Cathy Sorbara is a neuroscientist and passionate about raising the voices of women. For 10 years she worked as a researcher in academia in Canada and Germany, studying neurodegenerative diseases. But when she moved to England, Cathy decided to explore a different path. She became Chief Operations Officer of a start-up company called Cheeky Scientist, a global professional network that helps PhDs see their value and find meaningful work outside of academia.

Naily Makangu started as a Software Engineer at Siemens Industry Software before carving her own path into creating Athena Leaders, a remote-first management and leadership consultancy.
Having extensive experience in STEMM, she understands first-hand the leadership challenges faced within the industry. Her quest is to support businesses who are frustrated with not making progress, in need of transforming their existing leaders and looking for new practises to bring their teams together to share in the same mission. Think of her as the Mary Poppins of Business – sweeping away challenges while encouraging more laughter, play and creating happy high-performing teams.
To add, she has a proven track record of turning around struggling organisations and complex software projects/programmes. She once took an organisation from the brink of closure to winning five awards in less than a year. Some of the awards included “Most Outstanding Leader” and “Best Trainer” in the UK, and “Best Local Growth & Development Program” in Europe.
When she is not working, she loves salsa and sport, mostly Tennis and Boxing.
Feel free to check her out on LinkedIn if you’d like to find out more: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nailymakangu/