Taking her seat at the table: Emmanuella’s squiggly career path

 Created by VERCIDA for Sage

Emmanuella talks about how her journey has led her to a fulfilling job with Sage, where the focus is on diversity and opportunities for women.

When I left school, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I thought maybe something in IT or Media—or maybe both because I enjoyed the combination of technology and creativity. I ended up doing Computing Security, Forensics, and Networks, which had bits of everything—forensics, cyber security, networks, databases.

I knew I didn’t want to work in software engineering, particularly at this point, but I liked the idea of auditing, consulting and problem-solving, so after my degree, I got a graduate Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) consultant role with an SME. But the pandemic came along, and I was made redundant on the day that lockdown was announced.

Being made redundant was a shock, but I knew I had to look critically at my career to work out what to do next. I really enjoyed the governance part of my job because I studied government and politics for my A-levels and always enjoyed law and compliance. I wanted to do more work with the role of cyber security but more within the human factor, so I started applying for relevant jobs in civil service and big companies like P&G and even the UN. This went on for a good six months, and it was tough I was living away from home, and I didn’t know what I was going to do.

Then, my mother, who is an occupational health nurse, suggested the NHS. At that time, the pandemic hadn’t ended and the NHS was hiring people for Covid projects. I was accepted onto a national immunisation project in September 2020 as an administrator, using my skills to project manage the administrative side. There were some really sad stories, but it was rewarding to put my skills to use during those uncertain times.

I like interacting with people, and my NHS role involved training and onboarding colleagues. I was promoted and moved into the Occupational Health department as a senior administrator. This involved a lot of business administration and project coordination.

In 2023, l left the NHS, feeling like I’d accomplished quite a lot, but it was time for a change, and I decided to go to Canada. When I left the UK, I had a couple of job interviews lined up in Canada, but they didn’t work out. I wasn’t finding any luck applying for cyber jobs in Canada, so ended up working in retail as an assistant manager. It was a good experience – and I learned a lot about myself during my time in Canada – but in the end, I decided to return to the UK.

When I heard about programmes for career returners, especially for women, I was amazed. Soon, I discovered there were so many different companies looking for people like me, including Sage. Rather than demanding years and years of experience, these programmes were the opposite of what you usually see in a job advertisement. There are so many reasons why someone might have taken time away from their career path, and Sage understands that.

I was super nervous before my interview, especially as Sage is such a huge company, but Fatima Nixon the Pathways Programme Lead, put me at ease. I was fully supported throughout the entire process and made to feel comfortable being myself and showcasing how my experiences would help in the role, no matter the industry.

Sage’s Pathways programme was so important in helping me take my seat at the table and overcome any impostor syndrome. I finally understood that I deserved to be here. Pathways supports women returning to work and promotes diversity, especially for women in leadership roles. Seeing my interview panel being mostly women made such a positive impact after my experiences in a male-dominated industry. 

Now, after a squiggly career path, I have an interesting and varied job. Since May 2024, I’ve worked as a People-Centred Cyber Security Specialist. In this job, I get to work with every part of the business because cybersecurity affects everyone. I help develop and deliver training programmes to ensure my colleagues understand and use best practices when it comes to cyber security. We create training content and facilitate workshops across the departments, everything from finance to customer service to procurement. We’re committed to making cyber security human! It needs to be accessible and understandable for everyone in the company.

So many people have been with Sage for a long time because they can see clear career paths. Now that I am here, I really see how supportive and inclusive the environment is. The future looks great, and I'm really enjoying Sage and my new role.

Whatever lies ahead for me, I’m excited about my journey!