“I remember how brilliant it was when high speed internet arrived in the UK – we could suddenly download movies while making a cup of tea instead of having to wait for hours!”
I was born and raised in Wales, with Welsh being my first language. After studying Maths at the University of Wales Aberystwyth, I briefly worked in retail and then started my career in IT.
Working for Cable & Wireless (which became NTL and then Virgin Media) at the start of the broadband rollout was really exciting. My role involved analysing faults and responding to customers. I remember how brilliant it was when high speed internet arrived in the UK – we could suddenly download movies while making a cup of tea instead of having to wait for hours!
I later spent an eye-opening five years in The Gambia as a volunteer, and some of my proudest achievements come from working there. As part of my work, I trained head teachers to analyse exam results differently – especially when comparing results by gender. My training involved teaching them basic maths to ensure they could convert numbers into percentages and better analyse exam pass rates.
Every school in the country, approximately 900 to date, has gone through training which I developed and delivered. If you visit any school principal’s office today, you can see the results of my training. I was most happy to see better analysis of girls’ attainment at all levels, and that schools were investigating the root causes of the large gap between boys and girls in every subject, and nearly every grade.
I joined Imperial two years ago as a Remote Support Engineer in ICT. I support students and staff with software installation and troubleshooting on all campuses. I love working with people, helping to solve their problems and getting them back to their research, studies or support work. I help with a range of things, from students needing support to set up and install programmes on their laptops, to helping senior admin staff. I love when people remember my name and feel that I can help resolve their IT issues – it makes it worthwhile when staff and students feel they can rely on you.
Outside of my job, I love to read and enjoy listening to classical music. I’m currently reading a Chinese novel from the Wuxia genre. I would describe the genre as ‘Bruce Lee with magic.’ One thing that remains important to me is volunteering, and when I joined Imperial, I immediately looked for volunteering opportunities and helped with Welcome Week 2017, 2018 and this year’s too. I also volunteer at Imperial Lates events and volunteered at Imperial Festival, for which I won a President’s Award for Excellence in Collaboration and Communication.