This little girl is Katrina

This little girl; is me.

Why am I sharing? Because research says that 70% of girls feel different about their futures after hearing from women role models. Thanks to?Inspiring Girls International?and?Women's Forum for the Economy & Society?for asking us to inspire the next generation of girls by sharing our stories.

I went to a small village primary school with only 2-3 people in each year group, we had one room with a divider down the middle and 2 teachers for everyone aged 4-11.

A lot of the learning was self-taught using the text books available.?When I completed Peak Maths 6 in my second to last year, the school did not have any Level 7 books so I repeated level 6 at least 3 times before I finished school. Learning to self-teach and self-motivate was some of the best lessons I learnt at primary school that were so useful for life.

Life at home was very self-sufficient, we grew our own veg and raised our own animals (the picture is me bottle feeding one of our goat kids) .?Mum and Dad had their own business repairing washing machines and a small shop selling electrical items. When I came home from school I was either helping milk the goats and manage the animals or answering the phone to customers who had a broken washing machine or cooker.??At 8 years old (when my brother want to big school) I had my own key and would walk home from school let myself in and get started on the jobs.?During the holidays I would go out with my Dad in his van and be his little helper.

At 11 I remember, the whole school, other than myself and 2 others (also in my year),?been taken out of school and we were given our first ever exam.?We did not know what was happening. I later found out it was my 11 plus.?As I did not pass the paper I attended the local secondary modern school.?I remember regularly being reminded that this was not a school for academic achievement.?I remember when I was regularly getting a B for GCSE English course work plucking up the courage to ask the teacher for feedback and how I could improve and being told that the teacher did not have time for anyone getting a C or above, she needed to focus on those who were struggling to get E's.

I remember during secondary school my parents and brother would laugh and question why I was doing homework and would suggest I should focus on "real" work.?I was often teased for doing homework, after all no one in my family had every done homework before.?Many around me saw it as unnecessary and a waste of time.?I was not popular at school and there was a lot of name calling and taunting.

In the later years of school my parents opened a market stall.?Saturdays were spent running the stall and observing the Market Traders and their calls.?Saturday night involved packing the van ready for the outdoor market on Sunday.??I remember the winter months setting off from home at 5.30am and building the cold metal stall in the icy conditions.?A good pair of gloves were essential.?What my parents struggled to teach me in academics they more than made up for in so many ways.?They taught me customer service, a really important work ethic, to treat others the way you would want to be treated, to never ask someone to do anything you would not be prepared to do.??I was given responsibilities and opportunities whether it be manging the market stall or shop, filling in tax returns, designing a promotional campaign and leaflet dropping.?My parents are amazing and they gave me the best real world education ever! They also gave me and continue to give me so much love and support.

At school I struggled with writing and spelling.?But worked really hard.?The dictionary was constantly in use and eventually I saved up enough money to buy an electronic type writer with a spell checker.?I would write a line at a time and it would beep when the word was spelt incorrectly.?I would then find the correct spelling in the dictionary and correct.?I would press enter and the daisy wheel would print the line.?I can not explain what a difference this type writer meant to me.?Even back then I think I knew I was dyslexic but it was not the sort of thing you admitted instead you saved all you money to buy a typewriter and found clever ways to hide this from people.???These problem solving techniques were a massive part of my education and allowed me to develop many strengths.?It was not until 42 that I received my formal dyslexic diagnosis.?The lady assessing explained I was actually severely dyslexic and enquired who had taught me the various coping mechanisms she saw me use during the assessment.?These were all entirely self-taught and again evidenced the problem solving skills dyslexia has allowed me to develop.

Then came the teacher that made the biggest difference to my education and encouraged me to break the mould.?Only a few months before my GCSE English exam, I like all the rest school had been entered for the intermediate Maths paper, meaning the highest grade I could achieve was a C.?My maths teacher said he though I could achieve more.?He asked if I wanted to do the higher level paper explaining it would involve extra work and an after school lessons twice a week for the next few weeks to learn the higher level syllabus.?What followed was a meeting with my parents and the head teacher.?The head explained that no one in the school had ever done a higher level paper in any subject and that there was a significant risk that I could fail my GCSE Maths if I choose to take this risk.?I wanted to learn and so much against everyone's recommendation (except the Maths teacher) I went for it.?A massive thank you to Mr Edwards. I achieved an A grade in Maths (in the days before A* grades), but more than that I learnt it was not just ok, but also sometimes good to do things differently to others.

A level were not an option in my school.?So I choose to go to sixth form college 17 miles away from home.?Wow what a change this was!?Teachers encouraged me to want to learn and to stretch myself.?2 months into A level chemistry the end of module test showed I was on track for a fail.?The same result occurred the next month.?The chemistry head asked if I wanted to continue but at the same time offered reassurance she would help me to get the best grade I could.??I worked so hard on my A-levels for 2 years.?By my mock exams I was on track for my final results 3 A's and C (Yes it was an A in Chemistry)..?It was great and refreshing to be in an environment where learning was encouraged.

The December before leaving college we had a big assembly about UCAS applications and my form?teacher asked which University I was applying for.?I explained I was not going to Uni and she said ""Well why are you doing your A level, you only do A level to get into Uni". This was perhaps one of the biggest shocks and revelations I have every had.?Until that very moment I had never considered going to Uni.?My choice of Uni was driven by which offered a sandwich option so I could earn some money in year 3 to fund year 4.?I was also lucky and received grants to study for my first 2 years.??I went on to achieve a 1st Class Honours, win academic prizes for top performing student and accounting and finance prizes.?I was offered a permanent role at ICI where I had undertaken my placement year.??I was on a very different path to what I expected when I was young.

I met my husband and a relocation to Yorkshire followed.?I got a research admin role at KPMG.?I had never even heard of KPMG.?From the inside I learnt about a whole new world, although my Mum constantly got confused?about what we did and kept asking?"What do KPMG make".

I started working on client work and constantly exceeded expectations.?I got married and we brought our first house. I soon realised however that in those days progression was going to be limited without undertaking accounting exams.?I looked at undertaking accounting exams and the only way to do this was to take over a 30% pay cut and start on the KPMG graduate scheme. I was also told I would need a car to be able to travel to audits.??I got the spreadsheet out to work out if we could afford the mortgage with such a pay cut.?The maths did not work.?I went to speak to the audit partner and asked for a KPMG loan.?In those days partners had formal offices and juniors did not often speak to them directly, I think he was a bit surprised at such a direct question from a member of KStaff (the KPMG term at the time for admin staff). .?He told me he would think about it but explained that if I choose to go on the graduate scheme and failed an exam I would lose my job and would still need to repay any loan.?I think this was the biggest and most important decision of my career.?I went for it! I won ICAEW prizes for being one of the top performing students.?I am now a Fellow of ICAEW.

For the last 8 years I have been a Director at KPMG.?The path and years since the decision to study accountancy have not been text book.?But as in the journey above has shown I don't let being told I can't do something get in my way.?I work hard, problem solve and always find a way.?Dyslexia, social class, gender all make me diverse.?I am proud to be me and I genuinely believe that this diversity means I can offer more to my clients and my teams.