Leadership and Loyalty - 1/2 Dame Stephanie Shirley: From Refugee to IT Icon

What is true resilience? Imagine being stripped away from your birth family due to the circumstances of war? Imagine being shipped off to a country with a completely different language and having to live with strangers. Okay, that's tough enough. Now imagine entering into what at the time is a fledgling industry that wants nothing to do with you because it's a men's club and you are a woman. As if all that's not enough, let’s now imagine taking all that on the chin, and you go on to become a Technology Icon who started a software business employing only women in the 1960s. Stay tuned because, over the next two episodes, we sit down with a technology Icon and a true champion of women in technology and leadership since the 1960s, Dame Stephanie Shirley. In 1962 Dame Stephanie founded an all-woman software company that pioneered remote working and redefined the expectations and opportunities for working women at that time. Her company, Freelance Programmers, grew to 8,500 employees, was ultimately valued at almost $3 billion, and made 70 of her staff into millionaires. Since 'retiring,' her focus has been on philanthropy, especially on autism and IT. Over the last 30 years, Dame Stephanie has given away almost $100 million to good causes, primarily in the fields of autism and IT. Dame Stephanie is a workplace revolutionary, and successful IT entrepreneur turned ardent venture philanthropist. She is the first person to drop off the Time's Rich List, having given away too much of her money, an achievement which gives her great pleasure! Website www.steveshirley.com Social Media https://www.facebook.com/DameStephanie https://twitter.com/DameStephanie_ https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynnhartuk https://www.instagram.com/damestephanie Part 1) The Journey, Refugee to Champion for Women Where does Resilience Come From? "Think for Yourself-Not About Yourself" How Trusting Builds Trust Memoirs of a 5 Years Old Refugee Escaping the Nazi's