Emma Street is not your typical 24-year-old.
She dropped out of university at 19 after securing a prestigious apprenticeship at tech consultancy Capgemini and now manages a budget of £2.5m after securing six promotions in five years.
Millions of viewers of The Apprentice are currently watching her go head-to-head with 17 other candidates to win Lord Sugar’s £250,000 investment.
However, according to Street, the best is yet to come in her career and she hopes to inspire more women into senior roles in tech.
She told BusinessCloud: “Everything about this world has a tech element to it and I would love it if more women got into it, whether that be via the apprenticeship route like me or in another way.”
The Gen Z entrepreneur also hopes her story of dropping out of uni after just one year in favour of doing an apprenticeship will inspire other people during National Apprenticeship Week (Feb 10-16).
The direction of her life changed within months of joining Oxford Brookes University at the age of 18 to begin a business and marketing management course.
Prior to that she’d been working 32 hours a week in hospitality while studying for her A-levels and realised she ‘couldn’t cope with doing so little’ at university while racking up £15,000 of debt.
After applying for several apprenticeships she landed one of just 15 roles at Capgemini after beating 4,000 applicants.
She recalled: “Throughout school and sixth form, all I knew was to go down a traditional university route – go and get a good degree at a good university and that is what will get you your good job.
“But you don’t need to follow the traditional routes. There are other options and you shouldn’t have to stand by the status quo.
“I got a job at one of the top companies in consulting, moved to London, and studied and worked hard at something I wanted to do.
“All my decisions ended up making sense to me.
Street joined the firm on a degree apprenticeship scheme in September 2019 and has since gained a remarkable six promotions, leading to her now being a programme manager.
As part of her responsibilities, she manages a budget totalling around £2.5m.
Explaining her philosophy she said: “I stand by the quote ‘be comfortable getting uncomfortable’ because comfort is the killer of success.
“As soon as I get comfortable in any role in my current work, I know I’m not pushing myself enough. That’s why I’m always changing and growing.
“What I hated hearing was ‘you’re not ready’ because it’s important to fight and push for what you want early in your career.
“I had multiple times when I went for promotions and was told ‘we don’t know if it’s the right time’, to which I’d say, ‘I think it is actually and here’s all my evidence to show you why’.”
Having beaten the odds once to get the job at Capgemini she did it again to beat 80,000 applicants to make the final 18 on The Apprentice.
She hopes to combine her love of fitness and coffee to win Lord Sugar’s £250,000 investment – as well as inspiring more women into tech.
Street said: “I do recognise the lack of female representation. In the first role I was in, everyone around me was male and I reported to three male managers.
“I would love to see more women in tech and I’m actively trying to get into talks with some more companies about this.
“I just think it’s sad because the industry could really benefit from it and it’s a really exciting industry to work in.
“It’s constantly evolving and it’s at the forefront of any kind of innovation.”
Emma Street, The Apprentice
Street also said people shouldn’t feel guilty about what they wear or not working 9-5 – as long as they do a good job.
She explained: “You’ve got to think about how you can make the most use of your time and be efficient and productive.
“So the way that works for me is starting very early, blasting work for four hours or so and then sometimes I’ve done so much by then that my head is so full.
“I’ll then go to the gym and I’ll even come up with ideas at the gym. By the time it gets to the afternoon I’ve got everything in place to have such a productive rest of the day.
“It’s what works for me because I feel I can get the most done in a compressed amount of time. It keeps my mental health in check too.
“If you’re in a company that supports that, then why not? Capgemini are great at supporting work-life balance and as long as the work gets done, then I don’t see the problem.”
Discussing her time on The Apprentice she said it taught her she could live without technology – but she wouldn’t want to do it again.
“I found it extremely daunting,” admitted Street. “It was strange to have the feeling that you can’t access anything that supports you – family, friends, music, podcasts.
“It was such an adjustment during the first couple of days but once you get used to not having your phone, which is crazy in this day and age, it was so refreshing.
“You’re completely shut off from the world and that in itself made the experience like a mental holiday. I won’t be able to experience something like that again.
“I think you develop your own coping strategies to go through something as challenging as the show because it is super tough.
“The hours are so long and I don’t even think I fully appreciated how hard it would be when I first went into it.”
Street managed to get off to a flying start in week one of the show – stepping up as project manager and leading her team to victory.
Her exploits have seen her Instagram following grow six-fold.
One noticeable change in Street’s social media posts compared to her TV representation is her lack of power-dressing, which is a common theme on The Apprentice.
She said: “I don’t feel I need to wear or be a certain brand to fit in.
“I can still execute big sales or close a contract for a £500,000 project sitting here in a hoodie.
“I think the way we dress on the show is really encapsulating – at the end of the day it’s a show about business.
“But in my personal life, I can represent myself in a way that I want to and that’s what I do.”