A hairstylist turned tech entrepreneur was the wildcard winner at tonight’s spectacular Scotland Women in Technology (SWiT) 2025 Awards.

Tracey Aitken, co-founder of HairTracker, a digital record card app that allows salon professionals to document a client’s hair journey and details resulting in stronger customer relationships, took home the Career Changer of the Year award.

“Winning this award means I can show up into a room with my head high,” Aitken told DIGIT after winning the award. “Before, I’d go into a room and people wouldn’t take me seriously. This has given me credibility, it shows that I bring something to the table.

“It also shows that you don’t have to be tech savvy to build a tech businesses. It’s about learning how to be comfortable in the uncomfortable, and there’s been a lot of those moments moving from hairdressing to tech.”

Judges commented that Tracy’s journey to tech had been an “inspirational story of determination” and a “huge jump into a completely different sector” in launching a “fantastic idea for her industry.”

Other big winners during the awards ceremony included software testing and quality assurance organisation, 2i Testing and data and AI recruiter, The Data Gals.

Individuals from 2i Testing were recognised in a tremendous three categories for their diversity efforts including the Everyday Leader Award, Inspirational Woman of the Year and Gender Diversity Ally of the Year.

Winners from the company included Victoria Stark, QAT analyst who received the Everyday Leader Award. She was recognised for what the judges said was “the transformation of internal communications, mentorship and empowerment across the organisation.”

Katherine Leyland, software test engineer at 2i Testing was named as Inspirational Woman of the Year. Judges commented that her story was “deeply inspirational – transitioning from teaching to tech, overcoming personal loss, and leading technical transformation.”

Finally, Dawed Saied, senior customer success manager at 2i Testing took home the Gender Diversity Ally of the Year. He was recognised for championing “women in technology, gender diversity and cultivating a supportive environment for all in both his role at 2i as well at Codespace and Edinburgh College.”

Later in the evening, Katarina Svistseva, founder of The Data Gals, a data and AI recruiter was named not only as Mentor of the Year but also took home Inclusive Recruiter of the Year. Judges noted that she had built a “structured, scalable mentorship programme that has supported 84 women across Scotland and Wales.”

“When setting up mentoring, it’s not just about finding the right people to teach engineering or software development, it’s about finding people who have been in the same shoes as you, who can understand you on a personal level. Being a mentor is not just about getting someone to the next step, but it’s about building that community. The community aspect has really been successful for us,” Svistseva told DIGIT.

The organisation was also celebrated for being built entirely on inclusive recruitment principles. From 50/50 shortlists to removing degree requirements, the organisation has seen placement stats far exceed industry averages in the last 12 months.

“The future of Scotland is brighter, more diverse, and far more interesting because of you,” Jessica Mullen, chief design and innovation officer, CreateFuture, said in her closing remarks. “But we still have work to do.

“I know progress doesn’t just happen, it’s designed, it’s built by people like us in this room.”

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Silka Patel, Founder and Chair of Scotland Women in Technology said: “Our winners this year are truly inspirational; bringing fresh perspectives from new sectors, supporting a wealth of peers across the UK, and creating supportive environments for diversity to flourish.

“With over 300 award nominations to just 10 winners, our judges commented how difficult it was to whittle down such high calibre entries.

“What is clear, however, is that Scotland is leading the way in Diversity, Equality and Inclusion; and championing this across the spectrum is part of the DNA for many organisations based in the country. Congratulations to each of our winners and finalists this evening.”

The full list of winners for the SWiT Awards 2025 are below:

The SWiT awards headline sponsor this year was JP Morgan Chase, with CreateFuture serving as the Gold Sponsor for the event.