Inspiring Women Making an Impact in Digital: Miranda Glover

To celebrate International Women’s Day on 8 March 2020 Cogs are honoured to be featuring 5 inspiring females making an impact in the digital space. We speak to these women about their experiences, philosophy, successes and learnings.

In this edition of our Women’s Day series, we will speak to Miranda Glover, Business Director at Great State.

I. Introduction: Tell us about yourself, your leadership style and philosophy.

I have been working in the digital industry since the early .com boom. I believe that digital can make a positive difference to people and our planet if embraced as a driver of change – which is not always the way it is used, as we know only too well. Where it is, the results are astonishing – the discovery of cures for diseases, the revealing of climate patterns we could never see with the human eye.

2. What made you want to pursue technology?

My career started in the art world, I was a writer and curator; then one day I ran an exhibition with the British Council showing 6 multimedia artists from Spain – it blew my mind and changed the course of my future career. I became a producer in an early digital consultancy and it took off from there.

3. In your career, what do you feel is the greatest transformation/innovation in technology and what do you think is up and coming?

The invention of the smart phone changed the game. The use of natural language processing and intelligent data will take us into a whole new era as digital jumps out of the screen and genuinely becomes an immersive experience influencing what it means to be human.

4. What do you think are the biggest misconceptions about working in the Tech sector as a woman today?

That everything is equal now. The reality is that the industry has always been male-heavy – partly to do with schools not knowing how to encourage girls into engineering. So the perception still remains for many that it is a boy’s world.

5. Is there a female role model for yourself in the industry, who do you look up to?

Of course I massively admire Martha Lane Fox – Lastminute.com was my first client account and she has done more than many to promote the need of technology for all.

6. Do you have any parting advice for women on how they can progress in this challenging but exciting space where they are still considered a ‘minority’?

Start with the problem to solve not the technology you need to solve it – women understand resolving challenges – we do it every day in the instinctive juggling of our complicated lives – if they understood that that is exactly what a life in digital is about they’d see a natural place for them in it!

7. How have you managed to devote time to both a successful career and your family?

It is the hardest part of my job and often makes my weeks far more complicated than my male counterparts – I am an absolutely dedicated mother and professional so I push myself to the limit to make sure I spend all the time I can with my two kids without dropping the ball at work. Sometimes I fail to be there at the right time – when I’m in London and they’re at home in the country and they’ve had a heartbreak or a bad exam result… (they are now in their late teens!) – thank god for technology – if that’s the case we often spend hours lying in beds in different cities and talking it through in the dark.

8. What is your definition of a powerful/successful woman?

One who has a voice people trust in, a vision that is clear and fair and a team who feel that she always has their back. My mantra is that you are only as good as the women you lead – and that your job is to empower them to be the best they can be – and one day to be better than you and totally able to pinch your job.

9. As a woman of ambition and vision, where do you see yourself in the next five years?

I will take my digital experience back into my heartland of creative writing and showing art and ideas live and online – well at least that’s in my dreams for now! In the meantime I would like to think I have at least one more step up to take in my career – in a perfect scenario I’d like to end up one day with a leadership role on a board where I can use my career experience to influence positive change around the climate or inequality in any of its forms – from the global refugee crisis to women’s rights in the workplace. All matter to me – and much more besides!

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Thank you Miranda, for taking the time to speak to us and our readers. We wish you success and joy fulfilling what you set out to do at work and in your personal endeavours.

Connect with Miranda here:

Cogs celebrate all the achievements women have made to make their workplace and the world a better place. Happy International Women’s Day and Women’s Month to all the ladies.