Nominated for a Northern Power Women 2020 Future List Award – and more!

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It’s been quite a while since I last updated this blog.  We’re talking practically a year and a half! I do apologise, this tardiness in updating is highly embarrassing. So sorry…. yes, really.  Can I go now??

Okay, mental slap on the wrist over, I’m thrilled to share that I’ve been quiet for very good reason – I’ve been especially busy working on business development for Assenty, and contracting full-time as a software engineer!  

Lots and lots has happened, there’s been much graft, prayers and tears in the background, and some really, really good developments, not least some of these:

– formally launching Assenty back in February 2019 at ThoughtWorks’ Manchester offices and inadvertently kicking off the highly acclaimed #FemaleTechFounder night series of events.

#FemaleTechFounder has since grown to become a highlight in the city’s monthly events calendar and has a glowing reputation as a fantastic space and community to grow, learn from and network with some of the North’s most inspiring startup founders. We’ve had founders travelling in from across the Peninnes to speak!  See tweets below, and if you’re able, and interested, come along to the next event!

– taking on a marketing consultant to help with moving Assenty forward

Massive answer to prayer this.  It’s been such a slog trying to wear all the hats with Assenty and do life and everything else, and invariably things get missed. Over the last 3 months I’ve been working with the marketing strategy genius (and I don’t use those words lightly) that is Natalie Asprey (@_NAMarketing) and wow, the results have been outstanding!  More on this in a future blog post but to my fellow bootstrappers out there grinding on a side hustle besides the 9 to 5, marketing is your secret weapon and how you invest in it can make or break your precious startup’s chances in the marketplace. Choose wisely.

– being featured in Tech Manchester’s incredible Fast Forward tech podcast

This is the closest to me sharing my journey so far and I’m thrilled to have been invited to speak on the Fast Forward podcast by the indomitable Tricia Keating (@TrishkeatingMcr), executive director at Tech Manchester.  

UKFast and Tech Manchester have supported the tech community in the North West in so many ways, not least their incredible mentoring network and it’s an absolute honour to be featured on the Fast Forward podcast. 

Settle yourself down and listen to the whole episode, it’s worth it!

– being invited to speak at StartUp 2020

Taking part in this panel at Enterprise Nation’s StartUp 2020 event on 25 January is turning out to be the first big speaking engagement of the year. My lips are sealed till I can share about the next!  Thank you to Mo Aldalou (@tn_northwest) from Tech Nation for inviting me, it was a blast! Some tweets from the event below:

– being nominated for a Northern Power Women Future List Award!

Where do I start?  What you need to be aware of is that you cannot nominate yourself for one of these.  Someone has to put you forward, and it came as a massive surprise when I got an email saying I had made the shortlist.  The awards night is on Monday 16 March and I can’t wait!

Thank you, whoever you are!

Thank you.

There’s so much more to share, and note to self, this will be done more regularly, perhaps even  monthly!

I’ll try my best! Oh, I now have an Instagram account too! Things are definitely happening lol.

Till the next time, take it easy and be good to each other.