International Women’s Day 2023 – Behind The Burendoer.

06/03/2023

As we celebrate International Women’s Day, we take a moment to celebrate and learn from five of our inspiring Burendoers about their own experiences, in support of this year’s theme #EmbraceEquity.

Kay Thomas – Senior Consultant

Hi, I’m Kay and I have been at Burendo for just under a year and am a Senior Consultant in the Business Analysis space. I have been a BA for what feels like forever, working as a contractor for over 10 years before moving back into a perm role to further my career.

Outside of my day job, I am Treasurer for Equity Partnership, which is an LGBTQ+ support and training charity based in Bradford. We run a number of different peer support groups and do a lot of work with the community to raise awareness and educate people. We are also the lead partner for Bradford Pride, which will hopefully be running its first Pride Parade this year through the city centre. Bradford Pride has been pivotal to Bradford receiving City of Culture 2025 and its been great to be a part of it.

I am also the director of two Live Role Play companies. This one is more complicated as we have created Flowstate Games as an engine to purchase Curious Pastimes (CP) over the next couple of years. We are currently running events with about 150 volunteer staff and over 1000 players. Check us out at curiouspastimes.co.uk or on YouTube if you want to know more. I’ve been roleplaying at CP for over 20 years and we’re now updating the game and tech to bring it into the 21st century.

Liz Glidewell – Senior Consultant

Hello, it’s great to meet you virtually in the first instance. I’m Liz and I live in Leeds with my son and husband. Although most weeks we live with an extended troop of my son’s friends. Which is one of my favourite things to do.

I’ve been with Burendo as a Senior Consultant User Researcher for 6 months. I work with healthcare professionals and patients to improve NHS services. I love listening to others tell us about their experience, their challenges and how they think we can make things better for them. I love it even more when I can work with a team of technicians who can design candidate solutions, that we can test with these people, and ensure that they don’t do any unintended harm.

Before joining Burendo I worked as a Senior Lecturer in a Medical School. I’ve worked in a range of Universities teaching research methods and working with patients and professionals to get evidence into practice, to improve the experience of healthcare and make people better. Recently I’ve graduated as a Rapid Transformational Therapist. Recognising the importance of unhelpful beliefs that make us behave in ways that aren’t helpful for us. Often we form beliefs when we are young, or they are passed on to us by influential people that we come into contact with. Whilst these beliefs were normal reactions to our circumstances at that time, they no longer work for us. Sometimes you just need time and space to uncover these hidden beliefs to let yourself move forwards.

Laura Hamer – Senior Consultant

Hi my name is Laura Hamer, formerly Haley. I live in North Leeds with my partner our nine year old son, our dog Rory and our cat Gimli. Life revolves around football, I am not a fan, but between two avid Leeds supporters and our budding footballer, I don’t have much choice!

I am from a very humble background. I grew up in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. I left school after my GCSEs and took an admin job at a law firm in Leeds, I was the first person in my family to get an “office job”, let alone a job that required a train to commute! In reality, I was making the teas and photocopying. A noble job by any standards. As a side note, apologies if you used said law firm for conveyancing 15 years ago, another part of my job was to hand draw the boundary lines in red pencil on photocopied title deeds, I had 5 minutes of training, therefore your deeds are probably wrong. I did have my own special budget for red pencils though. My salary, plus the pencil budget was cheaper than buying colored ink for the copier.

Fast forward: I had no idea my current job existed when I left school, and with the support of some fantastic people along the way, I found myself here at Burendo as a Senior Product Consultant. Therefore I really advocate taking time out to coach and mentor, after seeing firsthand how this positively impacts people’s lives and career progression.

Rebecca Shaw – Principal Managing Consultant

Hi! I’m Bex, I live in Leeds with my hubby, two teenagers, a toddler and two dogs. I’ve worked for Burendo for one year as a Principal Product Consultant, and now as a Principal Managing Consultant supporting one of the UK’s major retailers with optimising their tooling, roles and ways of working in support of their newly defined Tech Delivery Lifecycle. Prior to Burendo I spent four years at Evri, initially as a Business Analyst, progressing to Principal Product Owner. Before Evri, I spent 15 years at Royal Mail Property & Facilities Services, which is where my career in tech began. I was working as subject matter expert in my role as Customer Services Manager for the Facilities Helpdesk, on a project to mobilise a new CRM system. I started working with an amazing Enterprise Business Architect, who totally inspired me and gave me that lightbulb moment of “Yes! This is ME!”. Under the guidance of her mentorship, I sought out a position as a BA within the company, and the rest is history!

My absolute passion is for coaching and mentoring, particularly with women and young people. I work with charities like Career Ready (a social mobility charity), to provide mentorship to students to support them with preparing for their future careers and life post education. I’m a certified workplace coach, and also provide one-to-one mentorship to my colleagues in tech both within Burendo and externally.

Lisa Robinson – Managing Consultant

Hi, I’m Lisa. I’m 47 years old and have 23 year old son. I am a Business Analyst by profession and absolutely love the variety of challenges and learning opportunities being a BA provides. In my spare time I enjoy being active. I play football regularly and am a director of a women’s football group for women over 30. I’m also in training for Leeds Marathon in May, raising money for Leeds Hospitals Charities’ campaign to build a specialist MND centre in Leeds.

International Women’s Day 2023

International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated annually on March 8th to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. If you want to find out more about IWD 2023, there are several ways you can get involved and stay informed:

• Check the official IWD website: The official site is a great resource to find out more about the history of the event, its theme, and the events happening globally. The site is updated regularly, and you can sign up for their newsletter to stay up-to-date on all the latest developments.

• Follow IWD on social media: IWD has a strong social media presence, with pages on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. Following their pages will help to keep you informed about events happening in your area and around the world.

• Join a local organisation: Many organisations and community groups hold events and activities to celebrate IWD. Joining a local group or attending their events is a great way to learn more about the issues facing women in your community and around the world.

• Take the time to read books, watch documentaries, and listen to podcasts about the history of women’s rights and the ongoing struggles women face today. This can help you understand the importance of IWD and how you can get involved in the fight for gender equality.