Celebrating International Women’s Day – Jo Newstead
International Women’s Day is a day for celebration and recognition of women’s achievements as well as being a day to accelerate equality and challenge stereotypes. We wanted to take the opportunity to celebrate all women at Peppermint, past, and present and inspire more women to explore career avenues into technology companies like Peppermint. Across this week we’ll be sharing the career journeys of three colleagues at Peppermint.
Quality Manager BSc and BA (Hons)
Jo is an experienced Quality Management professional who has worked within Health, Biotech Engineering, Pharmaceuticals and the Technology sector. Jo holds two undergraduate degrees in Biology and Psychotherapy. Her role at Peppermint is focused on the development of Peppermint’s QMS and the ISO9001:2015 accreditation programme.
Where did you start out?
I started my career as a Research Technician for Cancer Research. I really enjoyed working with leading edge science discovery. Along the way I supplemented my education with a business qualification – helping me get into the type of work I do today. After a number of years working in Quality Management for Boots and other pharmaceutical companies, I started to gravitate towards Quality Systems Management in contract research organisations who were developing technology, software, apps etc for the pharmaceutical world. This experience in turn led me to the role I perform at Peppermint today. It’s been an interesting journey so far!
What challenges have you overcome in your career?
If I look back at my career journey there are a few I could reference. I’ve learnt a lot about technology – something that I knew little of at the start of my career. I’ve also worked hard to overcome low self-esteem and challenging myself to have a go – in life and my career. I think it’s important to encourage others to be brave in their careers, to challenge themselves and challenge the stereotypes that are still out there for women in tech. I think Peppermint has a great female representation and it is positive to see the technology sector becoming more diverse – that can only be a good thing.
What advice would you give to women considering moving into a tech career?
Your career is not always linear, and it is never too late to move in another direction. If you’re interested in technology don’t let anything hold you back, you are the creator of your own destiny! Technology is a fantastic career option for all, it’s a growing sector. I’ve come full circle from my days of working with leading edge science to working in a business with leading edge technology.