Biography:Anne-Marie Imafidon

Short description: British child prodigy and STEM activist

Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE HonFREng
Imafidon in 2018
Born	Anne-Marie Osawemwenze Ore-Ofe Imafidon Barking, London, England
Alma mater	University of Oxford (MSc)
Known for	Stemettes
Awards	Suffrage Science award (2020)
Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics Computer science Social enterprise
Institutions	Stemettes Goldman Sachs Hewlett-Packard Deutsche Bank
Website	{{{1}}}

Anne-Marie Osawemwenze Ore-Ofe Imafidon MBE HonFREng (pronounced: /ɪmˈæfɪdən/, i-MA-fi-dən; is a British-Nigerian social entrepreneur and computer scientist. She founded and became CEO of Stemettes in 2013, a social enterprise promoting women in STEM careers. In June 2022, she was announced as the 2022–2023 President of the British Science Association. She has worked for companies such as Goldman Sachs, Hewlett-Packard and Deutsche Bank. She has spoken at many international conferences such as the Web Summit, SXSW, and the Women of the World Festival. She is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Girl Guides and the Council of Digital Economy as well as the trustee of the Institute for the Future of Work.

Early life and education

Imafidon was born in the UK in 1990 and grew up in Walthamstow, east London. She is the eldest of five siblings. Her father Chris an ophthalmologist and her mother Ann, a linguist, taught her from a young age the importance of questioning the world we live in As a child, she excelled in science, technology, engineering and maths. At the age of 11 she was the youngest girl to pass A-level computing and became the youngest person to graduate with a master's degree at 20. She obtained her master's degree in mathematics and computer science from the University of Oxford.

Stemettes and Entrepreneurship

Imafidon is the co-founder of Stemettes, a social initiative promoting and inspiring women in STEM. Since its founding in 2013, it has reached 60,000 young people. Imafidon decided to create Stemettes after attending a STEM workshop organized by Business in the Community. She came to understanding that there is a prevailing issue of a lack of women and non-binary people in STEM. Imafidon emphasizes the importance of having not only diversity in STEM but in all industries. Stemettes' mission is to engage, inform and connect, young women and non binary people into steam. Stemettes' values itself as a organization that is inclusive and strives to center around the youth. She recently in 2022 launched her guidebook for women in stem called She's in CTRL.

Other work

In 2019, Imafidon hosted the Women Tech Charge podcast for The Evening Standard, where she conducted interviews with tech figures such as Jack Dorsey, and other celebrities such as Rachel Riley, and Lewis Hamilton.

She is a trustee of the Institute for the Future of Work, which researches ways to improve work and working lives. She is a member of the council at the Royal College of Art and at Research England, a member of the British Library's advisory council. Anne-Marie is also a member of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sports' Digital Skills Partnership Board.

In September 2021, Imafidon co-hosted a special episode of Channel 4's Countdown – broadcast for the channel's Black to Front Day campaign as arithmetician. She reprised the role later that year — standing in on 60 episodes for Rachel Riley while she was on maternity leave;

In December 2022, Imafidon guest-edited BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

In 2022, she was announced by the British Science Association as that organisation's president for the year 2022-3.

In June 2023, Imafidon was interviewed by Jim Al-Khalili for The Life Scientific podcast, discussing diversity and equality in science, recorded at the Cheltenham Arts Festival.

In the week beginning 22 January 2024, Imafidon was a contestant on the BBC Two game show Richard Osman‘s House of Games, finishing second behind comedian Leo Reich, but ahead of broadcaster Craig Doyle and former Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson, having won the Thursday episode.

Recognition

In 2017, Imafidon became an Honorary Fellow at Keble College, Oxford and was awarded an MBE for her work in being an inspiration for young women around the world in STEM. She was the 2022-2023 President of the British Science Association. In 2020, Imafidon was also voted the most influential women in tech in the UK. In that same year she received the Suffrage Science Award.

Quotes

“We need to stop looking at people who work in tech as unicorns or superheroes. They are people who have learned a skill and they are doing a job. Anyone can learn those skills.” “We need to get rid of this idea that some people are good at maths and some people aren’t. We’re all capable of understanding it if it’s explained in the right way.”

“If you can’t see it, you can’t be it. So we need to show girls and women that there are people like them in STEM and that they can succeed in these fields.”

“Diversity isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s essential if we want to build products and services that work for everyone.”

“There’s no such thing as a typical STEM person. Anyone can be a scientist, an engineer, a mathematician, or a technologist. It’s not about who you are, it’s about what you can do.”

External links

• Anne-Marie Imafidon on IMDb