Episode 66 - Julie Simpson - Women In Technology

My guest is Julie Simpson, a delightful, fun lady who I met in the late 90’s and I have always viewed as ‘a force of nature’ and you will hear a lot of her energy, enthusiasm, and humour in this episode Julie is the youngest of 9 children and was born in Germany but grew up in Basingstoke. Her story is an inspirational one of starting with little and triumphing over adversity. This started at 14 when her much loved father, a Sergeant Major, died of a heart attack whilst she was with him.  Leaving school at 16, she eventually found her way into the IT sector and in 2003 took the brave step of setting up her own company Resource IT, which is now one of the most successful marketing agencies focused on the I.T. Channel. Music for Julie has always been about joy, passion, and community but in recent years, particularly after her Mum passed away, some of that has gone and so appearing in this episode is part of an effort to regain some of that joy and passion. I sincerely hope its successful!So, we talk about music, but we also rightly talk at length about the challenges of being a woman in an IT sector that even today is 87% male. Julie is a co-founder of the Women in Technology Network (WIT), a global not-for-profit organisation that is centred on driving the diversity and inclusion agenda. In just under four years WIT is now represented in over 40 countries with over 3,500 members. You can find more details at Home (womenintechnology.org)Regular listeners will know I love my connections but I am not proud of this one. 87% of the IT Industry is male and it appears 87% of the guests on Music Talks have also been male. Please help me change that ! Julie would be the first to acknowledge that her song choices are mainstream, but they are also songs that she absolutely loves and that bring back a lot of great memories and positive messages. Enjoy! 60's - Mamas & The Papas - California Dreaming70's - Bay City Rollers - Bye Bye Baby80's - Adam & The Ants - Stand & Deliver90's - The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony00's - George Michael - As10's - David Guetta, Sia - Titanium20's - Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande - Rain On Me