Beverly Clarke MBE
From humble beginnings, I achieved award winning success, last week I celebrated a momentous occasion at Windsor Castle, when I attended my investiture to receive my MBE from Princess Anne, for Services to Education.
Where it began
My journey to award winning success started with my father taking me to the library every Saturday morning as a child in Georgetown, Guyana. I was an avid reader. At the age of twelve due to economic circumstances my parents migrated to The Bahamas and worked there as teachers. It was at this point that I first interacted with a computer when stopping over in Florida.
The New Girl
Going to school in The Bahamas, I was the “new girl”, my parents were posted to different islands, and I became very adaptable at fitting into new classes and at times being taught by my own parents. At age fifteen, we moved to England, so that I could continue my education as my parents were thinking ahead about opportunities for their children.
Thanks to Mr McNulty, I excelled in Computer Science lessons. This led me to university and then into the world of work, working for organisations in a variety of roles from first and second line support to building servers and eradicating viruses. I also started leading teams. Becoming a parent also coincided with redundancy. These are two big events in a persons life, to which I had to adapt very quickly.
Career Building
I retrained to work in the education sector and combined this with my industry skills. Thus began a fourteen year teaching career. From teacher, through to Head of Department and then Director of Computing and Digital Learning. During this time, a few things were happening, both personally and professionally, I started writing magazine articles and building my professional learning network beyond the school gates, including being the behind the scene script writer for a BBC Teach video series, with a worldwide reach. I also became a single parent to two young children. There was a lot to juggle, full time work, being a parent and also gaining further qualifications. I kept putting my best foot forward.
New Pastures
Fast forward and life took a different turn, with new opportunities. I relocated to the South West of England and with a remit of invigorating the region, I began to put Computing and Tech Education on the map. Travelling across the region, speaking at and organising conferences, bringing speakers and opportunities to the region, meeting teachers and supporting them with what they needed.
My first book
In 2017, I wrote and published my very first book – Computer Science Teacher – insight into the Computer Science Classroom. I didn’t believe I had a book in me, when I was asked to write 35,000 words I was fearful, I even tried to negotiate for less! I was doubtful but I kept writing and with over 55,000 words – I was published.
Artificial intelligence
Since university days, I was always interested in Artificial Intelligence (AI), I had a chance encounter with someone in “cyberspace”, this led to introductions with tech giant NVIDIA, and saw me write AI curricula for use in the UK, for K-12 (reaching over 55K students) and also contribute to other K-12 curricula and UK, with significant reach. I also started speaking at conferences. The first time I spoke to a one thousand seater room, my knee was shaking inside, but I did it! After I spoke, people rushed up to the stage wanting to know more, my words and work were having impact.
Making an impact
I started noticing that people were contacting me asking for advice and also thanking me for the impact I was having upon their career. Others were seeing something in me, that I hadn’t seen (at first) in myself. My work was making a difference. I knew there was more to do.
A developing career
My career continued to develop, with joining advisory boards, becoming a trustee, judging awards, writing articles and resources, along with leading computing education nationally. In between all of these experiences, there were a couple of constant themes arising – there weren’t enough women entering the STEM sector, lack of young people taking up STEM careers and a lack of lots of types of diversity within the sector. I reflected and thought, I could do something about this, thinking back to my childhood and library visits, I thought where was reading for pleasure on tech topics? It simply didn’t exist. So, I took the bull by the horns and started writing, this gave rise to “The Digital Adventures of Ava and Chip” book series – a children’s book series with a tech theme. Being niche, after writing to lots of publishers and in 99% of cases not getting a reply or a “we regret” letter, I knew I couldn’t let this slide, so I researched the self-publishing process, invested my own funds and brought the series to life. Book four has recently been published – a tech activity book, to complement the three stories. What I learnt here is, self-belief and putting my best foot forward, I didn’t wait for approval from anyone else, I knew there was a need so I did something about it.
Challenge
In the midst of my achievements, I started feeling unwell in 2021 and was subsequently diagnosed with Graves Thyroid Disease. Since then, it has been treated, it went into remission and also re-emerged. Why do I share this? Against my success story there is something else going on. The effects of thyroid conditions can be quite debilitating, and at times one has to draw mental and physical strength to manage some of the side effects. But, I always try to see the positive in everything.
Redundancy Again
Following another period of redundancy, You now meet me today, I have continued to build my career as a strategic advisor, education consultant, coach, trustee for two national charities and I founded my own charity – Technology Books for Children. The need for children (and families) to read for pleasure on tech topics is great. I firmly believe that this is one of the ways in which we can address the digital divide.
Award Winning Success
Across the years, I have won a few awards, in 2022 I was a Tech Women 100 Award Winner and also a Small Business Sunday Award winner (through the Ava and Chip Books). I have also featured on the Computer Weekly longlist of women in Tech for three consecutive years.
My investiture was a wonderful occasion. My husband and parents were proud and beaming and so was I. Everything from the walk through the art galleries, speaking with and greeting other recipients of honours, the very welcoming staff at the castle, fantastic grounds and of course speaking with and shaking hands with the Princess Royal. A day I will never forget. I am pleased to have put my best foot forward at all times.
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When you are ready, here are some of the ways in which you can work with me:
- Book me to speak at your event – and hear my talk – From humble beginnings to award winning success
- Book me to host your event
- Work with me as your non-executive director/education consultant/strategic advisor
- Sponsor my book series into schools
- Support my charity on a variety of programmes
- Work with me as your coach (individually or organisation)
- Engage with me as your guest columnist