Guest Interviews
17. Purple Coach Conversations' interview with Janet Onyia, award-winning technology delivery leader.
This month we are joined by award -winning technology delivery leader: Janet Onyia. Janet is Ghanian by heritage and grew up in Newcastle. She loves Newcastle and the North despite the weather! Janet Onyia is a mum of 2 amazing kids and an award-winning Technology Consultant for Accenture, partnering with clients in the Financial Services in Edinburgh and beyond to achieve their digital transformation goals. Background in Financial services and in the higher education children. She also started her career in Aberdeen in the Oil and Gas sector!
She also runs Onyi Gifts, which is a personal and corporate gifting concierge with a focus on conscious gifting. Onyi Gifts’ core values centre around; promoting independent brands, spotlighting female-led businesses, and maintaining an ethical and circular economy.
She's a keen advocate for the closure of the gender gap in business and invests in entrepreneurship development workshops to support upcoming female talent for the next generation. She's been recognised for work undertaken in her day job, as well as for Onyi Gifts via We Are The City Rising Star Awards, Involve and the Black British Business Awards. Janet's also been featured in publications including the Telegraph and Business Insider, and is a keynote speaker on entrepreneurship and representation in Technology.
In this episode we discuss:
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Min 2 - Janet talks about her Ghanian heritage and what it was like growing up in Newcastle at a time where she was a minority in school. She then shares what it was like to finish school and navigate her way through a very male dominated industry. The lack of role models that looked like her gave her the spark to become who she is today and create the impact she's making!
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Min 10 - We talk about the concept of double-edged sword of speaking out against racial discrimination at work. In many cases, the person is damned either way if they speak out or not. How deciding to speak up anyway created a difference and continues to do so in her work and other areas of her life.
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Min 20 - What impact motherhood had on her and realising that she wanted her children to have a different world that didn't treat them differently based on their skin colour.
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Min 25 - Her involvement and campaign to create a group of women and leaders in Scotland and Northern England region in collaboration with Accenture. These groups have been created to help others from minority groups to find a sense of belonging, friendship, support and inspiration in their careers and beyond!
Watch the full video interview below:
You can also listen to an audio version of our interview here: