Michelle Slee

One of the Tech Women Celebration 50 - women changing the ratio of the tech workforce

Michelle has held a number of roles in DVLA including Head of Drivers Medical Group, Head of Drivers Policy and then Head of Fraud Policy before making a career switch and moving into digital and technology in her forties. Now, as an Agile Delivery Manager, Michelle leads a squad of developers committed to creating new technologies to improve the lives of current and future generations.

It hasn't been plain sailing though. Returning to the workforce after maternity leave is always a daunting task, and Michelle has also had to fight breast cancer, which invoved gruelling treatment. Using her experience within digital and her journey living with cancer, Michelle created an application. "Chemo Tracker" was a mobile application which helped Michelle track the side effects of chemotherapy for discussion with her doctor.

Michelle shared her story and her use of tech to help her cope with her cancer treatmenr in a blog entitled "When Cancer Strikes, Build an App". The blog was popular with the DVLA and her story shone a light on people dealing with long term illness and inspired some who were doing so to keep movng forward.

Michelle has also worked hard to extend opportunity to others and has led a number of schemes to attract those from non-traditional backgrounds and those with no direct skills in digital into a digital career. These schemes include a code learning community which Michelle ran during lockdown in 2020. 20 out of the 36 members were women which gave them the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of coding whilst receiving support from Michelle as a mentor. Some female members of the group have since made the transition to technical roles and are now thriving having gained promotion in some cases.

Michelle has also been a role model within the local digital community, recently nominated and shortlisted for STEM Wales Award - Women of the Year for her commitment to breaking down barriers and inspiring others through the work that she does. She also won a Computing Women in Tech Excellence Award Role Model of the Year in 2020.