A day in the life of our Head of Operations Analytics

At Bamboo, we are lucky to be surrounded by inspirational women who fill many various roles within our company. Following this month’s International Women’s Day and with this week also being Neurodiversity Celebration Week, we thought we would take this opportunity to shine a light on one of our amazing colleagues. She is not only a great leader in our Operations Team, she’s also a role model to us all, by helping understand neurodiversity in the workplace. In this instalment of Team Bamboo, we have sat down with Clara Boyd, our Head of Operations Analytics.  

Could you tell us about your role at Bamboo and how long you've been with the company? 

I have been with Bamboo for 18 months now, and as they say, time flies when you’re having fun. My job title is Head of Operations Analytics and I work as part of a close-knit data analytics team who exist to support the Operations department at Bamboo. My team and I analyse data throughout the whole end-to-end loan process. This helps various departments, ranging from originations, servicing, loyalty, complaints and marketing. The variety of tasks means no two days are ever the same and we are always kept on our toes – in a good way!  

I am fortunate to have been a part of building this Operations Analytics team from scratch. We knew that we wanted to build a team of Southampton based analysts, who can immerse themselves in all the different departments, can have a great technical understanding of data processes and software, and could apply their knowledge to wherever is needed to best support Bamboo. With that in mind, we were lucky to complete our small team last year. I am proud to be mentoring a team member who is our first ever Bamboo apprentice. We recruited internally for this position and found the perfect fit; I am very excited to see their career in data analytics continue to grow. It really is an awesome career path, especially for those of us who are neurodiverse (I will get into that more later).  

What is the best part about your role at Bamboo?   

Without sounding cheesy, it really is the culture and the people. The team at Bamboo are all so amazing. It is unusual to get so many good people in one organisation, from the top to the bottom, everyone is awesome. Especially in my team, we are a solid team, we have a great environment and very supportive working relationships.  

I also love the variety of my role. Working with different people from different departments is very enjoyable.  

What was your background before joining Bamboo?   

I have always been involved with data in one way or another. I find that no matter the role, data analysts always have similar tasks, using data to tell a story. I have previously worked for government agencies, the statistics sector and other financial institutions.  

What is your proudest achievement to date – personal or professional?   

My proudest achievement to date happens to be both a personal and professional one. I applied for a job in Dubai (which I didn’t think I would get) and then once I was offered the role, I had to make the decision to pack up my whole life and move halfway across the world. For me, this decision was huge, bigger than it would be for most. This is partially because I am diagnosed with Asperger’s, which is part of the Autism spectrum. For me personally, this means I find adapting to large life changes to be quite challenging. Along with the change of physically moving countries, I had to adapt to a new culture, a new language, a new climate, a new job and my new marriage! With all these drastic changes happening at once I often contemplated how I would cope in my new environment, hence why it is my proudest achievement! I successfully overcame my fears and faced every challenge head on.  In a way, my Asperger’s helped me adapt to my new environment. I find that being uncomfortable is a constant state for myself, so once I moved to Dubai, I embraced my uncomfortable state and made progress towards adapting. 

If you could swap positions with someone else in the company, who would it be and why?   

Honestly, I love my role so much that I don't think I would want to give it up for another one. As I mentioned above, I have always been involved in data analytics and it is just part of me now. My current role, being immersed in an analytics environment, is perfect. One of my Asperger’s traits is that I like things to be logical and analytical, very black and white. The magical thing about data is, that that is exactly what I get. I generate outcomes and solutions based on cold, hard, numerical facts.  

Another reason I love my current position is because of the team I have surrounding me. One of my fellow team members also has Asperger’s. I am fortunate that I get to share a working environment with them and help mentor them through navigating Asperger’s in a professional environment. The culture at Bamboo is very understanding and inclusive, we are both supported to be as comfortable as possible but are never treated any differently. It’s truly all we could ever ask for! 

How does your Aspergers diagnosis affect your daily work life?  

I could list off all the challenges I have on a daily basis, but in reality, they are things I have always experienced and didn’t actually realise other people didn’t. An example is masking, something really common in women with autism. Most people react naturally and behave naturally in most situations. If I did this, I would be considered odd(er), rude(r) or (more) blunt. I have learnt over my life how to act, behave and communicate in a way that is more “normal”. This is masking. I genuinely believed this was what everyone went through on a daily basis. 

I want to cover the positives - as I have been told it is also my “superpower” … what I have realised since being diagnosed is, it is part of the reason I have progressed well in my career. I often look at things differently from colleagues, I can push through puzzles quickly and solve them, I am naturally attuned to logical tasks. Due to spending my life masking, I tend to be more adaptable in many ways. 

Outside of the office, how do you spend your free time?   

I spend most of my time enjoying the simple things in life. I love to spend time with family and friends. We will often go to the cinema, go out for a meal or even watch a film at home. I also love relaxing by building Lego, I have recently loved reconstructing some Harry Potter icons. 

What topic could you give a 30-minute presentation on with no advance preparation? 

Data! As I have mentioned, I love data and I do feel very passionately about it. I could probably also give it a good go by talking about Disney or Harry Potter.  

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?    

Don’t ever take anyone for granted and always be kind to people; you might not realise who they are, what they are currently going through and if you will need their support in the future. Although I was given this in a professional manner, I do think it can be applied to all aspects of life.