What is your role at Women in Transport?
I am a Board Advisor, so I guide on our overall strategy for Women in Transport.
How long have you been involved with Women in Transport?
I am a founding member of Women in Transport, and I am so proud of the way that our organisation has grown over the years.
Why did you join Women in Transport?
We set up Women in Transport to address the gender imbalance in the transport industry. Our aim was then, as now, to have an organisation dedicated to helping women advance in their careers and to build a transport industry that is representative. Initially, we were part of a US organisation, called Women’s Transport Seminar (WTS), and they were our inspiration for creating a supportive network here in the UK.
What do you enjoy most about being part of Women in Transport?
I love the supportive community that we’ve built with an organisational culture dedicated to supporting women’s advancement and supporting people as individuals contributing to this great organisation. From the earliest days, I made valuable connections with women and men across the transport industry, and I’ve made great friends as well. I’m struck by the dedication of our many volunteers who give their time and passion to Women in Transport.
Current job title
Chief Data Officer
What does your current job involve?
As TfL’s Leader in Data & AI, my job is to take the vast amount of data that we have at TfL and make it useful. I see myself as a data detective. I think: how can we take data about our transport services (the Tube, bus, the main road network), and turns these facts into insight? How can our data help us plan and run our services better and provide helpful information for our customers?
What's the best thing about your job?
I have a fantastic team of data scientists, data engineers, and data translators who share my passions for transport and data and AI technology and ethics. And we have an amazing set of data at TfL.
How did you become involved in the transport industry?
I have always been fascinated by how cities work and how transport enables cities to flourish. I moved to Los Angeles after university and worked for a council member for the City of LA. I was responsible for a busy dynamic area, the Fairfax-Melrose neighbourhood. I soon realised that transport made such a difference for the economic wellbeing and the liveability of the city. Later on, I focused on transportation and economics as part of a post-Graduate Master’s Degree in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and then from there I went to work at TfL.
What do you like about working in transport?
I love how the work that I do helps people every day. Transport connects the city, and data makes our transport better.
What are you most proud of?
I was instrumental in introducing contactless payment to London’s transport network. This started out as an idea that four of us in a small conference room worked on many years ago, and I’m so proud that I was involved in shaping this to become reality. We have transformed the way that customers can access our services. We’ve made it much easier for them to pay their fares, and enabled TfL to reduce the cost of ticketing so that we could reinvest fare collection costs into providing more transport services. I’m so proud that I have worked on creating a new worldwide way for customers to pay seamlessly with their bank cards, phones, or watches. I loved hearing customers’ word of mouth to encourage other customers to try contactless payment. I felt so proud. And of course, when I travel to other cities, it’s so much easier for me as a visitor to use contactless payment than to have to figure out how to buy a ticket.
Annual membership of Women in Transport is £60 per year providing access to professional development and networking opportunities. We very much welcome guest blogs from our members - a great way to share the incredible diversity of opportunity in transport, raise your profile and connect with our community. Join us today.
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