My name is Natalia Dibble and I am a Social Media and Marketing Apprentice working with Jenny Garrett.

I attended the Celebration of Women in Apprenticeships with Jenny because as an apprentice, it was great to gain more knowledge on apprenticeships and it was amazing to see so many people supporting them in their own unique way.

Throughout the day, I got to listen to many amazing people. All the speakers all had a different view and story to tell.

We had the privilege to listen to 3 engineering apprentices from Coca Cola. They shared the stories and experiences of how they get to where they are today. Coca Cola have a strategy to have 40% female employees by 2025 and see apprenticeships as a vital part of achieving this.

It was interesting to hear all the statistics shared by everyone. One I found particularly interesting is that 56% of apprentices are women, however men cover a larger range of jobs.

The audience participated in polls on questions ranging in different topics. One question I found particularly intriguing was: ‘What is the main reason there are not more girls in school interested in STEM topics?’ The five options included: Careers advice, lack of female role models, parental influence, the way they are taught and other. The results all had a pretty similar answer with careers advice just making it to the top. Then closely followed by lack of female role models, then parental influence.

It was an incredible day filled with inspiring people and I hope to experience something like this again!