Vote 100

Her willingness to help and ‘refreshingly honest’ approach to providing support and advice are reasons enough why our head of data science, Katherine James, has been nominated for our Vote 100 campaign.

Junior data scientist, Freddie Odukomaiya, said: ‘Before I officially joined Royal Mail, I went through two sets of interviews. I was lucky to make it through the first interview. However, before the second interview, I had received other job offers and was told to make a decision ASAP before the second interview.

‘Following this, I called Kat and spoke to her about what it’s actually like to work for Royal Mail and how she would approach the decision I had to make (i.e. reject the other offers, taking a chance by waiting till the second Royal Mail interview before I knew whether I would receive an offer). She was surprisingly and refreshingly honest in her response, and this honestly played a large part in me making the decision to reject the other offers and wait for the second interview.

‘I believe Kat’s personality and attitude has played a massive role in building the culture within the Data Science team (which was officially recognised as the Best Place to Work in Data by DataIQ last year).

Lastly, as a junior data scientist, there is a lot of technical knowledge you need to learn if you want to do your job well. Asking for help is sometimes intimidating especially if the person you’re asking is quite senior. But this doesn’t apply to Kat at all because I think her best traits are actually both her willingness to help, and the patience she shows when helping you.

‘I have been at Royal Mail for almost two years now and it’s been a fantastic place to work as both a data scientist and a woman,’ said Katherine. ‘We get to work with an amazing amount of data on an extremely varied range of projects. The culture in the team is very supportive and collaborative, something with is supported by all team members as well as by our brilliant senior team.

‘No one is afraid to ask for help and the positive attitude from the whole team allows me to bring my whole self to work. We are a very creative team and a lot of that comes from appreciating and celebrating our diversity. I try to encourage my team to teach each other and help colleagues’ career progression. I believe that allows us to deliver the best possible solutions we can for both our wider colleagues and customers.’

Vote 100

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Our Vote 100 campaign is close to wrapping up but there’s still time to help us showcase the enormous contribution Royal Mail women make each and every day both to colleagues and customers, ensuring we remain the UK’s most trusted postal operator.

If there is someone in your workplace who you admire for their outstanding work ethic, their drive to improve their own and others’ skills, their knack for supporting or mentoring others, showing kindness, overcoming obstacles, or influencing positive behaviour – we want to hear from you!

Please send your name and contact details plus the name of the colleague you wish to nominate and your reasons for doing so, to vote100@royalmail.com. We will then be in touch to obtain further details.