Leading People, Not Profiles

Join us at our first ever in-person Tech Leadership meetup in Johannesburg. There will be drinks and snacks to kickoff the evening.

The event will be hosted at the Naked offices in Parktown, Johannesburg.

The agenda for the evening will be as follows:
17:30 - 18:00 - Arrival: Drinks and snacks.
18:00 - 18:05 - Introduction and house rules.
18:05 - 19:00 - Main speaker - Kirsten Hay.
19:00 - 19:30 - Networking and wrap up.

Topic of Main Talk - Leading People, Not Profiles

Transitioning from a purely technical role into leadership brings a new kind of complexity - learning to understand and support people, not just systems. In an industry driven by specifications, processes, and outcomes, developing curiosity instead of judgment can be the difference between managing a team and truly leading one.

In this talk, Kirsten shares her journey of personal growth and how it became the foundation of her leadership approach. Drawing on her background as both an educator and a developer, she explores how empathy, adaptability, and self-awareness can unlock stronger collaboration and trust within teams. Attendees will walk away with fresh perspectives and practical ways to create environments where people can do their best work - and where leaders continue to grow alongside them.

Kirsten is a software developer and product owner at Naked, leading a squad of software developers and actuarial analysts. Combining her background in education, social sciences, and engineering, Kirsten brings a unique perspective to leadership in technology. Today, she continues to refine her personal philosophy on leading technical teams - one that focuses on creating space for people to thrive, connect, and evolve together.

Thank you to our sponsors Peach Payments, Moonpay, and OfferZen

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Peach Payments (https://www.peachpayments.com/) make online commerce and digital payment acceptance easier and more accessible across Africa. We believe in the potential of Africa and aim to grow into more countries. Based in Cape Town, South Africa, we work with small and large merchants in South Africa, Kenya and Mauritius to provide a complete toolkit to accept, manage and disburse payments through web and mobile. Our merchant partners include your favourite food delivery services, whether you are ordering in or using a meal kit, travel services that can help you book your next getaway adventure and even your neighbour’s side-hustle e-commerce store. For these partners and their customers, we aim to provide brilliant experiences that make it as easy as possible to facilitate online payments.

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MoonPay (https://www.moonpay.com/) believes in building a world where you own your digital future, giving you control of your identity, money, property and data.

We are the market leader in end-to-end solutions simplifying access to the crypto economy for 20M+ people across 180+ countries, and trusted by iconic global brands including wallets, marketplaces, exchanges and leading web2 enterprises.

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OfferZen (https://www.offerzen.com/) is an online job marketplace by developers for developers. Our mission is to help people unlock their potential by helping them build awesome software. That’s why we are connecting actively looking developers with exciting job opportunities from over 1000 companies in South Africa and the Netherlands. We flip the normal recruitment process on its head – companies reach out to candidates with upfront salary information.