Critical Careers - Women Building Careers in Digital Infrastructure - Book - Page 47
As often happens in fast-moving industries, I made a couple of moves
after that, including roles at a British blockchain technology company
and later a crypto bank. Both were valuable learning experiences and
gave me a sharper understanding of how young industries grow, mature
and sometimes misstep.
My next major move was into an events company in Paris operating
across both crypto and AI. I was seeing both worlds up close, and they
felt very different. Crypto was loud and volatile, sometimes brilliant,
sometimes completely unhinged. AI felt more grounded. It had real
substance and long-term potential.
That experience ultimately pulled me closer to the AI side of the market
and led me into my current role in AI infrastructure. It sounds niche
until you realise it is the part that actually makes AI possible. Everyone
talks about the models and the outputs, but I’m closer to what sits
underneath: the land, the power, the compute, and the commercial
realities behind it all.
And I absolutely love it.
When you’ve had to step outside your
comfort zone, what did you learn from
those moments?
I’ve always been taught that discomfort is part of the process.
Nothing good in life comes easy. New experiences are meant to be
uncomfortable.
My mum always talked about delayed grati昀椀cation. That idea has stuck
with me. Nothing good comes easy. If it feels too easy, it’s probably not
pushing you in the way you need to be pushed. I saw it a lot in music for
example. The more complex the piece, the more uncomfortable it feels
at the beginning, but that is where the growth happens.
What advice would
you give to someone fresh
out of university or earlier
in their career?
Don’t be obsessed with 昀椀nding the perfect path too early. A lot of
people, especially coming out of university, think their career has to
follow this 昀氀awless master plan. You do your degree, you go into the Big
Four, you become an investment banker, and that’s the route. But that’s
the theory. In reality, there are so many variables.
If I look at my own career, it makes far more sense in hindsight than it
did at the time. It wasn’t planned. It was built through movement and
learning quickly in different environments.
So my advice would be to, 昀椀rst, focus on communication. Being able
to explain things clearly will always set you apart. Second, choose
environments that accelerate you, not just ones that impress people.
There’s a big difference between the two, and a lot of people chase
prestige without thinking about whether they’re actually growing.
And 昀椀nally, pay attention to where momentum is heading. Try to place
yourself in industries, companies and around people who are building
the future, not defending the past. It’s very easy to stay in what feels safe
or expected, but that’s not always where the opportunity is.
When I step outside my comfort zone now, I expect it to feel
uncomfortable and I’m able to focus on the long-term outcome rather
than the short-term feeling. If you keep that perspective, it becomes
much easier to push through it.
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