During the year of Celebration for 30 years of co-education, we celebrated, on 9th March, International Women’s Day 2020 with simultaneous breakfast events in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and London for Gordonians and friends.

In Aberdeen, Andrea Woolner, Class of ‘04 who is a Clinical Lecturer and Honorary Speciality trainee registrar in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, spoke about her time at Gordon’s saying ‘my education at Robert Gordon’s College has shaped who I am today’. Within her own profession she reminded us that ‘women bring life into the world every single day’ and ‘we have to embrace progress.’

Emma Seddon, Class of ‘00, Senior Legal Advisor at Vialex in Edinburgh provided an inspiring presentation about her role and experience in corporate law and financial services. Emma discussed the skills required for the future with reference to a recent Nesta report to outline these in more detail and sparked many interesting discussions around the table.

Esther Krukowski, Class of ‘95, Senior Credit and Equity Analyst at BlueBay Asset Management spoke at our London event. Being one of the first girls at Gordon’s 30 years ago we were delighted that Esther could be our guest speaker, she highlighted the values she learnt at Gordon’s and how they have prepared her for life and for work. She said, “The varied multi-disciplinary education I received is invaluable in my day-to-day job when I need to analyse information from around the world and across different sectors.” 

Our three speakers were excellent role models speaking about the skills, attributes and mindset required for the future world of work and we thank our three hosts Kevin Reynard, Class of ‘83, Andrew Sloan, Class of ‘96 and Iain Anderson, Class of ‘86.