Sochima Okoye

One of the Tech Women Celebration 50 - women changing the ratio of the tech workforce

Sochima is a security consultant for cyber security company WithSecure™. Having started on the engagement and delivery side, she recently completed the company's Consulting Associate Scheme and now works alongside a wide range of clients to tackle some of the pressing security challenges.

"What initially attracted me to tech was seeing my older sister Nina make a small game with JavaScript for the first time," she comments. "She was just getting into coding and I hadn't even graduated but she would make these cool programs and eventually landed a job in software development where she could continue to do stuff like this full time. It was the first time I considered a career that was unrelated to my degree and outside the planned route."

Sochima works hard to make cybersecurity more diverse and connect people who may feel isolated in their individual parts of the business.

"I believe I made a difference by setting up a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) working group for the Solutions branch of WithSecure. It was a chance for those who are passionate about the subject to come together, voice their opinions and give their ideas for initiatives that we could work on as a company.

"Because this was a global initiative, it meant that colleagues from our other regional offices could join. One of our colleagues was in a team where locally, there weren't many women in her team. Joining our group meant that she was immediately connected to other women in tech, removing a sense of isolation that may have existed."

In common with some others in the Celebration 50, Sochima is a musician.

"Most people would probably be surprised that I love to sing," she says. I was part of a musical theatre troupe in university, have always been in a choir and it's a dream of mine to do a solo gig one day! What's probably more surprising is that me and my four other siblings are all musical in some way. Whenever we all together, there's usually a piano or guitar and a lot of singing!"