An interview with: Amanda Robinson from Health Steps
This month, we held the inaugural Women In Tech event. We are grateful to everyone who joined us at Fraser House Hub for an evening of insightful discussions about how we can champion women in tech and close the gender gap.
During the event, Amanda Robinson shared her experience as a woman in tech.
We caught up with Amanda after the event to dive deeper into her career journey, exploring the topic of burnout and seeing what advice she could share to help other women in tech find their feet in a male-dominated environment.
Introducing Amanda Robinson
Amanda Robinson is a self-described Lancashire lass with a strong work ethic. From a very young age, she could be found helping her Grandma in the village post office during the summertime. Since the early 1990s, Amanda has been involved in the world of tech.
After a 22-year long career in tech and 18 years in eCommerce, Amanda followed her passion to hel others as she retrained as health coach.
These days, Amanda offers business consultancy for tech and eCommerce companies while also helping people put their health and wellbeing first through her health coaching business, Health Steps.
First off, tell us about your career journey so far
Amanda: When I was in my final year of school, back in 1990, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I found studying and academia really tricky and challenging, particularly revision. It was like climbing Mount Everest. I couldn’t do it.
So, I dropped out of school with two Cs, five Ds and an E in GCSE. Even though people thought I was intelligent and bright, I just wasn’t academic.
I’m from a working class family with a very hard work ethic at its core. I was brought up believing that if you couldn’t afford it, you didn’t have it. I had a part-time job from the age of 14. I worked all through being a teenager then at the age of 18, I got my first full-time job at Winfields — a local outdoors company in Haslingden.
That job allowed me to live the life I wanted at the time. I was really into the underground Acid house party scene in Lancashire and working full-time allowed me to earn money and live that lifestyle of working hard and then partying hard. It was such as experience. It also allowed me to buy my first home — a terraced two bedroom house — at the age of 19.
In 1993, I got a job at Airtours who, at the time, were a really up-and-coming business in the Lancashire area and it was amazing. They were such a good company to work for.
“I dropped out of school with two Cs, five Ds and an E in GCSE. Even though people thought I was intelligent and bright, I just wasn’t academic.”
I worked in the call centre there. But if an opportunity ever came up to try something else, I always took it. One thing that came up was covering reception. So I did that too. I got to learn about the company — all the different departments, what they do, and why they do it.
I guess I’ve always been inquisitive and curious, I asked a lot of questions. I wanted to know more about everything in the business.
One day, I had a chat with my boss and told her that I felt I could give them a lot more. She mentioned that I could progress to a supervisor position but that wasn’t what I had in mind. I became a supervisor which was great — it taught me a lot about how to manage teams and people. So that was good but it wasn’t really what I had in mind.
Then, my boss offered me a position in the IT department. As the kind of person who said yes to opportunities, I was like, “Absolutely!” and then I thought to myself, “Wow, IT — that’s impressive.”
So, it was about 1998, and I joined a project for 6 months on secondment, and I’ve never been out of tech since then.
Initially, I was a business analyst, I then progressed to working as a Senior Project Manager, delivering strategic projects, including the eCommerce strategy for MyTravel.
The company was going through a lot of changes and in 2007, they were acquired by Thomas Cook. I was Programme Manager for the data migration between the MyTravel and Thomas Cook systems. That was a really challenging time because we went from a team of hundreds of employees to maybe 20 of us who were left in the building getting the project finished.
That marked the end of my career with MyTravel and Thomas Cook. I joined another up-and-coming tech company in the travel space called Blue Sky. I worked there for about 12-months before they closed.
I joined Trueshopping Ltd, a Burnley based business, as their Head of IT and Development. At the time of interviewing, I did something that I think a lot of women do and I said, “I can do all of this project stuff, no problem. I can spot gaps in your infrastructure and architecture and explain what you need to do to bridge the gaps. But, I can’t do all this other stuff…” and they laughed because they had never had someone talk themselves out of a job before. The company called me directly after discovering my CV on Monster - if I had seen the job spec before interviewing, I never would have gone for it!
Anyway, they brought me on board and I stayed with them for about five years working on some really cool projects with the Magento eCommerce platform, a new warehouse management system and changes to their logistics integrations
During my time there, I was going through some personal challenges and suffered four miscarriages. It really took its toll on both my partner and I. As a woman, you feel like you can’t talk about this stuff in business, you have to get back in there and pretend as if nothing ever happened. Career wise there was no progression in sight either. I’d delivered some incredible results for the business. At that point, I knew I had some big decisions to make about my life. That was a really defining moment.
I was ready to take some time out and just spend a few months looking after myself and my health and I did that for a few months from November to January. Then, in the new year, I put something on LinkedIn — something like “pastures new” — and an old contact reached out to me with an opportunity at Boohoo in Manchester.
I joined Boohoo where, for five years, I moved from Head of IT to Head of Tech Supply Chain and Logistics. I oversaw the technical infrastructure workstream for a multi-million-pound project, automating warehouse operations and bringing together engineering, software and hardware. It was the highlight of my career project wise – it was far more than just software deliverables.
Not bad for a girl who dropped out of school with terrible results!
That’s my corporate career and my story. From there, I retrained as a Health Coach, and I now balance my health coaching business alongside tech and eCommerce business consultancy.
What made you decide to make the leap from tech to health coaching — and how do the two coincide?
Amanda: While working at Boohoo, my health took a turn for the worst. At the same time, there were changes happening in the business.
I put it down to burnout but part of me also wonders if perhaps it was also perimenopause as the symptoms are so similar.
I was scraping through the week to get to the weekend, to then spend the weekend recovering ready for the next week. I also had a three-year-old child. I’m in my forties, I’ve got a very active and demanding child and a high-profile career, and things were changing at work. There was a lot happening and my health was taking a turn for the worst.
I went to the Doctors but there was only so much they could help me with. A friend recommended a nutritionist they worked with. I was skeptical and wasn’t sure how a nutritionist could help me when doctors couldn’t.
But I went… and I achieved some phenomenal results. She transformed my life and got my back to feeling good about myself. I got my health back on track and learned so much on the journey. This is when I realised that I needed to change my career to help people avoid burnout and live a better quality of life. I retrained as a health coach with the College of Naturopathic Medicine.
I went all in on the premise that if I didn’t make a business out of it, then at best I can help myself, my family, my close circle and anyone who might want to listen.
That’s how I fell into health coaching. Right now, I have my own health coaching business called Health Steps where I coach clients. I also offer consultancy within the eCommerce and tech space which offers a nice balance.
Tell me about feminine superpowers — what are they? And what role can they play in the tech world?
Amanda: I believe in, what I call, our feminine superpowers where there are some inherently female traits that can make women powerful in the workspace. I think our ability to nurture is one of those superpowers. Being able to nurture people really helps with the people management side of projects.
As women, I think we also tend to want to discuss matters that are important to us and we’re more likely to want to tackle things as they come up as opposed to just letting them fester. We want to get to the bottom of things. It’s not something that everyone does, but it’s definitely something I’ve noticed in a lot of women I work with, myself included.
There is also the ability to empathise with people. We’re very good at seeing things from other people’s perspectives and considering how changes in the project might affect other people.
On the flipside, women are also good at getting things done. We won’t let things wander on for too long.
There’s also that intuition — that gut feeling. I think our intuition is more powerful than we think, and we don’t use it enough, in my opinion.
I’d say those are some of the feminine superpowers that we can tap into in tech.
There’s no denying that the tech world is unfortunately very male-centric. What can women, or rather people with feminine qualities, do to survive in a male-dominated environment?
Amanda: Being a woman in tech is tough. It is a predominantly male environment where it can be easy to feel like you need to be one of the lads in order to succeed.
My advice is don’t be one of the lads unless you want to be. Not everyone wants to use their feminine superpowers. I think the most important thing is to just be yourself.
Be yourself and tackle any issues as they arise — focusing on the how you intend to tackle those issues rather than just going in all guns blazing.
Listen to your intuition too. If you have a feeling about something, talk to people. Find someone you can talk to. It might not be the person or persons that are affecting you, it can be someone else entirely. Just make sure you find someone you can talk to when things come up.
Above all else, just try to be you - something I wish I’d done more of, especially in my early days of my career when I was constantly trying to prove myself. I wish I’d have been a little bit more me.
We need to let go of this idea that people in tech look a certain way. Once you get that sweet spot in a team where you have different skills, different experiences, and cultures, that’s when you get a team that works well.
“Above all else, just try to be you.”
You’ve had your own brush with burnout throughout your career. How can tech leaders protect themselves and their team from burnout?
Amanda: I know burnout has happened at least twice in my career but I often wonder if it happened without me even knowing? In my twenties to thirties, I was working every hour under the sun. It was silly.
I think it’s exciting that today, gen Z are saying “No way will I do that”. People value their wellbeing and making sure they are well and present, as opposed to being stressed and burnt out.
When I was in my 20s to 30s, we got results and we delivered great projects but to what extent? What impact did it have? So, I think it’s great that people are moving away from that approach.
In my health coaching, I want to encourage people to work in a way that supports their wellbeing and their health.
The first time I recognised burnout in myself, I was embarrassed. Because I felt like I was a quitter and I’m not a quitter. But I realise now that I wasn’t quitting, I wasn’t taking time out for myself. I was investing in myself and my next career move by making sure I turned up feeling fresh and ready to go again. I think the first thing you have to do is understand what burnout looks like for you.
Talk about it. What does burnout look like? How do you know you’re feeling burnt out?
We should be able to have a conversation about burnout without the fear. We need to remove the fear and stigma by talking about it.
Once we’ve got past the “talk about it” piece, we need to think about how to put that into place within a business. Then, we need to build processes to protect people.
And if you see someone who isn’t acting like themselves, or who is probably experiencing burnout, speak to them. Ask how they’re feeling. See how you, especially if you are a leader, can support them.
To summarise, we need to talk about it. We need to remove the stigma and we need to take action to help people.
Can you tell us more about the work you do as a health coach?
Amanda: Health coaching can be delivered either one-to-one or in group coaching. It can also be done in a business setting (b2b) or outside of the business (b2c).
From a business perspective, coaching can be delivered in different ways. It can be one-to-one within such as exec-level coaching or it can be done in groups and workshops. We could, for example, work through a specific topic like burnout to help your company know what to look for, how to manage it, and how to handle it.
A lot of people think of health coaching as being about movement and nutrition, but it’s more than that. It’s about making sure you have the tools in your toolkit to look after yourself.
There’s a tool I use called The Wheel Of Life which has five different aspects to it and the idea is to help you reach a point where you have a nice, even wheel.
It’s not about quick-wins or sticking plasters on things. It’s about sustainable changes that are set to last your lifetime. It also offers that extra level of accountability and that push to actually do things for you. You are your greatest investment!
I get so much satisfaction from seeing my clients succeed and transforming their health and wellbeing. By working together as client and coach, being their ally, and taking small steps, my clients have made huge changes in their lives.
Health coaching provides a safe place for people to talk openly, get support, and take action. It’s a very effective process and service.
What advice would you give for women in tech who perhaps want to progress their career but are worried that they’re being held back?
Amanda: Looking back at where I’ve come from with my career, I got to where I was my asking for help. I didn’t know what I wanted to do but I knew I wanted to do more. So, the first thing I’ll say is to always ask for help. Ask around you and find the right people to talk to.
If you don’t know who the right person to ask is then ask everybody until you find someone who can put you in contact with the right person.
I also think we need to talk more about the challenges and experiences we face as women. If you want to set up a family life, or struggle with your monthly cycles — whatever it is — we have to start talking about it more. By talking about it we can raise awareness and make it less of a taboo subject.
Of course, there are some topics that are sensitive and it’ll really come down to the individual if they’re comfortable talking about it, but as a whole, we can really benefit from talking about things more.
I think it’s our responsibility as women to talk about these things and teach men how to deal with them. I also think we can’t be afraid to tackle issues. If someone says or does something you don’t like, tackle it. But, find the right way to tackle it. Don’t let people get away with things, find a way to address the issue and move forward.
From a business perspective, business leaders need to recognise when they have a toxic culture. They need to know when to bring people on board to help them create a more supportive and inclusive culture.
Are there any exciting projects on the horizon that you want to tell us about?
Amanda: I’ve been nominated for a Freshies award for the Wellbeing Warrior category which is exciting. I’ve never been through the awards process before so to be, first, nominated, and secondly, told that I’m though to the next round is amazing.
I’m working on a group programme for B2C clients that I’ll be launching in Q1.
I’ve got another exciting project lined up for next year but I’m not sure I can talk about it yet… you’ll just have to keep watching to hear when I announce that.
Any final words of wisdom for women in tech?
Amanda: I think it’s kind of becoming my mantra by now, but my first piece of advice is just be yourself. Always. Oh, and use your feminine superpowers.
The second thing I’d say it it’s always better to regret doing something you’ve done rather than regret not doing it.
And finally, ask questions. Speak up and ask for help. Nobody will be able to help you if you don’t ask them. It sounds simple but we often forget to do it.
You might really want a promotion but if you don’t tell people you want it, how will they know you’re interested? You might not be demonstrating any signs that you want it, so you need to tell people or ask people. You need to ask for what you want.
Final thoughts — Be yourself and write your own story
Amanda is living proof that you can build a career in tech without any formal qualifications or experience. Simply show up with a curious mind and a willingness to try new opportunities. Thanks to her inquisitive nature, Amanda managed to carve out an impressive tech career spanning over twenty years.
As for being a woman in tech, if there’s one thing you take away from our chat with Amanda, we hope it’s this: Be yourself.
Don’t feel like you have to change who you are or mould yourself to fit other people’s expectations. Stay true to who you are and tap into your feminine superpowers.
If you would like to learn more about Amanda Robinson and her health coaching or business consultancy services, you can find Amanda on LinkedIn or visit her site.