In 1962, Dame Stephanie (Steve) Shirley created a software company, Freelance Programmers when the concept of software barely existed.

Through her business Steve empowered a generation of women in technology, giving them unheard of flexibility in their working pattern. She went on to create a global business and a personal fortune shared with her colleagues; through transfer of ownership she made 70 of her staff millionaires.

Since retiring in 1993, her focus has been increasingly on philanthropy based on her strong belief in giving back to society. Steve’s personal journey is as compelling as her trailblazing career, and her engrossing life story is filled with lessons in human resilience in a time of tragedy and crisis, never more relevant than in the world today.

In this very personal conversation with ‘Steve’, we aim to gain insight into the lessons we might learn as people and as businesses from a long personal journey in life, business, entrepreneurship and philanthropy of a person who has been recognised during her life as one of the 100 most powerful women in Britain and a pioneering workplace revolutionary.