International Women & GEOLYTIX

So this week we are celebrating International Women's Day. International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Significant activity is witnessed worldwide as groups come together to celebrate women's achievements or rally for women's equality.

Marked annually on March 8th, International Women's Day (IWD) is one of the most important days of the year to:

• celebrate women's achievements
• raise awareness about women's equality
• lobby for accelerated gender parity
• fundraise for female-focused charities

I thought what better opportunity for my next blog than to take the stand and celebrate the women that make Geolytix such an amazing place to work.

The Geolytix ladies are a force to be reckoned with. The flexible working attitude at Geolytix means that the superwomen of Geolytix often juggle motherhood alongside their roles at Geolytix as well as being smart, funny, kind, caring & simply amazing.  When I joined Geolytix 4 years ago there were 4 other ladies in the team; now there are 14 of us and I am sure we aren't finished on the recruitment of the ladies just yet!!

The Geolytix ladies reside all over the world, they include Coco & Lifan in China, Georgina in Australia and the rest of the ladies here in the UK.  They can often be found laughing, dancing and on some occasions with a drink in their hands!

I thought I would use this blog to introduce myself and the rest of the ladies here at Geolytix.

First up we have Sarah. One of the Geolytix originals, Sarah has 2 children and is married to Ben, yet she still makes sure everything and everyone is kept in line (especially the boss!). Sarah implements the processes of Geolytix and is a great support to all the staff at Geolytix. Over the last year Sarah has taken up running and recently completed her first 15k (accidentally she reckons!)

Samantha is next up. Originally from Australia she is supermum to 3 children. She is married to James and has recently returned back to the UK after a year in Australia setting up Geolytix Australia. Samantha is Geolytix’s Asia queen and probably works the strangest hours out of all of us here at Geolytix across the different time zones.

Then we have Lou. Lou is the data queen of Geolytix, so much so that she is now the Geolytix Product Owner for Data. She literally knows all there is to know about our data products and is always on hand when anyone in the team or our clients have any questions. Lou recently moved into her new house and can often be found walking the hills of Sheffield on her mammoth walks.

Jasmin is the Marathon runner of Geolytix - or at least she would have been if Covid hadn’t got in her way. Jasmin is another one of Geolytix’s longest members and has recently taken over as Mapp Product Owner at Geolytix.

Agata is next on the list of introductions. Originally from Poland Agata is a developer at Geolytix and she is a fantastic coder. She is busy outside of work learning French and writing her first novel showing she is a woman of many talents.

Coco is based in Shanghai and is our project director in Asia. She is a fountain of knowledge of all things Asia and by far one of the nicest people I have ever met. I cannot wait till we meet again.

Lifan is also based in Shanghai, although worked in Leeds for a while after she graduated from Leeds University before travelling back to China to work as a location analyst. Lifan recently got married over in China but we hope to see her back in the UK for a visit as soon as possible.

Georgina or should I say George, is Geolytix’s resident Kiwi; based in London for a while she then headed to Australia with Samantha to open up Geolytix Australia. George brought with her good humour, the ability to laugh at herself and just bundles of positive energy. The rest of the Geolytix Ladies and I haven't given up hope of a return to the UK just yet. As long as she doesn’t get a dog in Oz we are hopeful!

Lisa joined Geolytix in 2018 and was a familiar face to some of the Geolytix staff as she had worked with a few of our ex-Sainsbury's crew. Lisa joined and became director of all things product. She is due to return any minute from her maternity leave and we cannot wait to have her back. Recently she relocated to the midlands with her 2 gorgeous boys and hubby Ben.

Wensi is the green fingers of Geolytix. Her daily role at Geolytix as a Data Scientist is a far cry away from the magic she creates in her garden at her home in Leeds - she has even built her own pond. The recent addition to Wensi’s home is Samwise the cheeky Kitten.

Alison joined Geolytix back in 2019. Alison is full of knowledge and originally joined Geolytix to help with a project we had out in India. We discovered Alison knows all the good late night drinking spots and has a secret love for 90’s/00’s RnB & hip hop. I can’t wait for more nights out with her that's for sure. Alison is a mum to 2 gorgeous girls and wife to Ryan.

The youngest of the Geolytix ladies is Becca. Becca joined Geolytix in 2019 as our apprentice and was thrown into the deep end when she joined us on one of our work events - it was not for the faint hearted but she held her own and has recently completed her apprenticeship with a distinction to become a fully fledged data analyst! We are so proud to have her in the team.

Almost at the end of introducing you to the Geolytix Ladies, we have Kate. Kate has joined Geolytix in the middle of Lockdown which means that she has yet to meet any of us in person. Joining as our Communications Officer, Kate is already proving to be a massive asset to Geolytix and despite not meeting anyone is already forming some great relationships - we can’t wait to welcome her properly very soon.

And finally there is me, Donna. I am the quiet one of Geolytix….ok so maybe the complete opposite of that! I am a mum of 1 little girl, the moodiest cat in North London and the naughtiest pup.  I deal with everything office and finance related at Geolytix. One thing I am grateful for is being with this company where I don’t have to pretend to be someone I’m not. I am fully accepted for who I am (even when I have no filter on the things I say), so for that I am grateful.

All the ladies at Geolytix are very different from each other. Different childhoods, living situations and personalities but somehow despite all these differences we gel together, support each other & make some really great memories. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for us all.

Donna Kirton, Geolytix