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Our penultimate careers talk in this round of online careers evenings is on entrepreneurship and will take place on Monday 9th February from 7.30pm on Teams. The event can be accessed by clicking on the link above.

An amazingly varied sector with no set entry route, our speakers will tell us about their own career paths and muse on the skill set and resilience required to succeed as an entrepreneur. We are delighted to have two OTs and the joint co-founders of Meta joining us to talk about their careers.

Our speakers:

Amy Molyneux Co-Founder Meta and Bright Sparrow
Amy is a seasoned technical founder and leader with two successful exits and over 15 years of experience guiding global teams. Most notably, she was the CTO and technical founder of Meta, an early artificial intelligence company acquired by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in 2017 to make its technologies and data freely accessible worldwide. In 2021, Meta was instrumental in Facebook Inc.'s transformation into Meta Platforms, bringing together Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Reality Labs under one unified vision. Amy’s expertise lies at the intersection of product and engineering, where she’s deeply focused on building healthy, high-performing team environments. She’s led engineering teams tackling everything from cutting-edge innovation to modernizing legacy systems, always with a focus on clarity, collaboration, and impact. Recognized for her contributions, Amy was named #19 on Fast Company Magazine’s 100 Most Creative People in Business, among other honours. Above all, Amy is passionate about helping teams thrive under pressure, align on purpose, and deliver exceptional results.
 

Sam Molyneux Co-Founder Meta and Poppy
Sam is an experienced entrepreneur and scientist specializing in bringing mission-driven, deep technology ventures to market. Sam is Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Poppy, an institutional venture-backed technology company located in San Francisco and Toronto. Poppy was named 5th on the Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in the World list alongside Ford and Samsung in 2022, and is pioneering a new global standard in indoor health and sustainability in buildings. He previously co-founded Meta, an early artificial intelligence company. In 2017, Meta was acquired by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to make its technologies and data freely available to the world. In 2021, Meta was used to help rebrand Facebook Inc., providing a home brand for Fb, Instagram, WhatsApp and Reality Labs. Sam has received several honours for his work in science and business, including Canada’s Top 40 Under 40. Sam was named #20 on Fast Company Magazine’s 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2017. In 2016, he won the Martin Walmsley Fellowship Award, and previously the Banting & Best Doctoral Fellowship. Meta was recognized as one of the Top 10 Innovations of 2014 by The Scientist Magazine, and has been written about in MIT Technology Review, TechCrunch, The Economist, Fortune, ReCode, Engadget, Wired, Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, NewsWeek, and Communications of the ACM among others. Meta’s acquisition by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was covered in more than 160 news and magazine outlets. Sam’s research has been published in Nature Genetics, Nature Cell Biology, Science Translational Medicine, Cancer Cell, PNAS, and JCI, among others. He is a frequent speaker on scientific information and technology for good, and for three years running, on AI for Good at the United Nations.
 

Robert Woods (FH 1980-85) Founder and CEO The Climbing Experience
After A levels in English, French and Economics, and English at Newcastle University, Robert found himself running an IT and telecoms company but wasn’t wholly fulfilled and decided to start up his own business in 2019, called The Climbing Experience. A 25,000 square foot, multi discipline climbing centre offering climbing, yoga and fitness classes and corporate team building and employee engagement days. Robert is also a business mentor for young entrepreneurs in Kent and will share some of his experiences and thoughts on what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur in the current climate.
 

Dominic McCarthy (JH 1981-85) Founding Partner ANM Comms
After Tonbridge, Dom studied History at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee graduating in 1986 and began a career in marketing and advertising with Conde Nast publications Vogue and GQ. Since 1997 he has worked as Co-founder and Managing Director of the independent agency ANM Comms, representing clients from the worlds of consumer, lifestyle and luxury and also found time in 2015 to become a Director of JJ Corry Irish Whisky a role he has had for over 11 years. Dom will talk about his own pathway and suggest the skills needed for launching a business.