What I See talks ambition with Barclays’ Barbara-Ann King

Following our interview with Dr Nathalie Vriend, we’re ending ambition month with a bang by introducing you to Barbara-Ann King, Head of Female Clients at Barclays Bank.

Barbara-Ann has many strings to her bow – including an academic career, a stint at Churchill Consultancy and a spell in New York at Citi Bank. She now brings her skill, insight and ambition to her role at Barclays.

We loved hearing the story of such a successful woman. So what were her words of advice? Well, turns out everything starts with how you feel about yourself...

‘Women need to be a lot more confident about their abilities. And if they are different, that’s a pretty good thing... Failure often starts with a mindset. And it’s your mindset that makes the difference. Others will come.’

Wise words indeed. Another thing that impressed us was Barbara-Ann's sense of responsibility to help other women achieve all they can: ‘One of the defining moments for me was being able to promote younger women through senior levels… somehow, in performing my role, I’ve been able to influence my colleagues and teams around me to say: “Actually, gender doesn’t matter that much.”’

Yes indeed! We'll leave you with a snippet of what Barbara-Ann sees: 'Now looking at the mirror… I see opportunity'. Watch the video to see her interview in full.

And with that, we wave a fond farewell to February and ambition... but don't forget to join in tomorrow's #WISPchat, where we'll be discussing what is holding women back, 2pm GMT on Twitter (follow the hashtag to see what's happening).