On the 8th of March 2025, international Women’s day, I had the honour of giving the keynote speech at the U-Maths Girls event at King’s College London aimed at women A-level students who have chosen maths and further maths.
My talk finished with a list of things that I wish I was told at their age.
- You can do so much more than you think.
- Talk about money with the women (and everyone) in your life.
- If you have periods, learn to become friends her.
- Read far and wide (there is no such thing as a guilty pleasure book).
- You will find ‘your tribe’. If people don’t appreciate you for who you are, maybe they are not your people.
- Many careers are not a straight line and that’s ok.
In addition, here is a reading list of books I wish I read sooner:
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Stephen Covey)
- Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals (Oliver Burkeman)
- Period Queen: Life Hack Your Cycle and Own Your Power All Month Long (Lucy Peach)
- Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language (Amanda Montell)
- You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why it Matters (Kate Murphy)
- Come as You Are (Emily Nagoski)
- How Big Things Get Done (Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner)
Isabella Deutsch 