A big thank you to Pascal Lubbe and Rolly Jackson-Taylor.
Under Rolly’s leadership, every detail of our Tech lunchsession was carefully considered to ensure we could experience what Workday stands for: innovation, technology and inclusion. The enthusiastic reactions from our group showed just how much of an impact this made.
But let’s start at the beginning.
After an inspiring visit to Brixton, where we felt strengthened by the sense of recognition and connection, we arrived at Workday and entered another world of technology, innovation and AI.
Upon our arrival, Rolly, from Workday’s Office of Strategic Customer Engagement, EMEA, greeted us with great enthusiasm. In the reception area, a personalised message appeared on the screen: “Welcome Zwarte vrouwen voor Technologie.” A thoughtful gesture that also introduced us to Workday’s partners.
Lunch was equally well thought out. We enjoyed an extensive and delicious meal, with everyone’s needs taken into account, including special dietary requirements. It was these little details that made all the difference.
We then entered the presentation room, where we were joined by three other accomplished professionals from Workday: Clare Hickie, EMEA Chief Technology Officer; Emma Llewellyn, Presales Solution Consultant; and Michelle Dawkins, an experienced enterprise technology professional.
Together, they took us through an engaging and insightful session exploring Workday’s vision and philosophy, its innovative AI solutions, and its BLACK@Workday employee group.
One particularly meaningful part of the session was Rolly’s presentation about BLACK@Workday. This employee community has a mission to educate, inspire and encourage Black communities to explore careers in software technology, while fostering professional connections, fellowship and excellence.
What makes this initiative particularly interesting is that it goes beyond representation within the organisation. It creates opportunities for connection, professional development and greater visibility of Black talent in the technology sector. It also demonstrates how an organisation can use its own platform, people and expertise to contribute to a broader technology community.
For us at Zwarte vrouwen voor Technologie, this resonated strongly with our own mission: making technology more accessible, connecting diverse talent to opportunities and encouraging more women to see themselves as part of the technology industry.
Hearing directly from professionals working at this level gave us valuable insight into how technology, enterprise architecture and AI are shaping the future of business.
Workday may be less familiar by name in the Netherlands, but one thing quickly became clear: many of us use Workday software in our daily professional lives without necessarily realising it.
One solution that particularly impressed us is Sana. This AI platform supports employees with tasks such as onboarding, organising their work and preparing for performance and appraisal conversations. Through Workday Build, part of Sana, partners can also develop and train their own AI agents using company data. This enables AI agents to support and automate an increasing range of business processes across HR, finance, IT and legal.
An inspiring example of how AI is about more than technology. It is also about how we work, collaborate and shape our organisations.
As a personal gesture of thanks, we presented a special tea to Michelle Dawkins, Clare Hickie, Auralia I. Edwards and Rolly Jackson-Taylor.
This Tech lunch session fully delivered on our goal of exchanging knowledge about technology and AI. We arrived ready to learn and left with new insights, inspiration and the realisation that there is room for us to participate, contribute ideas and help shape the future.
Workday, thank you for sharing your knowledge and giving us a closer look at how you approach innovation and inclusion. Rolly, special thanks for your dedication and the care you put into making this such a memorable experience for our group.
This is what a meaningful partnership can achieve: creating opportunities to learn, connect and discover new possibilities together.
