Claudia Cohen is Director of La Fosse Academy, where she has spent the last six years building one of the UK’s most impactful alternative pathways into technology careers.
Her route into this work is personal. A mother of two daughters, Claudia returned from maternity leave twice and each time, came back with sharper focus on why the industry needs to change. She saw first-hand how traditional hiring systematically sidelines people whose careers don’t follow a straight line: women returning to work, career changers, people without “the right” background. That experience shaped her conviction that the solution isn’t to help people fit the existing system, it’s to change the system.
Under her leadership, La Fosse Academy has trained over 1,000 professionals and placed talent across 50 organisations spanning 13 industries, with 90% of associates converting to permanent roles. Approximately 45% of those supported are women, significantly above industry averages. She has worked with organisations including Coca-Cola, Ford, UCL and Royal London to shift from experience-led hiring to potential-based approaches, embedding inclusive talent pipelines rather than treating diversity as a one-off initiative.
Alongside this, Claudia co-leads UNBOUND, a community advancing women in technology through mentorship, events and industry collaboration, backed by research from over 1,700 women in tech, with a focus on progression as well as entry.
She was recognised as one of the Women in Tech 100 in 2021 and is a regular speaker on the future of skills, diversity in technology and inclusive talent strategies.
