December 18th, 1987, just days before Christmas, age 25 Sue Black found herself forced to a refuge centre with her three young children. Seeking safety, no qualifications, no money. Most people couldn’t begin to imagine what they’d do in this situation or how to move forward. But Black did. She did move forward. She kept going and she didn’t stop.
Today she is a leading technologist, academic and campaigner who has founded multiple industry-leading initiatives to help women get into technology roles. In 2016, she was awarded an OBE for services to technology.
“If you could be free from the challenges that you’ve got now, what would you want to be doing? What do you really care about?”
Growing up, sadly Black lost her mother at age just 12. She suffered both emotional and physical abuse and dropped out of A-level studies during her first year. She moved to London where she met her now ex-husband and had her three children. Just a short time later she found herself at the refuge centre.
With sheer grit and determination Black pursued further education, initially completing a maths course at college before going on to study computing at university and later obtaining a PhD in software engineering. Despite the challenges of juggling her studies alongside being a single parent she never wavered in her pursuit of knowledge and personal growth. Once she was offered a full-time lectureship, she finally had a proper salary coming into her bank. A huge step for her and her family.
Outside of her academic achievements Black also led the campaign to save Bletchley Park, raising £4.1 million to preserve the WWII code breaking site where 75% of the 10,000 staff were women. She emphasises the importance of mentors and has helped countless women with her initiatives to support them into technology roles.
“You can turn your life around, but you've got to keep going towards where you want to be.”
Sue Black – video transcript
When I was a kid, I guess I lived in an average family. Mum and dad, both nurses. Brother and sister, twins who were five years younger than me. I guess my life was quite uneventful, really, I think until I was about 12, when unfortunately my mum died. And that kind of changed everything, really.
At home, it was awful. I was quite depressed, obviously very traumatised. And kind of not knowing then what my life was going to be like, I guess it kind of destabilised me. About a year after that, my dad remarried, and I guess my life went from living in what was basically a functional family into a dysfunctional family. And gradually over time, there was kind of emotional abuse, a bit of physical abuse. And I really wasn't happy from the age of about probably 13 and a half to 16.
I must've left school in March of the first year doing A levels because I'd just realised that I wasn't going to get any A levels. So, you know, I was going into school every day, but my work wasn't good. So I moved to London. I got a job working for a record company, RCA Records. And during that time, I got married to my boyfriend, so when I was 20. Had my daughter, Emma, when I was 21. And so left work then, and I thought, "Well, I'll have another baby, and then I'll go back to work." Because I was keen to go back to work, but that baby turned out to be twin boys, Sam and Ollie, who were born when I was 23. And then unfortunately, my ex-husband I think possibly was threatened by the fact that I was trying to go back into education.
Things at home were not good at all. I think when the boys were about one and a half, one morning, I woke up about 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning to him shouting that he was going to kill us all. So I packed a suitcase, put the twins in the double buggy, and ran away, basically.
It was the 18th of December, 1987. I won't ever forget that date. So one week before Christmas. We'd left home that morning. We got to the refuge. We'd been given something like 10 pounds to go and buy some food the next morning. I just remember going into the co-op, buying some food, coming back out, and then thinking, "Oh, I'm going to be sick," and then like throwing up in the gutter. I think it was kind of a relief of like just managing to get away from everything and feeling reasonably safe now.
We were there for three months in that place. And then we got put into what was called second-stage housing, so kind of in between a refuge and normal life. We were there for three months and then managed to get a council flat in Brixton, which we moved into.
Six months later, I thought to myself, "Well, what am I going to do now?" So I did a maths course at college, and that meant that I could go to university. I studied computing because I was very excited about technology and it's such an exciting discipline. And I just love the way that it's about practically solving problems and some of the world's biggest problems. Even though I found a lot of the work and life quite hard, I was very happy, really. My degree got easier as I went through. And so I applied for a PhD position, interviewed, and got it, so started a PhD. And it took me seven years in total to get a PhD. But, you know, I had so many challenges, being a single parent with three children. Now, looking back, I just think, "Wow, I managed to make it in seven years," whereas at the time I was always beating myself up, like, "Everyone else is getting their PhD, and I still haven't got mine."
In the middle of doing my PhD, I applied for a full-time lectureship, which I got. So then I actually had a proper salary. I was an academic at a university. It just meant I didn't have to worry about paying the bills anymore. And it was just such a weight off my mind.
My career developed into one where I had a foot in academia, I had an honourary professorship at UCL, but at the same time, I was writing and giving lots of talks. So that was quite weird, really, to transition from someone who was scared to talk to anybody that I didn't know through to it actually being one of my favourite things to do now.
To get to where I am now has taken a lot of effort. I mean, just so much effort. I've had so many challenges, and lots of them have made me stop where I am, but then at some point I've kept on going. You know, I've got back on it and just kept on going. So resilience has been massive for me, I think.
If you're really unhappy at home, if you're a young person in a difficult position, or any age, really, find people that will help you to get out of where you are. I think mentors have been really important in helping me. If you could be free from the challenges that you've got now, what would you want to be doing? What do you really care about? Just gradually work out how to get yourself out of that situation because you can do it. I've done it, so I know. You can turn your life around, but you've got to keep going towards where you want to be.
END CARD
Sue Black became a leading technologist, academic and campaigner.
She led the campaign to save Bletchley Park, raising £4.1 million to preserve the World War Two code breaking site, where 75% of the 10,000 staff were women.
She has since founded multiple industry-leading initiatives to help women get into technology roles.
In 2016, she was awarded an OBE for services to technology.
