Awardwinning female manager was born a man

» By matty | the 07-04-2009 at 14:44 | 65 views (29 unique) | 2 comments | Report post!

Now the managing director of her own server hosting firm, Memset.com, the 32-year-old has been ranked one of Management Today's 35 Women Under 35.

But as well as championing the role of women in IT, Miss Craig-Wood also acts as a role model to other young transexuals. Eventually she started taking female hormones and three years ago, as an already successful IT professional, she was able to pay for a full surgical transition and was reborn as a diminutive blonde with gentle curves.

Miss Craig-Wood, who lives in Guildford, Surrey, believes her unique position has played a hand in her success.

"Having been one of the guys – or at least doing a good job of pretending I was – I have seen it from both sides. I can see if I'm being closed out of a conversation and can push my way back in, while other women don't, perhaps because of assertiveness or they don't recognise what's happening because they haven't been in that situation," she said.

She has also seen how men will assume that "if you're pretty then you're dim".

"People do judge you based on your appearance," she said. "In the past few years, I have become progressively more attractive. My hips have developed more and I have this blonde hair and it has become more difficult to establish credibility with male colleagues who don't know me. They will often make the presumption that I don't know my maths or technology."

But despite her confidence in business and the decision to undergo surgery, she said that awards recognising her as a businesswoman are still particularly important to her.

"Something like this is very affirming," he said. "It just shows me that they see my sexuality as something I have had to struggle with and totally recognised me as a woman because I am that – just a woman. What I had is a medical condition and can be treated."

MT editor's Matthew Gwyther said that he was delighted with his decision. "We really had no idea until the feature was on the page that Kate used to be a man but so what, I'm pleased for her," he said.