MEET THE STEM DISRUPTOR – AND THE 5 AI TOOLS SHE SWEARS BY

Yemurai Rabvukwa graduated from Liverpool with a Chemistry degree, stumbled into cybersecurity, and built STEM Babe - a tech-themed social platform with 76,000+ followers. Here, STEM Babe discusses career pivots, breaking into tech, and the AI tools she recommends every graduate uses

When Yemurai Rabvukwa first arrived at Liverpool to study Chemistry, she had medicine in mind. By the time she graduated, she'd changed direction entirely. "I'm an opportunist," she says. "I take opportunities as and when they come."

The pivot to cybersecurity was a result of taking these opportunities. During COVID, her year in China cut short, she found herself researching how technology was being used to teach the sciences. Then she saw a young Black woman on Twitter talking about her earnings in tech.

"That was a light bulb moment," she says.

Back in Liverpool, she applied for a cloud computing bootcamp through the Women-in-STEM group at the University, which led to a Coding Black Females recruitment event, where a hiring manager made cybersecurity sound not just accessible but genuinely exciting.

"I fell into the industry," she says. "I had a lot of misconceptions – that you had to be a coder or a hacker or a pen tester. He made it really relatable. So I tried it."

Spotting the gap

STEM Babe – a social media platform dedicated to making tech careers feel achievable – began before that, during her final year at Liverpool working on a content creation project for a beauty brand. "I used to go on YouTube to see what my experience might be like, and I saw there wasn't much content about studying Chemistry at Liverpool. So I started making it."

What it evolved into was something more purposeful: a space that demystifies tech careers, challenges imposter syndrome, and actively widens access to an industry that women, and Black women in particular, had too often been led to believe wasn't for them.

Her audience has shifted over time. The Gen Z students she started with have been joined by career changers in their 30s and 40s. "They see me as a support system," she says.

They're scared they're too old or no longer relevant …

… or have to start again.
My content is saying

YOU
DON'T.

Making her mark

The impact is tangible: one woman working in healthcare now works in government cybersecurity; a man who followed her advice is now earning £750 a day as a contractor. "There have been so many people whose lives have genuinely changed because of the information I've provided," she says.

"I always use that as a leverage point … if I can connect with someone at the University we went to – game changer”

The recognition has opened doors she didn't expect – the TechWomen100 Award, a Black Tech Awards Rising Star nomination, and a University of Liverpool Alumni Award. At a networking event at Number 10 Downing Street, she found herself in conversation with Nicola Hodson, a senior leader in tech and, it turned out, a fellow Liverpool Chemistry graduate and alumni award winner. “I was like, you went to the University of Liverpool? Gotcha," she says.

It's happened enough times now that she actively uses the Liverpool connection as an opener when meeting senior women in tech. "I always use that as a leverage point," she says. "If I can connect with someone at the university we went to – game changer.”

Her next move is a human-first recruitment agency, built on the conviction that the best talent is being filtered out by AI before anyone human sees it. "AI should be used as an assistant, not a complete replacement of you," she says. "Whatever it is you use AI for, add your personality, a bit of flavour.”

Yemurai is pictured outside the chemistry dept, image

"Students have to be creative in finding opportunities"

Be an opportunist

She advises University of Liverpool students from experience: "You really need to take full advantage of the opportunities that are there," she says. Yemurai did the Study Abroad programme twice. She attended every careers event she could. She wishes she'd taken the optional Python and coding module in her Chemistry degree. "That would have been an easy opportunity to gain technical skills within my degree and be assessed on it. Students have to be creative in finding opportunities – even within their own university."

Yemurai is pictured at the door to No 10, image

Put AI to work in your career

Yemurai’s guide to using AI in your job search.

Automate

Adzuna

Sets your criteria and automatically applies for jobs while you sleep.

adzuna.co.uk

Agent

Jack and Jill.ai

An AI career agent you have a real conversation with. It sends you a weekly personalised report of relevant opportunities.

jackandjill.ai

Attract

LinkedIn and CV Library

Keep your LinkedIn profile updated so recruiters can find you. Upload your CV to CV Library – recruiters are actively searching databases for the skills you have.

linkedin.com

cv-library.co.uk

Apply

Go in-person

Use AI to map industry events and identify the companies sponsoring them. Then turn up, introduce yourself, and make the connection no algorithm can make for you.

Bonus tip

Google NotebookLM

Upload any large document – a government report, a company brief – and ask it to generate a podcast or video summary. Ideal for absorbing dense material quickly.

notebooklm.google

Caution

Make it 'you'

"AI should be an assistant, not a replacement. Whatever you use it for, add your personality, a bit of flavour. Make it less AI." And be wary of tools that use your voice or image: “You don't own your voice any more. You don't own your face. You've given it away all in the name of productivity.”

Where can you find Yemurai?

Yemurai is active across most social networks under her own name as well as her STEM Babe alias. Follow her for a regular hit of career inspiration.

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