Ramat Tejani

Career Success

Award-winning Ramat is the Strategic Partnerships Lead (EMEA) at Google. Prior to this, she was the Inclusion and Diversity Programme Lead for Amazon Web Services (AWS). Her responsibilities at AWS were broad but focused on increasing and retaining female talent in the tech industry. This work led her to feature in the 2021 HERoes list of top 100 women future leaders.

In 2019 Ramat was shortlisted for the Women in IT Awards for a global project she undertook for International Girls in ICT Day. This United Nations initiative aims to create an environment that empowers girls to consider careers in ICT and STEM subjects.

Ramat also won The Times & Sunday Times and We Are the City - Rising Star in Marketing, PR, and Communications and the Women in Advertising and Communications London Awards.  'I am a passionate storyteller and I believe that communication is a key factor in ensuring that organisations maintain relationships and engage effectively with their stakeholders.'

To add to her achievements, Ramat is also the founder of The Inspiration Box, a platform that ignites curiosity within people and reminds individuals that the possibilities in life are endless. She hopes to continue to inspire people through podcasts, resources and coaching.

Life at Herts

‘I had an accident whilst doing my A-levels, which led to a significant time out of school. As a result, I didn’t get into my first choice of university and so decided to go through the clearing process. The BA (Hons) International Business course was everything I could want in a degree and the fact that it included a compulsory year abroad definitely helped me with my final decision!’

’The diversity of the course meant that I was not only learning some of the traditional business topics. I had to learn and understand the importance of culture and some of the psychology behind business. I never felt like I would be judged for not knowing something. We were all in the room to learn together. My favourite memory was having access to the 24hr Learning Resources Centre (LRC) which saved me on a number of occasions when I had last-minute research to do for coursework!'

Advice for other students

‘I knew I had built up a number of skills through various activities to get me into the job market. This included being part of the leadership team for the Afro-Caribbean Society, studying abroad for a year, and being part of the inaugural reverse mentoring programme between students and the University of Hertfordshire's senior leadership team. All of these things gave me the confidence to face life outside of university with my head held high despite it being the height of the recession.’

'During my career, I have experienced three redundancies. They have been some of the biggest challenges I have ever faced but I also appreciated the fact that they were out of my control.’

'My advice to others would be to take up all the opportunities you are given at university, you never know where they could lead. Attend during office hours if you don’t understand something – lecturers are really there to help! Try not to wait until 23:30 or later to hand in your coursework, it’s not worth the stress - get it in as early as possible. What excites you? Figure what you are passionate about and go for it.'