need them to really feel like this isn’t one thing they need to be part of. The innovation we have now now’s hindered by not having ladies and ladies not less than across the desk.
“We’re constructing quite a lot of know-how that’s ending up harming not solely ladies and ladies, however all of society, creating extra issues than it’s fixing with every technological advance.”
She added: “I really arrange fairly plenty of totally different companies earlier than I began Stemettes as an organisation.
“I ran a networking occasions firm at one level with my associates, and my greatest good friend and I, for a really, very quick interval, ran a relationship firm as effectively.
“At GCU we have now an enormous deal with entrepreneurship as effectively and the alternatives that that creates for folk once they embark on that journey.
“Beginning Stemettes was really a response to me noticing that I used to be one in all only a few within the room, but in addition that there’s a knock-on influence not only for people that may be entering into male-dominated tech areas, but in addition the financial system at giant.
“I began Stemettes in that realisation that whereas I don’t have youngsters, if I do I don’t need them to replicate on the truth that their mum is likely one of the solely ones left in an area that’s driving a lot of what’s occurring on the planet.
“If I’ve any ladies I don’t need them to really feel like this isn’t one thing they need to be part of, and likewise any of the innovation that we have now now by not having ladies and ladies not less than round that desk.
“We’re constructing quite a lot of know-how that’s ending up harming not solely ladies and ladies, however all of society and is creating extra issues that it’s fixing with every technological advance.”
Dr Imafidon shall be put in as GCU chancellor on the Royal Live performance Corridor in Glasgow on Tuesday, as a part of three days of graduations ceremonies for the college’s college students.
