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Most importantly, as a woman, you need to find your voice and unapologetically use it because a woman's perspective now is more important than ever.
To celebrate International Women's Day we're featuring some of the inspiring women in our graduate community. BSc Forensic Investigation graduate Holly Proudstreet took the time to chat to us about her career journey, raising money for charity and more.
Hi Holly! Please tell us a bit about yourself.
My name is Holly Proudstreet (she/her) and I did BSc Forensic Investigation. I'm currently doing an MA in Cyber Security at the University of South Wales, however, during the pandemic I was leading a COVID lab that did PCR testing, antibody testing and preparing samples for sequencing.
You’re at the start of your professional journey, where do you see yourself in 10 years?
It's really hard to predict where I'll be with cyber security because it's so vast and the challenges are constantly changing and evolving. But, my main interest lies predominantly in cyber forensics, ethical hacking, cryptology, and intelligence. I'm also really really ambitious so, I'd say director Holly has a nice ring to it, haha!
What or who inspired you to pursue a career in forensics/cyber?
I'm going with a completely cliche answer - growing up I was obsessed with shows like Criminal Minds, Bones etc, and wanted to be Penelope Garcia!
You recently shaved your head to raise money for charity - can you tell us more about that, please?
In October 2022 my youngest brother was diagnosed with Leukaemia and Lymphoma. He started chemotherapy straight away at Noah's Ark Children's Hospital. To kind of make him feel less insecure we decided to make a pact that when he started to lose his hair, I'd shave mine off too. In the process, we would donate money to a charity of his choice. Without hesitation he picked Latch, which is the Welsh children's charity based at Noah's Ark, that provides financial and emotional support to the children there. They've been amazing and so far I think we've raised over £600!
It’s still tough being a woman in 2023, as a confident and strong young woman, what advice could you give others?
I think my advice would be to make your adversity your advantage. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable because I think the best decisions you ever make will come from that. Most importantly, as a woman, you need to find your voice and unapologetically use it because a woman's perspective now is more important than ever.