Executive Summary
- Katrina Young MBSC has spent almost three decades working across digital transformation, technology strategy, architecture, cloud, software and, more recently, AI.
- Here, Katrina talks to DCi to talk about her very first introduction into data centres to her career today, and the unique challenges she has faced along the way.
- And, Katrina advises that ‘Your absence from the room may be evidence of an industry gap, not evidence that you do not belong there’.
What was your very first introduction to the world of data centres? Did you know that industry existed, or did you stumble into it?
My route into data centres has been through technology rather than through a traditional data-centre career path. I have spent 27 years working across digital transformation, technology strategy, architecture, cloud, software and, more recently, AI. As my work moved deeper into AI infrastructure and sustainability, data centres became impossible to treat as something happening invisibly in the background. AI is physical. It requires compute, energy, cooling, networks, cloud infrastructure and enormous amounts of data. My work in sustainable technology, including work connected with the UK space sector and Earth Observation, has made that relationship even more important. I came to data centres by following the infrastructure underneath the technology.
Can you trace your path to your current role? What was the biggest hurdle you faced early on, and how did you navigate it?
My career has moved across marketing technology, digital transformation, product and software development, technical architecture, innovation and AI. Today I work as a Fractional CTO and CAIO, strategist, technologist and educator. The thread connecting those roles is translating technology into something organisations and people can actually use. One of the biggest hurdles has been being underestimated before I have even opened my mouth. When you are a Black woman in technical and strategic spaces, you can find yourself having to establish credibility repeatedly in environments where others are presumed to have it. I navigated that by becoming extremely good at understanding both the technology and the commercial problem, building evidence through delivery, and refusing to allow somebody else’s expectation of what a technologist looks like to define my ceiling.
Did you have a mentor, an ally, or a specific moment that gave you the confidence to say, “I belong here”?
I don’t think there was one particular moment where somebody gave me permission to belong. My confidence has been cumulative from achieving results. It came from delivering projects, solving difficult problems, teaching others, being invited into increasingly senior conversations and eventually recognising that I had spent years waiting for external validation for expertise I had already demonstrated. Allies and communities matter enormously, particularly when you are underrepresented, but I also think we need to be careful about teaching people that belonging has to be conferred by somebody already inside the room. Sometimes the moment is recognising that your work has already earned your place. Mentors such as Balaz and Catherine have gone above and beyond to aid my clarity in transitioning into the space industry.
What is one thing about navigating this space as an underrepresented voice that your peers might not realise or notice?
The invisible cognitive load. It is not simply whether somebody makes an explicitly condescending comment. It is constantly assessing the room: whether your expertise is being heard, whether you need to prove a point more thoroughly, whether you are being perceived as confident or difficult, whether you should challenge something or conserve your energy. I have often been one of very few women like myself or who look like me in senior technology rooms. Representation changes more than the photograph at the end of an event. It changes whose assumptions get challenged, what risks get noticed and which users are considered when systems are designed.
Have you ever had to advocate for yourself in a way that felt uniquely challenging? How did it turn out?
Yes, repeatedly. Self-advocacy has included correcting assumptions about my technical capability, ensuring my contribution is properly recognised and being willing to challenge decisions where technology is being discussed without enough consideration of people, ethics or accessibility. I have learned that advocacy works best when it is specific: evidence, outcomes, responsibilities and decisions rather than simply saying ‘I deserve to be here’. My work and track record become the evidence. My focus is on creating an impact and breaking class ceilings.
What is a misconception people have about working in data centres that you’d love to bust?
That data centres are just buildings full of servers and therefore mainly an engineering conversation. They are part of a much larger socio-technical system. They touch energy, sustainability, cybersecurity, AI, cloud, resilience, workforce skills, local communities, regulation and increasingly national infrastructure. As AI grows, the choices made inside and around data centres have consequences far beyond the building. The human and environmental questions are becoming just as important as compute capacity.
When you look at current recruitment and hiring practices in digital infrastructure, where is the industry dropping the ball on diversity?
Too much recruitment still begins with a narrow picture of what ‘relevant experience’ looks like. That can exclude career changers and people coming from adjacent disciplines who have highly transferable skills. We also confuse hiring diversity with inclusion. Bringing somebody into an organisation is not success if the culture then requires them to assimilate, repeatedly prove their competence or navigate systems designed around a very narrow career archetype. I would like to see more skills-based recruitment, clearer pathways from adjacent technology roles, paid entry routes and much more transparency about progression after somebody joins.
Retaining talent is just as important as hiring it. What cultural shifts do data centre operators need to make so that underrepresented professionals want to stay and grow?
Measure the experience after recruitment. Who gets stretch assignments? Who gets sponsored for promotion? Who is invited into strategic conversations? Who leaves, and at what career stage? Psychological safety matters, but it has to be visible in operating behaviour rather than sitting in a policy document. Flexible working, accessibility, sponsorship, transparent promotion criteria and leaders who are accountable for team culture all matter. Inclusion is infrastructure too. If it fails, talented people eventually route themselves somewhere else.
What does meaningful allyship look like in a data centre environment?
Allyship is action when there is no reputational reward for doing it. It is noticing whose idea has been ignored and bringing the conversation back to it. It is challenging biased assumptions in recruitment and promotion. It is sponsorship, not simply mentoring: using your own influence to create access to opportunities, networks and decision-making. And it is being willing to hear that something within your organisation is exclusionary without immediately becoming defensive.
What excites you most about the future of data centres and why is having diverse voices at the table crucial for that future?
AI makes this one of the most consequential periods for digital infrastructure. We are having to rethink compute, energy efficiency, sustainability, resilience, security and the relationship between digital infrastructure and communities. That is precisely why inclusion matters. Homogeneous teams can be extraordinarily competent and still share the same blind spots. Diverse lived experience, disciplines and ways of thinking increase the questions being asked before decisions become infrastructure. The future should not simply be more compute. It should be smarter, safer and more responsible compute.
What is your piece of advice for a young person or career-changer from an underrepresented background who is looking at this industry but feels intimidated?
Don’t mistake unfamiliarity for inability. You do not have to arrive knowing the entire infrastructure stack. Start by mapping what you already know against the industry: cybersecurity, cloud, sustainability, project management, data, software, operations, commercial skills and communication all have routes into digital infrastructure. Learn the language, attend the rooms, build evidence through projects and find communities that expand your network. Most importantly, don’t self-reject because you cannot see many people who look like you. Your absence from the room may be evidence of an industry gap, not evidence that you do not belong there.
