In this ongoing series, we speak to our winners about life after winning a TechWomen100 Award.
Now in their fifth year, the TechWomen100 Awards recognise and celebrate the achievements of women in tech – the emerging tech talent and role models for the future.
We spoke with Yasmin Johal, who won a TechWomen100 Award in 2020.
Yasmin Johal is an Associate at CMS UK specialising in FinTech and sits in the Financial Services Regulation team. She provides advice and helps shape developments in the fintech industry internationally. She is a committee member of the CMS equIP accelerator programme – designed to nurture the development of tech start-ups across the world. She is also a founding member of both the CMS #Leadhers & BAME founders campaigns, which help increase female & BAME diversity within the tech industry. Yasmin sits on the committee of the BAME Network and Inclusions Mental Health & Wellbeing Network which help foster diversity & inclusion across CMS globally. She is a tech speaker, podcast host and an advocate for increasing female & BAME representation in fintech. She has also authored industry thought leadership pieces on financial regulation, FinTech & innovation. Yasmin was named as one of the Top 35 Women in FinTech worldwide recognised as a Standout 35 Star in the Women in FinTech Powerlist 2020. She was also named as one of WeAreTechWomen’s Top 100 Women in Technology and was a TechWomen100 2020 Award Winner.
How did you feel when it was announced that you’d won a TechWomen100 award?
I was delighted to have won the award and be selected amongst such amazing role models within the tech sector. For me, it really shows the diversity of the tech sphere and also that tech is an industry and a wider ecosystem, and I am excited to be involved in that ecosystem and be making a contribution in the tech sector.
Please tell us what has happened in your career since winning the TechWomen100 award?
Since the award I was humbled to have been recongised as one of the Top 35 Women in FinTech worldwide recognised as a “Standout 35 Star in the Women in FinTech Powerlist 2020” with Innovate Finance, being commended for my involvement and advancement of the fintech sector. I have also had various speaking engagements, having been a panellist for the One Tech World conference with WATW, speaking with Cajigo regarding Women in Fintech and also speaking at various events regarding diversity within fintech. In addition to this, I have featured in numerous blogs and thought leadership pieces where I have discussed the importance of diverse representation within the fintech ecosystem and have been recognised as an “exceptional female role model”. In my professional capacity, I continue to work with broadsheets and industry bodies to help advance fintech tools and resources for all players within the fintech sphere.
What advice would you give to someone else going through the award’s process?
Network with everyone else that is involved in the award process, you can make so many acquaintances, allies and friends this way!
What tips would you give to our other members to enhance their careers?
Find your support network, these are the people that will champion your success.
Discover what happened next for some of our other TechWomen100 winners:
“I leveraged this award with further a role of a Speaker Manager alongside my current AITN ambassadorship at AiTechNorth. My role was to enable a dialogue with potential speakers who were business leaders, senior executives, and technologists, and to discuss their talks to find an amicable for the AI Summit Theme. I have further hosted an AI Tech North – innovation exchange fringe event – AI for Business with two renowned experts on Thursday 18th June. I feel my personal brand is developing as an academic delivering AI courses, pursuing my conversational AI research and widening my knowledge of the AI space. My AI tech North activities I feel have enriched my academic delivery.”
Kulvinder Panesar, TechWomen100 Winner 2019
“I was in total shock when it was announced that I had won a TechWomen100 award, I couldn’t believe it! I was so honoured to win this award and to be alongside so many other amazing women in the technology industry. It was a dream come true! I was so very sorry not to be able to make the ceremony and meet everyone, my father was in ill health at the time and I couldn’t leave him – I so wish I could have been there to meet all the other amazing and inspiring women who won a TechWomen100 award.”
TechWomen100Nominations are now open
The TechWomen100 awards are the first of their kind to focus solely on the female tech talent pipeline and recognise the impact of champions, companies and networks that are leading the way. Nominations are now open until 10 September 2021.
