Lucy Smith
I am an award winning serial social entrepreneur who talks passionately about neurodiversity. I grew up in a neurodivergent family without realising it, I thought my family were normal but turns out not… well depends how you look at things really. I have never done things in a traditional way - got married at 18, went to uni at 25, when microfiche was still a thing and I still don’t do things in expected ways. Thats why I am submitting a paper to bsides because I am probably not the typical cyber speaker. I ended up in a career in change management after 16 years in law enforcement, doing some of the most exciting jobs you can imagine but the OSA means i can’t talk about that. I have won awards from the BBC for the work we have done at Inclusive Change and even suffered significant head injury when that award literally went to my head (it landed on my head after falling from a shel). I have been recognised by the prime minister for community work and development of a neurodivergent mentoring programme. I now run an organisation that employs 90% neurodivergent thinkers (the other 10% just haven’t admitted it yet). Harry is probably my fave.
Session
Can we rely on existing ways of recruiting and retaining talent if we want to build the workforce for the future? Cyber is known as a space for neurodivergent thinkers but how can we create inclusive workplaces to embrace creativity and innovation for the next generation with neurodiversity in mind.