I arrived as a fresh-faced English Pom eager to make the most of my studies and life in a far-flung land.  I was delighted to join St John’s as one of the earlier cohorts of women and bring as much energy and enthusiasm to living in College as I could muster.

I studied for my BA, majoring in Philosophy and International Relations. I also decided to make time to sneak in a minor subject in English Literature so that all the Austen and Shakespeare I was reading anyway could count towards my degree (you can take the girl out of England…). I thoroughly enjoyed my studies and in particular a component on environmental politics. I was also able to do an internship as part of a Public Policy course and spent a semester at WWF International supporting the Director of Climate Change. A lot of this, as well as much of my philosophy studies (especially political philosophy, good governance, and how to make good decisions at the societal level) stood me in very good stead for the career path I then embarked on.

When I first returned to the UK I did an internship in Parliament working for a Liberal Democrat MP. I remember how exciting it was to go into the Houses of Parliament each day and see the workings of politics. I did however, then decide to not pursue politics but instead do post-grad law. I was keen to focus on environmental law and once I completed the course I worked for a number of NGOs and charities (including WWF in the UK) on environmental law and policy issues.

Various other twists and turns took me firstly to the United Nations in New York where I led the environment and development NGO stakeholder engagement on the Rio+20 process, the conference that set the framework for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); as well as the United Nations Climate Change secretariat in Bonn, Germany, where I worked on the Paris Agreement and the climate negotiations.

Most recently I worked in environmental philanthropy managing portfolios of funding that was being put towards great projects in climate change and then as CEO of a biodiversity funder; I am proud that we nearly doubled the amount of grant-making done during the COVID-19 year. The pandemic really shone a spotlight on our relationship with nature and I think this got a lot of people thinking about their own behaviours and wanting to invest more in nature.

I am now heading up partnerships at the world-leading B Corporation ClimateCare. We channel carbon finance out to impactful projects globally that are both taking carbon out of the atmosphere and in many cases having other livelihood co-benefits to meet other SDGs. The science is stark on climate change and companies and other entities are really stepping up to take responsibility for their carbon footprints and reduce, and then offset, their emissions. It is a very exciting place to be right now!

I suppose each time I chose a job or opportunity that I moved country for was a life-changing event. Living in Sydney was wonderful and certainly gave me the travel bug for living abroad. I also really enjoyed New York, which was quite different to the somewhat smaller town in Bonn!

Soon after the Copenhagen negotiations  (in 2010) I was invited to give a speech in the United Nations negotiations in Bonn that focussed on ‘intergenerational equity’ and why it was important to involve young people in the decision-making process. As the ones who are inheriting the earth in its distressed and damaged state I felt passionately that the youth should have a say in what type of future they actually wanted to grow up into. That was a great moment because we had T-shirts printed that posed the question: ‘how old will you be in 2050?’ and many of the UN delegates wore them in the negotiations!

Achievements
Being appointed as a Member of the British Empire (MBE) for my work on climate change and involving young people in the political process at the United Nations level, as well as the UK government level was a real honour. Also being part of the COP21 Paris negotiations, supporting the Executive Secretary – Christiana Figueres – in achieving that goal, was a once in a lifetime opportunity to be involved in something so momentous.

Family
My partner and I moved out of London when the pandemic hit and we are now living in Hampshire in the village where my parents moved to when I was a teenager. It is also very nearby the village my partner grew up in too! We have a cocker spaniel puppy with us now and she is adorable (if a little handful sometimes!)

Interests and passions
After playing sports in Uni I needed to keep up with exercise and so I took up running. So far I have done quite a few half-marathons and the Berlin marathon. I continue to be passionate about Jane Austen and recently went to visit her various homes in Hampshire (not too far from where I live) to gain more of an insight into what life was like for her. I felt like a total groupy! But it was stunning to see these places that had such an influence on her writing. Her resting place is in Winchester Cathedral and there is a stunning inscription commemorating her life and work there. She has been a constant inspiration for me!