Naomi Nash is TechWM head of community & collaboration bringing the West Midlands tech community together to learn, grow, and help transform the digital cluster into a world-class tech hub.
How long have you been in your current job? Four years officially, but I’ve been involved since TechWM was created in 2019.
Give a summary of your professional career to date: After completing my A-Levels, I worked in retail and admin before joining the communications and membership team at an NHS Trust. Looking for a role closer to my daughter’s nursery, I became assistant to a tech start-up incubator, Entrepreneurs for the Future, at Innovation Birmingham. Despite having no background in tech or business, I quickly learned and eventually became programme manager, supporting hundreds of start-ups.
When the programme ended in 2018, I joined Tech Nation as the Midlands regional manager, part of its first UK-wide entrepreneur engagement team, expanding my reach to both West and East Midlands, supporting tech start-ups and scale-ups.
During this time, I also became a founding board member of Birmingham Tech Week, having known founder Yiannis Maos since his time on the Entrepreneurs for the Future programme.
When TechWM secured its first long-term funding, Yiannis invited me to become the organisation’s first employee. I said yes immediately – and four years later I’m still here, working with an incredible team, board and tech community. I feel very fortunate to be where I am today.
Did further/higher education set you up well for your particular vocation? I think so. My A-levels were in communications, sociology and drama & theatre studies which I suppose gave me understanding on how people communicate, why, and how to interact with them. I reckon this has helped set me up well for bringing people together.
What’s your view of artificial intelligence – an opportunity, threat, or bit of both? A tough question! Through running the region’s AI special interest group and AI & Future Tech Forum, I’ve seen first-hand how AI is driving positive change in healthcare, sustainability and advanced engineering. From improving data analysis to making technology more accessible, its potential is incredibly exciting. Learn more at our Tech for All and AI symposium events during Birmingham Tech Week!
Social media platform of choice, and why? I’m not a huge social media person, but I do like Instagram to keep up to date with my friends and family who live far away. I can be guilty of doom scrolling TikTok as my algorithm gives me clips of stand-up comedy, parenting satire and TV recommendations.
How do you hope your colleagues would describe you? I would like to think they enjoy working with me and that I’m easy to work with. I’m fairly laid back, maybe too much sometimes, but I hope that I help to put things in perspective and bring stress levels down.
Highlights of your career so far? My time at Tech Nation was incredible. The team, culture and experience it gave me will stay with me for a long time. But Birmingham Tech Week has to be the highlight for me. Now coming into its eighth year, being a part of its success is a wonderful experience.
Any particular faux pas or embarrassing moments in your career you would prefer to forget? I may have already forgotten them or locked them away as I can’t recall anything other than forgetting people’s names, which I do very often!
Pet hates? Emails. Email is high on my pet hate list. Or maybe email etiquette is what bothers me. Either way, I’m pleased AI is helping with some of that now.
If you could go back and give your younger self some wise advice, what would it be? One I always tell my kids: “In a world where you can be anything, be kind.”
How do you relax away from work? I’m very fortunate to have wonderful friends and family who enjoy hanging out and putting the world to rights over a glass of wine. ‘Me time’ is very important to me as well; a hot bubble bath, a gritty true crime documentary or a gaming session on Zelda is usually where you’ll find me. Any tips on how to defeat a Lynel welcome! #iykyk
Tell us something about you that most people probably wouldn’t know. I do not have a sense of direction. At all. I can be walking down the street, go into a shop, come out and go the wrong way. Or when driving somewhere and I turn left into the destination, when I’m leaving I don’t remember which way to turn out. I have no concept of where things are in relation to where I am. It’s very frustrating and my family take the mick all the time.
You can take one book, one film and one record onto a desert island – what would they be? Oof, film would be Clue I reckon, although Rat Race is a close second. Book, I don’t think I’ve ever read the same book more than once so not sure I’d enjoy re-reading the same one (although I recommend If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura). I like books with twists and turns which only really give the full impact on the first read. Can I take a puzzle book? I like to keep my mind active with cryptic crosswords. And record . . . I think I’d have to go with the 10th anniversary edition of Les Misérables.
Your five dream dinner party guests, dead or alive? Johnny Depp. Easy. We’d drink mega-pints of wine. David Attenborough - I'd ask him all the questions about everything! Princess Di so we could gossip about the royal family. Can I have fictional characters? If so, I would also choose Titus Andromedon from The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. One of my ancestors would be cool!
What would you choose to eat for your last supper? Genuinely love a good cheese sandwich, followed by a banoffee cheesecake. Mmm.
