Welcome to Byte Club, a tech podcast curated by the girls, for the girls. Our mission? To elevate, educate, and explore the exciting world of technology. So tune in, and remember, the first rule of byte club is to talk about byte club.
Kicking off our first guest episode of the season, Charlotte Seckold takes us from her early days as a Microsoft UK intern to leading as a Senior Engineering Manager. She shares career highs, personal lessons, and honest thoughts on mentorship and motherhood — all with the wisdom (and humour) you’d expect from someone who’s done it all.
Connect with Char:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotterowe/
19 Jul 2025
Episode 15 - Admiral Grace Hopper & the Compiler
In this week’s episode, Beth dives into the trailblazing life of Grace Hopper — the Navy rear admiral who didn’t just serve her country but also served up one of the most revolutionary inventions in computing.
Grace Hopper on Letterman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE2uls6iIEU
7 Jun 2025TRANSCRIPT
Episode 14 - Rachel Tobac & Social Engineering
Rachel Tobac, CEO of SocialProof Security, discusses ethical social engineering and how understanding human vulnerabilities strengthens cybersecurity in this interview episode.
24 May 2025TRANSCRIPT
Episode 13 - Ada Lovelace & the Analytical Engine
Beth Curran explores Ada Lovelace's visionary life and her groundbreaking work with the Analytical Engine, highlighting her pivotal role as a STEM pioneer in this historical interview.
27 Dec 2024
Episode 12 - Byte Club Season Finale
In the final episode of this season, the girls are going off-script while talking about some of the podcast highlights, a quick update on personal lives, and answering some questions from the audience!
Audio Credits Uppbeat:
Intro: Summertime Jam by All Good Folks
End Credit: I Don't Need Your Love by Adi Goldstein
13 Dec 2024TRANSCRIPT
Episode 11 - Henrietta Lacks & the HeLa cells
Is immortality only a concept in fiction? In this episode, Akshaya discovers the story behind Henrietta Lacks' immortal life, one that remained a mystery for nearly 25 years. Tune in for a fun and interesting conversation on how one woman's doctor's visit changed the course of biomedical research.
A Timeline of Cell Culture:
https://osp.od.nih.gov/hela-cells/significant-research-advances-enabled-by-hela-cells/
Audio Credits Uppbeat:
Intro: Summertime Jam by All Good Folks
End Credit: I Don't Need Your Love by Adi Goldstein
8 Nov 2024
Episode 10 - A Chat with Leah Nguyen
Leah Nguyen, a LinkedIn guru and data whiz kid, shares her journey from marketing to data science, highlighting the benefits of documentation in an uncertain job market and offering advice for career starters.
26 Oct 2024
Episode 9 - Sister Mary Kenneth Keller & Inductive Inference
In this week's exciting new episode, Beth takes us through the rather unusual life of Mary Kenneth Keller who was a pioneering computer scientist, an educator, and a Catholic religious sister. This all-rounder was not only the first woman in the U.S. to earn her PhD in Computer Science but also paved the way for Artificially Intelligent computers.
Audio Credits Uppbeat:
Intro: Summertime Jam by All Good Folks
End Credit: I Don't Need Your Love by Adi Goldstein
27 Sept 2024
Episode 8 - Ritu Karidhal & Hohmann Transfer Orbit
What does a basketball in the air have in common with a satellite in space? Join Aks this week as she breaks down a key concept in orbital mechanics that was influential to the successful Mars Orbiter Mission, spearheaded by India's very own 'Rocket Woman', Ritu Karidhal.
The Indian Mars Orbiter Mission Story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySzBVayVhYg
Homann Transfer Orbit in 3 Minutes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKXNbf6NCKU
Audio Credits Uppbeat:
Intro: Summertime Jam by All Good Folks
End Credit: I Don't Need Your Love by Adi Goldstein
14 Sept 2024
Episode 7 - Michelle Simmons & Quantum Computing
Does a quantum computer exist? If it does, can we get one for ourselves? On this week's episode, Beth walks us through the great mind of Michelle Simmons (a.k.a Quantum Queen) and the q(bits) of information you might need to understand the inner workings of quantum computing.
Cosmos Article on Michelle:
https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/physics/michelle-simmons-a-quantum-queen/
All About Michelle's Work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv-FAMz9o40
Quantum Computing Explained:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhHMJCUmq28
Audio Credits Uppbeat:
Intro: Summertime Jam by All Good Folks
End Credit: I Don't Need Your Love by Adi Goldstein
13 Jul 2024TRANSCRIPT
Episode 6 - Pattie Maes & Collaborative Filtering
If your computer could schedule your meetings, book your dental appointments, and also kept a lookout on Amazon for your wishlist products to go on sale, wouldn't that be a dream? In this week's episode, Akshaya explains how easy it might be to get that done and the woman who made it all possible.
Wired Article on Pattie Maes:
https://www.wired.com/1997/12/maes-2/ (https://www.wired.com/1997/12/maes-2/)
Pattie Maes's Talks "Wearable Tech":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ-VjUKAsao&t=86s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ-VjUKAsao&t=86s)
Audio Credits Uppbeat:
Intro: Summertime Jam by All Good Folks
End Credit: I Don't Need Your Love by Adi Goldstein
29 Jun 2024TRANSCRIPT
Episode 5 - A Chat with Katherine Kinder
In the first ever guest episode on Byte Club, Aks and Beth take the backseat as Katherine (Kat) Kinder explains a day in the life of a photonics engineer, delves into the future of physics in Australia, and breaks down Interferometry.
If you want to learn more from Kat or say hello: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-kinder/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-kinder/)
The Interferometer explained by LIGO: https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/what-is-interferometer (https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/what-is-interferometer)
Audio Credits Uppbeat:
Intro: Summertime Jam by All Good Folks
End Credit: I Don't Need Your Love by Adi Goldstein
15 Jun 2024
Episode 4 - Radia Perlman & Spanning Tree
Before Google, before even DOT COM, was Radia Perlman, and in this episode Beth takes us through the genius idea which was so simple that even drunken monkeys could understand it.
Useful Links!
Hidden Heroes Article: https://hiddenheroes.netguru.com/radia-perlman (https://hiddenheroes.netguru.com/radia-perlman)
A helpful technical explanation of STP: https://youtu.be/GSKoQ8ZR8rw?si=Ow6suUMtYS9pTqnV (https://youtu.be/GSKoQ8ZR8rw?si=Ow6suUMtYS9pTqnV)
Radia chatting about STP and her design philosophy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3zJuMht5Kk&t=199s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3zJuMht5Kk&t=199s)
Wreck it Ralph Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JUfHyutQww (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JUfHyutQww)
Audio Credits Uppbeat:
Intro: Summertime Jam by All Good Folks
Transition: Music Is by Pryces
End Credit: I Don't Need Your Love by Adi Goldstein
1 Jun 2024
Episode 3 - Hedy Lamarr & Frequency Hopping
In this exciting new episode, Akshaya takes us into the exciting double life of Hedy Lamarr, starlet by day, inventor by night (or any spare time she had)! Tune in to know more about Hedy's rollercoaster ride of a life and take away some valuable lessons.
Hedy & George's Infamous Patent:
https://www.history.com/news/hedy-lamarr-inventor-frequency-hopping-wifi (https://www.history.com/news/hedy-lamarr-inventor-frequency-hopping-wifi)
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story by Alexandra Dean:
https://w (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa_AA_byQ58)ww.youtube.com/watch?v=wa_AA_byQ58 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa_AA_byQ58)
Audio Credits Uppbeat:
Intro: Summertime Jam by All Good Folks
Transition: Music Is by Pryces
End Credit: I Don't Need Your Love by Adi Goldstein
17 May 2024TRANSCRIPT
Episode 2 - Katie Bouman & CHIRP
In this episode, Beth takes us through the mind of Katie Bouman, who, with her team of researchers, made it possible to take the first-ever picture of the Black Hole.
All Things Katie!
Bouman’s TED Talk
https://youtu.be/BIvezCVcsYs?si=h7-GcT3VZDwQRXNB
Bouman’s Caltech Lecture/Symposium
https://youtu.be/UGL_OL3OrCE?si=sZ-VtBEAz_1X5tCJ
Bouman’s PhD Thesis
https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/113998 (https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/113998)
Some useful videos about The Black Hole:
Veritasium’s video ‘How to Understand What Black Holes Look Like:
https://youtu.be/zUyH3XhpLTo?si=lZeKs9EVacaLtsXk (https://youtu.be/zUyH3XhpLTo?si=lZeKs9EVacaLtsXk)
The Computational Cameras website:
https://computationalcameras.org/ (https://computationalcameras.org/)
Audio Credits Uppbeat:
Intro: Summertime Jam by All Good Folks
Transition: Music Is by Pryces
End Credit: I Don't Need Your Love by Adi Goldstein
4 May 2024TRANSCRIPT
Episode 1 - Karen Spärck Jones & TF-IDF
In this episode, Akshaya takes us through the life and times of Karen Spärck Jones, whose ground-breaking algorithm discovered in the 70s drives the mechanisms of search engines like Google even today.
Here are some articles that will help you understand TF-IDF!
1) https://www.semrush.com/blog/tf-idf/ (https://www.semrush.com/blog/tf-idf/)
2) https://monkeylearn.com/blog/what-is-tf-idf/ (https://monkeylearn.com/blog/what-is-tf-idf/)
Check out Karen's lectures!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwpo8Kz86W8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwpo8Kz86W8)
Audio Credits Uppbeat:
Intro: Summertime Jam by All Good Folks
Transition: Music Is by Pryces
End Credit: I Don't Need Your Love by Adi Goldstein
4 May 2024TRANSCRIPT
Episode 0 - What Is Byte Club
Welcome to Byte Club! In this episode, Beth Curran and Akshaya Parthasarathy will be taking you through a quick tour of themselves, the origin of Byte Club and what to look forward to!
Audio Credits Uppbeat:
Intro: Summertime Jam by All Good Folks
End Credit: I Don't Need Your Love by Adi Goldstein
Inside a recent episode
Episode 16 - A Chat with Charlotte Seckold
Published 16 Aug 2025 · Transcript excerpt
[…] Um, there I can put you in touch with with people. Um, it's kind of word of mouth as well. Just get those mentors from other walks of life as well. So it doesn't have to be, you know, within the current company you're in, it can be others. So go to those women in IT breakfast. Go to go to whatever you can see. Just keep an eye out on LinkedIn on them. Is it the event websites on what's going on? Um, and network and take, you know, add them on LinkedIn send them a message and say, hey, you know, if you saw someone speak and you, you really kind of. Um, gel to you then, you know, message them and say, hey, would you mind mentoring me? […]
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
