OW Spotlight Matilda Edwards
Combermere '15Leader and founder of the OW Womens Sports Society
Tell us about yourself
I was in the Combermere from 2009 – 2015 where I was very happy. I have some of my fondest memories from school and still miss it today (I know, very sad of me!). After school, I took a Gap Year to Australia and New Zealand and having spent six months with a group of 30 friends, I decided to tell my parents I was absolutely not coming home! Thankfully, my eagerness to stay lasted only a day and some common sense brought me home swiftly. I then went off to study History, Politics and International Relations at Durham University from 2016-2019.
After Durham, I was unsure what I wanted to do, so decided to take a teaching post at a London Independent Day School for a year, where I taught A-level Economics and Politics. During that time, I applied to a few jobs that interested me and landed a job working for RFIB as an insurance broker in the Political Risk and Trade Credit market which is where I work today. We specialise in helping commercial banks and multilateral development institutions find insurance protection against; Sovereign Risk (protection against sovereign default), Political Risk (protection against political interference-such as currency inconvertibility, transfer restrictions, expropriation, war, civil disturbance and arbitration award default) and Credit Risk (non-payment from private creditors, such as export trade finance solutions)
I feel this role suits me, not only does it match up with my interests in politics and economics but more importantly, it has allowed me to become an avid member of the Lloyd’s Squash Club. A club for very average squash players who enjoy a hit and social. Our most recent match was actually played against the “Wine Traders” who by tradition, bring a bottle of their favourite wine and have to present it at the post-match dinner.
In my spare time, I play social netball and hockey for the HAC. I am also a keen fly fisher which has gone down well in the insurance world but not so much in my friendship group, who think i am rather weird!
I am currently working to set up the OW Women’s Sports Society which I am very excited about and believe we have much to gain from its inclusion into the OW society.
What advice would you give to students/young OWs who would like to join your profession?
The way I secured my current job was by working hard, having interests and taking part in things that made me happy. I am really thankful that I did not have a clue what I wanted to do after University because falling into teaching gave me time to think about what I was actually interested in and what suited me. It actually all ended up working in my favour. Teaching gave me so many transferable skills that I needed and I ended up meeting a contact at the company I work for now through a hobby. He handed over my CV to my current boss and I think I secured my job by talking about the fly I had just made for my next fishing trip…
What are your career highlights?
It took me five Lloyd’s squash evenings to finally win my first match for the Club. It made it taste sweeter being the only female in the entire club and playing against a man… was rather satisfying…
Where do you see yourself in 5/10/20 years?
Hopefully with a much better casting technique…
Do you have a fond memory from your time at Wellington that you would like to share or perhaps a particular teacher that really stood out?
I have many fond memories of my time at Wellington. We had the most unbelievable opportunities to be creative and free. It makes me laugh thinking back to how I got so used to the amazing facilities, as if it was ordinary to have access to the best coaches at a click of a finger! I would take anything to be able to pop down to the sports hall and use the gym again (Fitness First does not quite cut it).
One of my favourite teachers was Mr Rawlings. He was absolutely terrifying but he made me realise that hard work is literally all you need in life. If we got a single maths question wrong, he used to make us sit down and re-do dozens of similar questions until we got 100% in them before moving on. Genuinely, the best lesson a child can have and I personally realised that determination actually does yield results (I think I even managed to crack shapes for a short while…)