From Ada Lovelace to AI: celebrating a successful event for women in tech

To mark this year’s Ada Lovelace Day, we wanted to bring together a group of awesome technology and public sector leaders to share our ideas and experiences around diversity, representation and digital transformation in government.

Together with HMRC’s Women in Tech Network, we hosted “From Ada Lovelace to AI” – an evening event that brought together women, men and allies from across the industry for an evening of powerful connection, reflection and inspiration. Attendees from Defra, NHS, HMRC and Equal Experts shared their stories, and celebrated Ada Lovelace’s ongoing influence and legacy.

It was a great evening that kicked off with informal networking. We loved hearing so many people having honest conversations about their experiences as women in technology, and being passionate about how we can elevate underrepresented voices in organisations.

More than 150 years after her death, Ada Lovelace is still an inspirational figure to many in our industry. Ada wasn’t just the world’s first computer programmer – she was a passionate believer in creative thinking and was instrumental in the idea that computers could handle more than just numbers.

Ada’s influence reaches outside the technology sphere, as our first speaker of the evening explained. Lynne Roberts, deputy director for digital delivery at Defra, says that Ada’s belief that we should prioritise people when solving problems inspires her as a non-technical woman working in the technology industry.

Lynne’s presentation, titled, “From Ada Lovelace to me: non-tech women working in tech”, shared Lynne’s powerful story of building a successful career in tech as a non-technical person. She talked openly about her passionate commitment to public sector work, and how it aligns with her Buddhist faith.

Many people see Ada Lovelace as being synonymous with tech for good, but Lynne says that Ada was more concerned with advancing humankind – and that’s something we can aspire to, today. Lynne says we can all ask ourselves, what is the purpose of the technology we build? We should think about our legacy – not just what we build but what we leave behind.

Finally, Lynne talked about her career journey and the barriers she has broken through. She feels a deep responsibility to make her role visible, and urges other women to do the same, to inspire the next generation of young women to seize the opportunities available in the technology industry.

This was followed by another incredible presentation from Neha Datt, a product and change consultant at Equal Experts. Neha’s talk, titled “When we say what we see” explored the emotional labour of underrepresented individuals, and the importance of naming exclusion.

Neha shared her personal experiences of feeling unable to speak out about issues in the workplace. This experience has taught her how easy it is for people to be emotionally triggered, or uncomfortable when colleagues don’t ‘say what we see’.

To drive home her point, Neha reminded everyone in the room of the very powerful words of Todd Whitaker, who said: “The culture of any organisation is shaped by the worst behaviour the leader is willing to tolerate.”

The solution is to make the effort to see things as they are – and acknowledge when things aren’t right. Neha urged the audience to view compassionate feedback as an act of kindness – and to build spaces where all voices can be heard.

Last, but by no means least, David Cox, product strategist, Equal Experts, shared his insights on “Lessons from Lovelace: the art and science of effective prioritisation in work and in life”. David’s talk was thought-provoking, surprising and occasionally hilarious.

David reminded us that Ada Lovelace believed in balancing creativity and logic, and urged the audience to focus on value over velocity. Just like Ada, we should remember that sometimes it’s important to take the big swing, because big ideas can deliver big results. In other words – be more Ada!

The evening ended with an audience Q&A and we were blown away by the powerful conversations that happened as people shared their valuable advice and unique experiences. The whole event was a powerful reminder of the role we can all play in shaping technology with empathy, ethics and courage – and deliver meaningful value for society today and in the future.

These amazing events wouldn’t be possible without the support of everyone who attended and especially our incredible speakers, who shared their time and their insights so generously. Enormous thanks to Lynne, Neha and to David, and of course to everyone who helped the event to run so smoothly.

Where next?

If you’d be interested in collaborating with us on future inclusive events, then we’d love to hear from you! Please contact Christie Ronaldson to find out more about hosting similar events in future.

Everyone at EE team is committed to improving inclusion and representation in all of our work, and you can discover more about this in our latest series of blog posts about Representation.

About the author

Christie Ronaldson has over 8 years of experience working in agency and consultancy environments, where she’s built a reputation for putting people first. By leading with empathy, she helps customers solve complex problems through collaboration and trust. As Relationship Manager at Equal Experts, Christie focuses on understanding what truly matters to clients and ensuring they see tangible value from every engagement.

Christie is passionate about creating outcomes that make customers genuinely happy, and she’s an active women in tech champion and enthusiast. Connect with Christie on LinkedIn.