Promoting inclusion and expanding opportunities for women in the workforce are core to Fractal’s DNA. In alignment with this philosophy, on March 06, 2026, Fractal Analytics hosted an event in London that brought together women across industries to share their career journeys and insights into success.
Held in partnership with Dress for Success, an organization that provides career coaching, interview preparation, and mentorship, the event created space for open dialogue around real workforce challenges: impostor syndrome, career reentry, and balancing professional and personal responsibilities. The panel included Nicola Langley, Director of Next Chapter Coaching; Laura Medcalf, Lead at Nuffield Health; and was moderated by Mythreyi Mukund, Chief Practice Officer at Fractal.
Confidence, reframed
Impostor syndrome, a challenge experienced by many professionals, particularly women and underrepresented groups, was a central topic of the panel. As Nicola put it plainly, “Confidence is just a feeling.” Understanding confidence this way, she explained, makes it possible to condition the mind toward more constructive self-talk. Her advice for moments of self-doubt is to reframe it as “I’m learning something new.”
Such candid reflections by leaders about their own struggles reinforced a simple point for the room: these challenges are shared, not isolated.
Returning to work
Laura offered a personal perspective about the challenges of returning to work after a break: "I returned to work after having my baby following a traumatic birth. The recovery was challenging, and it made me feel that I needed more time off. However, I ended up going back after nine months."
The medical, emotional, and personal reasons that make career reentry difficult are real, and organizations that build structured support around them see the difference. Fractal's own ReBoot Program, a gender-agnostic returnship initiative launched in 2022, gives professionals returning to work after a break a structured path through mentorship and live project exposure. Since its launch, the program has helped many professionals successfully re-enter the workforce, with 70% transitioning into full-time roles and women representing 74% of those conversions.
Skills for the AI era
Alongside the panel discussions, the event featured re-skilling and AI-training sessions led by Fractalites, Prarthana, Chandramauli, and Adam. As they shared with attendees, "The organizations and individuals who thrive in the AI era will be those who move beyond awareness to application. Building practical AI skills today is one of the highest-return investments anyone can make in their future." For a room focused on returning to or advancing in the workforce, understanding how AI and large language models are shaping the future of work was a valuable part of preparing for what's next.
A culture built to last
The Dress for Success event is one expression of Fractal's broader principle: Respect, Inclusion & Belonging (RIB). Grounded in the belief that "we will treat each other as we would like to be treated," RIB moves beyond intent and shapes how Fractal actually builds its systems and experiences. In practice, that shows up as a connected set of programs:
The InHerView study: Combined survey data, GPTW results, and promotion trends to understand women’s lived experience across the organization.
SHElearns: A learning ecosystem born from that study, focused on confidence, self-advocacy, and executive presence.
Inherit Change and Ally Confessionals: Campaigns that open space for dialogue on inherited bias and active allyship.
A functional NPS model: Lets employees provide feedback directly to the teams they work with most, strengthening cross-functional accountability.
Taken together, these are less a list of initiatives than a single feedback loop: Together, these initiatives create a cohesive feedback loop, reflecting Fractal's approach to inclusion: listen, build a program in response, and create a way to measure whether it's working.
The foundation: policy
None of these efforts can succeed without a strong foundation of safety. Fractal’s Equal Opportunity Policy, DEI Policy, and Gender-Neutral POSH Policy exist for that reason, making safety the bedrock of belonging and inclusion.
This commitment also reflects in Circle of Care, Fractal’s medical insurance model, which lets employees define “family” for themselves, and extends coverage to members of the PRIDE community and their partners.
Why it matters
As Mythreyi said of the broader effort, "The real value of initiatives like EmpowerHer is the community they create. Bringing women together to share experiences, perspectives, and practical knowledge helps us all grow."
Events like this demonstrate the power of community, leadership, and structured support working together to turn individual challenges into collective progress, creating pathways for growth and belonging.
