Q . WHO WAS YOUR CHILDHOOD HERO AND WHY ?
» I think it has to be Superman – because he could do everything ! From flying to carrying heavy objects , to supersonic sound and sight . He was an all-rounder . I think that ’ s always resonated with me , especially as a working mother ; we have to be able to ‘ do it all ’, too .
Q . WHAT ' S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU EVER RECEIVED ?
» My background is in operational claims handling , so when I first started working in technology and data I had very limited hands-on experience . My career counsellor at that time gave me two pieces of invaluable advice : the first was to understand my own strengths and weaknesses ; the second was to work with others who are strong where I ’ m weak and weak where I ’ m strong . This allows us to bounce off each other and build our skill-sets collaboratively . So I made it my mission to spend time with technologists and data analysts , learning necessary skills from this new perspective . In turn , I lent my operational experience to them , helping them understand claims operations .
Q . WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK YOU READ - AND HOW LONG AGO DID YOU READ IT ?
» The last book I read was ‘ I Am My Brand ’ by Kubi Springer at the start of the year . I love reading but do find it difficult to find time and have recently turned to podcasts , which I can listen to whilst multitasking . The podcasts I ’ ve been listening to recently include the Insurtech Insider podcast by 11 : FS , InsTech with Matthew Grant and , of course , Steven Bartlett ’ s Diary of a CEO .
Q . NAME ONE PIECE OF TECHNOLOGY YOU COULDN ’ T LIVE WITHOUT AND WHY ?
» At the moment it ’ s Netflix and my Apple watch . They both just make things easy and convenient , while offering a very personalised experience . I love how , despite using the exact same technology as my closest family members , my Netflix account or my Apple watch set up are so personal to me . So much so , that I feel lost and disconcerted when I scroll through my husband ’ s Netflix account or even pick up his watch . It almost feels like I ’ ve stepped into my neighbour ’ s house – it ’ s kind of the same but so different !
“ As a business , we are also helping insurance providers gain a 360 ° -view of their customers based on all the data they currently hold ”
Q . WHO DO YOU LOOK UP TO IN TERMS OF LEADERSHIP AND MENTORSHIP ?
» Preetham Peddanagari , Head of Technology Consulting at EY . Working with Preetham helped me build my confidence exponentially due to his trust in me and giving me opportunities to continuously build my career . insurtechdigital . com 21