“There are many people who don’t believe that people like me exist,” Anne-Marie Imafidon – STEM activist, Maths & Science genius extraordinaire
Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon’s goal is to empower women to have more agency in their lives through STEM literacy and know-how in a world that’s increasingly defined and influenced by technology. In her new book, She’s In CTRL, she makes a case for women to be bold, loud, daring and curious as they engage with tech. In this interview, she tells us why it is critical to have women in all spaces where decisions are made in the science and tech industries, and how they can subvert gatekeepers.
A prodigy and pioneer, Imafidon made history as the youngest girl to pass A-level computing at the age of 11. At 20, she graduated from Oxford University with a Master’s Degree in Mathematics and Computer Science. Imafidon would go on to work at leading global financial intuitions like Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank.
A strong advocate for women’s inclusion in science and tech, Imafidon is the founder of Stemettes, an award-winning social enterprise empowering and supporting young women into Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths careers (STEM). Beyond the traditional subjects of STEM, Stemettes goes a step further to include the arts, and aims to engage, inform and connect the next generation of women into Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths (STEAM). Stemettes has exposed more than 60,000 girls across Europe to Imafidon’s vision for a more diverse and balanced science and tech community.
A respected thoughtleader, Imafidon’s expertise and voice is sought after on the topics of A.I., tech, social entrepreneurship, diversity and the future of work. A Maths whizz, she was earlier this year, a stand-in Arithmetician on UK’s Channel 4’s flagship brainy game show, Countdown.
In 2017, Imafidon became an Honorary Fellow at Keble College, Oxford. In 2020, she was voted the most influential woman in tech in the UK by Computer Weekly. Imafidon’s first book, She’s In CTRL, which gives women a step-by-step guide for taking back tech and encourages them to be active participants, not just consumers in the digital world was published in 2022.
New African Woman: Why is telling your story and the story of women in tech, a big part of She’s In CTRL?
Anne-Marie Imafidon: Control is the CTRL. So, it’s that idea of taking technical control and using technology to take control. I am, telling my story because there are many people who don’t believe that people like me exist, or don’t believe that it’s possible to do what I’ve done, and be Black, female and young. It’s important to tell this story because we know a lot of the technical history, but there’s actually a very rich technical ‘herstory’ that exists, and that impacts the relationship people have with technology. bot, and anyone (including companies) that tweeted with the International Women’s Day hashtag, the bot quote-tweeted them. It pulled the name of the company and put it there for all to see – yes, this is their tweet but this is the gender pay gap they have in the company.
