Imogen Wethered

Since leaving University with an academic 2:1 degree in History of Art in just 2011,  Imogen has made it her life’s mission to solve problems using creativity and technology. As a result she founded her start–â���up ‘Qudini’ which aims to end queuing using mobile phone technology.

Now age 24, Imogen has been working on the company since finishing studying, it all began at a Hackathon sponsored by O2 where she first met her co-founders and she went on to win the event. After which they became a member of Telefonica’s first London Wayra academy.

Imogen strongly believes that the best way to learn in life is to throw yourself in the deep-end and through practical application, not sitting in a class room. Imogen also believes taking new and different opportunities is the best way to take your career in new directions, and often this means that University isn’t the only route to success in life.

In 2010 Imogen completed a one week course in Adobe Photoshop and practiced the tools in her spare time, she feels the course has proved to be more significant in determining her future than her entire 3 year University degree. Without her photoshop skills she would not have been able to attend the Hackathon and so would never have met her co-founders or learned about Wayra.

Imogen’s talks aim to inspire young people and parents about the importance of learning creative and different skills in order to take their careers in new directions, and to allow themselves a more contemporary skill set which the modern education system so often falls short at.

After being diagnosed with dyspraxia in her third year of University, Imogen struggled greatly to complete her degree, but in her spare time she practiced a variety of creative skills. If at the time someone had told her that it was these creative skills that were going to bring her greatest successes in life, as opposed to her academic degree, she wouldn’t have felt the need to worry so much. Imogen says “I hope I can offer this learning to others and that my story can be of great inspiration to creative children and young adults who may just need a small push to give them the confidence to pursue what they are really meant to.”

http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/londons-dnas-thats-digital-natives-8551329.html