📖 Biography

Anne-Marie Imafidon was born in Barking, London, in 1990 and grew up in Walthamstow, the eldest of five siblings. A prodigious talent for technology was evident early: at just 11 years old, she became the youngest girl ever to pass A-level Computing.

She went on to study Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Oxford, graduating with a Master's degree at the age of 20 — among the youngest ever to do so. After university, she held technical roles at Goldman Sachs, Hewlett-Packard and Deutsche Bank, working as one of very few women in enterprise technology teams.

In 2012, attending the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing and finding herself among thousands of women in tech for the first time, Imafidon was inspired to found Stemettes the following year — a social enterprise dedicated to inspiring and supporting girls and non-binary young people into STEM careers. Since its founding, Stemettes has reached more than 70,000 young people across Europe.

Imafidon was awarded an MBE in 2017 for services to young women in STEM and became an Honorary Fellow of Keble College, Oxford, the same year. She has since served as President of the British Science Association, held an Honorary Fellowship and multiple honorary doctorates, and become a familiar voice in British public life on issues of diversity, technology and education, including a stint as Countdown's arithmetician on Channel 4.

🕰️ Timeline
1990
Born 27 July in Barking, London; grows up in Walthamstow, East London.
2001
Aged 11, becomes the youngest girl ever to pass A-level Computing.
2010
Graduates from the University of Oxford with a Master's degree in Mathematics and Computer Science, aged 20.
2010s
Works in technology roles at Goldman Sachs, Hewlett-Packard and Deutsche Bank.
2012
Attends the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, a turning point that inspires her next venture.
2013
Founds Stemettes, a social enterprise promoting women and non-binary people in STEM.
2017
Awarded an MBE for services to young women in STEM; becomes Honorary Fellow of Keble College, Oxford.
2021–2022
Serves as President of the British Science Association.
2022
Publishes She's in CTRL, a guide encouraging women to reclaim their relationship with technology.
Ongoing
Continues to lead Stemettes, which has reached over 70,000 young people across Europe.
✦ Achievements
  • ◆Youngest girl ever to pass A-level Computing, aged just 11
  • ◆Among the youngest students to receive a Master's degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Oxford, at age 20
  • ◆Founded Stemettes in 2013, reaching over 70,000 young people across Europe through hackathons, mentoring and certification programmes
  • ◆Awarded an MBE in 2017 for services to young women and the STEM sectors
  • ◆Served as President of the British Science Association (2021–2022) and holds multiple honorary doctorates
"
As a child, her favourite toy was databases — she created databases for herself to play with.
— From an account of Anne-Marie Imafidon's early life
🕊️ Legacy
Anne-Marie Imafidon turned an early gift for computing into a decade-long mission to make sure other young women and non-binary people never feel as isolated in STEM as she once did. Stemettes' reach across tens of thousands of young people represents one of the most sustained interventions in Britain's STEM diversity gap, built by someone who experienced the loneliness of being ‘the only one’ firsthand.
💡 Leadership Lessons
  • →A single moment of belonging can redirect a career. Attending the Grace Hopper Celebration and finding herself surrounded by thousands of women in tech directly inspired the founding of Stemettes.
  • →Early talent needs sustained infrastructure to matter. Imafidon didn't just excel individually — she built an organisation to give the same opportunities to thousands of others.
  • →Diversify who gets to imagine themselves in a field. Stemettes' work focuses on visibility and access as much as skills training, recognising that representation shapes ambition.
  • →Public platforms can extend a mission's reach. From Countdown to the British Science Association presidency, Imafidon has used varied public roles to keep STEM diversity in view.