About Me

It is useful to be able to segment your life into digestible parts, chapters of a, as yet, unfinished book. Here is a brief overview of myself:

Graduated 2012 from Durham University, Hatfield College, with a Bachelors (Honours) in Natural Sciences of Chemistry & Physics. This formal learning taught me not only that I love the intersection between the two subjects, but also that I wanted to involved in making real day to day changes to people’s lives – not stuck in a laboratory.

Whilst at Durham, I participated in a range of sporting and social societies, and got involved in the running of several of these, most notably as Treasurer of Hatfield College Rugby Club, and as one of the founding members and President of Hatfield College Darts Club. Both of these sports are dear to my heart, and whilst my skill level could sometimes (often) be found wanting, my heart was always fully there.

Upon graduation, I found myself in a familiar millennial position – with little sureness as to what I was really passionnate in, or what I should put my energy into. I decided to go the corporate route and battled onto the IBM Consultancy Graduate Scheme, where I was thrown into dealing with multi-million pound projects and leading teams with far more technical knowledge than I did. It was here I really started to cut my teeth in the business of leading teams, managing projects, and starting to understand the mechanics behind how things actually get done.

The knawing sensation in my stomach that something wasn’t fully there started soon though. Even though I was working with great people, learning a lot and progressing through the ranks, I knew it wasn’t quite right. And so I turned to the internet, to travel blogs and adventure sites and social media, which showed a whole world out there full of people travelling and exploring and learning. The longer I went on, the stronger these feelings came. I started going on “Micro-adventures“, a fantastic concept being promoted by Alistair Humphreys, in which we take the concept of the work day (working 9 to 5), and flip it on its head – what about your 5 to 9? These 18 hours were all your own, to do whatever you wanted to . So I caught trains to random forests, I hitchhiked to abandoned castles, I hiked for a few hours until I was tired and slept under the stars, all before waking early, swimming in the closest river and then getting back to work for 9am the next day. Refreshing, fulfilling, but still, not enough.

A sabbatical was the next logical step for me, and so in April 2015 I decided to hitchhike my way across Europe, starting in London and getting to Istanbul, Turkey, before hitching back to the UK. These 2 months were an insight into a different way of living, and an introduction to the somewhat crazy and other-worldliness life of spending time with travellers and backpackers; from the hostels, to losing your stuff, to finding the cool places to go; it was a good 2 months.

After this, I decided to head to Switzerland for something that I had very little idea about, but that would end up changing my life in so many ways. Scouting had always played a large part in my formative years, since joining Beavers aged 6, and I continued to take part all the way through to university, where I was on the executive committee for Durham University Scouts and Guides Group. However, once I started working I stopped Scouting, with my weeks being spent away from my home and in hotel rooms. When I knew I was going on my sabbatical, I had a desire to do some volunteering, and someone suggested I check out what Scout Centres there are across Europe. It was here I first found KISC.

KISC is quite magical place. Known by its acronym, its name is Kandersteg International Scout Centre, and it is the World Scout centre. Check out my blog for some of my posts about this place, but the main thing is that young people come from around the world to volunteer for anything from 3 months to 3 years. What is difficult to write is the unique feeling you get when you become part of the KISC family – there is something remarkable between the stunning scenery, nestled as it is in the Swiss Alps, and the inspirational young people that you volunteer with. The levels of dedication and thoughfulness, all channeled through the one purpose of Scouting to make the world a better place. Here I learnt the true capacity of humanity.

3 months in Summer 2015 was followed by me taking a 5 month permanent role over Summer 2016, and culminated in a year long Assistant Director position for all of 2017. I’ve never enjoyed life so much as these glorious 3 years.

2018 was a year of change for me, and I travelled across South America for 4 months, visiting Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Peru. A love of Latin culture and people drove me to explore this vast and wonderful continent, and I am looking forward to returning soon. Later in the year I moved to Barcelona, and saw me start my next stage of life in the thriving capital of Catalonia.

Once again a foreigner with no grasp of the native language, I was fortunate enough to find some grounding, friends and employment whilst working as a Sales Account Manager for HP. Sales was an interesting segue for me – whilst I enjoy communicating and working towards a solution for my clients, I was never fully comfortable with the approach that sales people were traditionally taught to have. That said, I learnt a valuable lesson in building relationships and networks, as well as the temporality and fakeness of some of those same relationships.

My dream has always been to work in the intersection of technology, renewable energy, and helping those in need. In 2019, I was fortunate enough to join the Enable Digital team, who were a plucky lot of technologists, data scientists, developers, business consultants and strategists, who were all equally determind to make a difference in the world. Being back in a consulting role confirmed to me that I love the hustle of solving problems, managing projects, and ensuring the best for everyone. The projects were fascinating, from selling solar panels in Tanzania, to helping refuse collectors in inner-city Nairobi. I hope to be able to continue making my own difference in this new world.