#Shorts: Rachel Riley: From a love of maths to TV’s Countdown and inspiring a generation of girls in STEM

Welcome to PathFinders #Shorts, bite-sized conversations with people from all walks of life, uncovering their career stories, work/life challenges and successes, and much more.

Filling Carol Vorderman’s shoes on TV’s long-running Countdown would always be a big challenge, but for one Oxford graduate maths enthusiast, it proved to be a surprisingly natural, if unplanned, fit.

Rachel Riley had been good with numbers from a young age, and after gaining a Master’s degree in maths from the prestigious Oxford University, in 2009 she took her first steps onto the sound stage at Channel 4 to become a household name. We spoke to her about her career, her love of STEM, and the secret trick she uses to master the Countdown numbers game.