Abi’s Tweet Highlights #6
It’s been a while since I have done this. Welcome to my end of the year 2020 public tweets retrospective!
Again, the purpose of this series is for me to soak in the past few months. It’s for my own well-being and self-reflection. It’s been a challenging year and sending love and prays to anyone who needs it.
I’m going do this review a little different, instead of going month by month (because we would be here all day), I’m going to share my favourite 2020 highlights and lessons learnt.
Please check out Abi’s Tweet Highlights #5, covers January till March 2020. Additionally, please check out the CGV 2020 review here. I will not duplicate wins!
2020 Tweet highlights
🤩 I’m so excited to say I had the best time building and delivering the Tech Nation’s Cyber 2.0 programme. Of course, we had a very different plan in February, but we virtually converted the whole programme.
We hosted so many epic sessions for the cohort, here are some of my favourite:
- Board & Chairs with Stephen Kelly (Chair, Tech Nation) and Jason du Preez ( CEO and Co-Founder of Privitar) — they shared their war stories on managing a board when scaling. We encourage Chatham House Rule meaning our speakers and cohort founders can discuss as honestly and transparent in a safe space.
- Lobster Tales with Adam Hale — he shared how he scaled Fairsail, taking it from 13 people to 200+ in 4 years.
- We hosted the first Cyber Young Leaders Workshop for the non-c-suit cohort members. Something close to my heart, cybersecurity leadership isn’t diverse, but there is some fantastic young talent entering the space. So it’s crucial to equip them with leadership training and educate the current leadership team about the importance of inclusion and belonging.
You can read the full takeaway here.
✍🏾 Had the opportunity to write a piece with practical ways to make tech more inclusive and boost the UK economy.
🎤 Had the opportunity to do a solo talk on how tech diversity goes beyond gender and intersectional discrimination in tech is real.
My 2020 Retrospective & Opportunities For 2021
👩🏾💻 I have been spreading myself thin as a generalist. Being good at everything isn’t bad, but I have learnt that I can’t do everything, mentally and physically, I will burn out. It takes a whole village to work and grow into a city, and more. By the end of 2021, I want to be an expert to one thing in my wheelhouse.
🌴 It’s ok to be not ok, and take a break. Super hard to remember to do, as I love ‘Abi Work Mode’, and I get bored when I’m not. Also taking a break (in my mind) means travelling, which we haven’t had the luxury to do this year. However, walking in my local park has been very therapeutic; I will be walking more in the new year.
✌🏾Continue to believe in myself and my value. It’s hard with social media, and you sometimes want the validation from others that you are on the right track. The truth is no one knows the formula and life is just a basket of experimental biscuits; some might sell well and some might cause hair loss. Especially with everything that has happened this year, my inner saboteur is always seeking for secondary approval. The only appraisal I should be seeking is from myself. So more experiments in 2021 and if I fail, it’s ok.
“The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something.” Barack Obama
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