Celebrating Trailblazing Women Leaders in Tech

International Women’s Day has arrived – with 2024’s theme focused on inclusion, which overlaps with our WICT global purpose to inspire, connect and grow, enabling women from diverse backgrounds to reach their potential.

To celebrate the day, we spoke to three trailblazing women leaders across tech, telco and media. Here, they shed light on how they navigated their careers in industries dominated by men, how the workforce can usher in change, and their best advice for women.

Julie Agnew is Managing Director of Fixed Network Expansion at Virgin Media O2. Most recently Julie held the role of CEO at Egg, which was launched in 2022 by Liberty Global Ventures, the investment arm of Liberty Global. This followed on from Julie’s role as Chief Operating Officer of Liberty Global Energy Ventures from the end of 2021. Before this Julie spent 20 years at Virgin Media. Julie is also a former WICT UK Chapter President.

Rachel Greedy is Vice President and Head of Delivery UK at Capgemini. She is also Global Co-Custodian of the Capgemini Women in Delivery and Chair of Women@Capgemini Steering Group. Rachel has over 25 years of experience in programme, transformation and operational leadership, with expertise in business process, technology and business transformation across the public sector, manufacturing, retail, automotive, defence, media, pharma and aviation industries.

Rebecca Pike is VP of Digital Media and External Communications. She joined Liberty Global in 2016, after a career as a newspaper journalist and broadcaster at the BBC. Rebecca joined the BBC through its prestigious News Trainee scheme and worked on a range of radio and TV programmes, including Radio 4’s Today Programme, Newsnight on BBC 2, the main news bulletins on BBC 1, the BBC News Channel and BBC World News, as both presenter and reporter. Her most recent broadcasting role was the business and economics presenter on Radio 2's Drivetime show. She is a former WICT UK Board Member.

WICT: Tell us more about your career history. How did you get started and where are you now?

Julie: I left school in the mid-80s – I worked initially with architects on major construction projects and then I moved into telecommunications and that has lasted 30 years. I joined Telewest 23 years ago just as digital TV was launched, and then we launched broadband.  This was such an exciting time and it hasn’t slowed down over the years.  I’ve enjoyed the diversity of roles that I have been able to work across – contact centres, technical, care and retention, field operations, networks, planning, B2B, fibre build.

Rachel: I didn't go into the tech industry through any form of grand plan. I entered the tech industry at about 19, a little bit indecisive. My dad was a CIO and I'd learned to code at about 4 or 5 years old. So that's how I ended up here quite by accident. I didn't go to college, and I didn't go to university, entering tech at a very much grassroots level as a desktop engineer working for a US firm and I literally worked my way up through the industry from service transition to business transformation, and now I find myself as head of delivery for Capgemini UK.

Rebecca: I was a journalist before joining Liberty, first as a newspaper reporter and then as a broadcaster at the BBC – both behind the microphone and on air on TV and radio. My most recent role at the BBC was as a business and economics presenter on a daily show on Radio 2, where I regularly interviewed CEOs and other business leaders. I was struck by how many of them struggled to summarise what their companies did, or what their USP was. It crystallised for me how important it is for businesses to be able to get their story straight – both for internal and external audiences.

It’s a well-trodden path for journalists to move into communications at some point in their careers – and I was incredibly lucky to be able to join Liberty Global at a time when it was building up its external communications team. I was brought in to establish our digital presence – setting up our social media channels, overhauling the website, clarifying our story and bringing it to life with new content. Digital and content are still my focus today, but the streamlined nature of our team and the constantly evolving business means we all work across every aspect of communications, in partnership with colleagues from around the company.

WICT: Do you have a role model – someone you look up to or who has had the biggest impact on your self-development?

Rachel: Dr. Maya Angelou – she’s someone I’ve always thought highly of and resonates to me. It’s her boldness and her courage in the face of adversity. And a bit closer to home would be my mum, who didn't have a technical bone in her body. But she raised me as a single parent, and she absolutely encouraged me to hold my voice, my space, my own confidence – even in a what was for many, many years of my early career a male-dominated industry. When it comes to gender, I have never felt different than my colleagues and that’s really down to my mum as a role model.

WICT: What were the biggest challenges you faced in your career progression and how did you overcome them?

Rebecca: Throughout my career, I’ve seen first-hand that the people who progress the fastest are often those with the loudest voices. Many people – women especially – balk at this approach and would rather sit quietly in the background in the hope that their talent will shine through. I’ve come to learn that this approach usually doesn’t work. The good news is that I’ve also discovered that it is possible to ask for what you want in a quietly confident way that doesn’t have to be boastful or over the top.

Rachel: I often felt like I was faking it until I made it. I've always been really conscious of my lack of academic background, even now. I thought I should go get a degree because everybody around me has one. But I got over this because I finally started listening to other people's feedback and realised that a lot it was from complete strangers who would say lovely things about me, my work and my leadership. I started doing quite a lot of coaching and mentoring of women and that allows you to see with a bit more clarity when you hear someone saying, “I can't go for that promotion.” It gave me clarity on your own self-perception and how critical people are of themselves.

Julie: As you go through your early career years, managers and senior leaders tell you what they want you to be. They tell you to speak up, make more noise, be like the men in the room and over the years I have tried all of this but over the last six to eight years, I have learned to be true to myself. You don't always have to talk or have your voice heard – just be yourself - you don't need to be like someone else!

WICT: Have you, as a woman in a field dominated by men, felt like you had to amend or adapt yourself to succeed?

Julie: For the past 10 years, I have worked in network build and in construction so I see less women in these roles. However, I have built a strong gender balance across my team – I think the education for girls needs to start in schools – allowing females to want to build the next generation networks and be excited about it all – be excited about technology and what it brings for the future.

Rebecca: If anything, I’ve felt the opposite – that in a world dominated by men it’s important that women remain true to themselves and be authentic. I also think the days when women leaders had to adopt a tougher, so-called ‘male’ stance are long gone. It’s possible to be respected whilst still showing vulnerability and without having to lose your sense of humour!

Rachel: Not at all – and I recognise the privilege in that statement because it’s not the same for all women. As I’ve become more senior, I’ve been able to set the tone and level the playing field from a position of influence. Now, one of the key points that I make when we're working on hiring and promotion is to emphasise the need for authenticity. We should be encouraging people coming up through the industry to act with all the intensity and integrity that suits them rather than replicate what successful people supposedly look like.

WICT: What does genuine Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) look like in the workplace? What do leaders – and companies – need to do to foster DE&I?
Julie: We need to speak out when we see barriers and challenges for women, and help to remove those barriers and create a welcoming environment.  Leaders need to provide support, guidance, coaching, mentoring  . .  reach out when we see other women struggle . . . and help them celebrate their successes.

Rachel: DE&I is not about hitting metrics and publishing great numbers, it’s about having a company that represents the world that you're working in. It really is that simple. It's about having a workforce and a board – every single level – that resonates with the communities in which you're working. DE&I isn’t altruistic, there are valid business reasons to have a diverse and inclusive company. It’s about innovation and creativity and having a company that's sustainable for the future that people want to work with and stay with.

Rebecca: It’s about changing the culture in the workplace – from top to bottom, which doesn’t happen overnight. The challenge is how to do it without setting too many rules. Having our CEO, Mike Fries, and the ELT genuinely believing in it and walking the walk as well as just talking the talk really helps.

WICT: What are you celebrating this International Women’s Day?

Rebecca: I’ve been having a lot of discussions with my 16-year-old daughter recently about the importance of empathy – which she has in spades – and how that and emotional intelligence can be just as – if not more - important as other skills in the workplace. This is a set of skills that many women are blessed with – and I’ll be celebrating it with her today!

Rachel: I will be celebrating the huge amount of advocacy that women have now. We don't fix years of inequity or inequality by only reaching out to other women – I love the fact that women's networks are spending a lot more time with men, to educate, to collaborate to exchange ideas. Some of our greatest allies are our male advocates in our business.

WICT: What is your best piece of advice you’d like to share with women and minorities in the world of tech?

Julie: Take opportunities that come your way, step out of your comfort zone, take risks and be fearless and authentic to yourself. Know your value – don't let anyone de-value your worth.

Rebecca: I’ve got two pieces of advice. The first is about the importance of preparation That might sound obvious, but actually I do think it’s one of the keys to success in any situation. As the adage goes – ‘Fail to prepare – prepare to fail!’ And secondly, it’s very easy to feel like you’re asking a stupid question – and this is something that women may feel more than men, especially in a male-dominated world. But there are no stupid questions, just stupid answers!