Empowering You named “Diversity Champion of the Year” at the Scottish Cyber Awards
“The network and sense of community that has developed around this program is the real reason that it’s been so successful, and that has very much been a joint effort.”
Leadership development specialists, Empowering You, were crowned “Diversity Champion of the Year” at the 2022 Scottish Cyber Awards last week in Edinburgh. The Scottish Cyber Awards, now in its sixth year, is one of the cornerstones of the Scottish cyber events calendar and serves as an annual celebration of excellence and innovation across the sector. This year’s Awards, hosted by comedian Fred MacAulay at the Sheraton Hotel in Edinburgh, had again attracted over 300 attendees from across the public, private and not for profit sectors.
Empowering You had been shortlisted in the “Diversity Champion” category and were up against stiff competition, alongside Scotland’s industry body for the tech sector, ScotlandIS and Quorum Cyber’s newly appointed Cyber Advocacy Director, Ciara Mitchell for her work as Scottish Cyber Cluster Manager. Empowering You were being recognised for the success of their “Empowering Women to Lead Cyber Security” program, which had launched in 2021 as a cross-sector initiative, designed to develop a sustainable community of empowered and empowering female cyber leaders in Scotland.
Chris Woodcock, Empowering You’s Director of Partnerships, was on the stage to collect the Award from sponsors Sapphire, alongside fellow nominees Ciara Mitchell and ScotlandIS chief executive, Karen Meechan. Commenting on the recognition the company had received, Chris said, “When Steve Cliff and I first launched the Empowering Women to Lead Cyber Security program 12 months ago, we had no idea that it would lead to this. It really is a privilege for our work to be recognised but the network and sense of community that has developed around this program is the real reason that it’s been so successful, and that has very much been a joint effort. Ciara and Karen have been integral alongside the Scottish Government and the support we’ve had from industry partners ranging from Quorum Cyber and the CyberScotland Partnership through to Adarma and Morgan Stanley has been invaluable. Ultimately though, the program wouldn’t exist without all of the amazing women who take part and show such commitment to the program and then throw themselves into the alumni network. This is really their award.”
Empowering Women to Lead Cyber Security is an open program and free of charge to all participants. The call for applications to the Spring 2023 program is now open and interested applicants can find more information on the content and how to apply here.
