"Investing in equity important for breaking down barriers for women in STEM" says Bristol CEO

Donna Speed started her career in the visitor attraction industry at Alton Towers at just 16 years old after leaving school with one GCSE.

She is proof that to be successful and get ahead, you don’t need to follow a traditional career path. 

Donna said:

“I worked in the entertainment department, working on the shows, children’s play areas and the hotel leisure club. And I just fell in love with being a small part of people’s best days. What started as a summer job, ended up being a first step in a career for me.”

She is now CEO of Bristol-based We The Curious, an educational charity, and one of the largest science centres in the UK and Initiative Members of Business West. The Bristol Initiative, Business West’s top-level membership is a group of 160 business leaders and individuals who want to positively influence the way the region is shaped, managed, and developed. 

“I didn't get science at all at school.” She says. “I felt like it wasn’t for me. I didn’t ask questions – I always had them but my hand was never up as I never had the answers.”

“When I started working at At Bristol (now We The Curious), the mission of breaking down barriers for people and science being for everyone really worked on me in quite an overwhelming way. It was the first time that I felt like I could be part of science and it was okay to ask questions and okay to explore.”

After 17 years of “making science accessible to all”, At-Bristol relaunched as We The Curious in September 2017, with a new direction and focus to “create a culture of curiosity”. A name that reflected their movement to remove boundaries between science, art, people, and ideas, and a place that champions the value of curiosity for everyone. 

Donna now sits on a number of boards including The Association of Science and Discovery Centres, Bristol City Council’s Economy Board, Bath Preservation Trust, and the Business and Management advisory board for UWE Business School.

We interviewed her ahead of our panel event on 8th March, where she will be speaking alongside four other brilliant South West women in business.

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She said:

“We need places like We The Curious because there are barriers into STEM for many. 

“In some cases, there’s still an unhelpful narrative about science and maths being for boys, and creative arts being more for girls, which is damaging for young people to see portrayed.

“We need as many voices and as many creative solutions and that needs everyone to be part of the conversation.” 

Our interview with Donna came in the same week that Dame Angela McLean was announced as the new Government Chief Scientific Officer advisor, succeeding Sir Patrick Vallance, after advising the MoD and working with Sage during pandemic. 

Commenting on this news, Donna said:

“To have established role models is really important. There are so many inspirational female scientists and more needs to be done to profile this, and to help young women recognise this.”

Donna’s best piece of advice for women starting our in their careers is to believe in yourself, even when things like imposter syndrome creeps in.

She said:

“Surround yourself with people who will be honest and encouraging. There can be many things that can feel intimidating in the workplace and its important to have those role models who can support you.”

With the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day being Embrace Equity, we asked Donna how businesses should ensure this is a priority: 

“Companies should make a statement of intent with equity so that it’s part of their organisational core. And if it isn't, and you are employee who recognises it isn’t, maybe start asking questions of that organisation, on what their stance is, and what their plan is. Be brave.

“At We The Curious, we’ve started with a wellbeing promise, and one of our pledges is to include everyone; that means everyone in the organisation as well as outside of it and those we serve. 

“We’re lucky to have this as an organisational pledge, cross team working group and critically, someone in the organisation driving equity as their job. You’ve got to have individuals progressing this and I believe it shouldn’t just be tagged onto someone’s job. You’ve got to invest.”