International Women's Day Interview - Kirsty
Tell us a bit about who you are and what you do?
My name is Kirsty and I work for an ocean charity called the marine conservation society and I am the volunteer and community engagement manager for Scotland.
So I look after all of our volunteers who protect the sea and do all of our outreach, events, teaching, education sessions etc for Scotland - Scotland is a pretty big place and it’s just me, from Ullapool to the borders! It’s great though as it means I get to travel a lot and spend lots of time by the beach.
What got you into your industry?
So as a kid I was quite outdoorsy, I had an affinity with animals and exploring but I also enjoyed dancing and performing. So I had these two things going on in tandem which was fine when I was a kid but when I got further along at school I was made to choose. So I went with what I was good at, which was English and I kept dancing on the side. I went to uni and graduated with a journalism degree but then felt I needed to pursue the dancer part of me or I’d always regret it! So I went to London and studied at Italia Conti, graduated and started doing the whole dancer in London thing. I was unhappy really quickly as it wasn’t what I thought it would be and I had shut down a whole part of my personality (my outdoorsy adventurous side)
So I started volunteering my time with wildlife organizations and nature reserves to claw that bit of me back, I was super dedicated to volunteering, I took night classes and read a lot of books and eventually got a job at London Zoo as a wildlife presenter, which was the dream. I got it because it was presenting but once I was there I would just annoy all of the vets and wildlife workers and eventually I signed up for a master's in conservation and ecology. It was back in Scotland so I moved home and just soaked up every bit of knowledge that I could, got an entry-level job and worked my way up! So this will be my first managerial position within conservation - 7 years after deciding not to be a dancer and be an animal person instead.
What is the gender ratio like in your industry?
I think it is getting a lot better, not to generalize but most of the senior positions are still held by men. A lot of boards and trustees call out for younger people to be there. I did manage to do that but it was still overwhelmingly male with lots of masculine, aggressive energy. It’s really hard to get your voice heard in senior situations, on the ground a lot of the faces of the industry are women but they are still managed by men. I feel like men are still sitting at the top of something that women are the face of. The good news is there are lots of outstanding examples of women in roles that were inspiring for me and when I reached out to them they were willing to support me and show me the way. The balance is shifting but it is still a male-dominated industry.
Tell me a bit about what the experience of a woman is like in your industry?
In terms of the work, I tried to get a big breadth of what it was like to work in the outdoors and there is a lot of manual labour involved. You need to do things like use a chainsaw, build fences and ponds, maintain paths etc and a lot of the training for this work would be led by men. There was a feeling of “why are you here?” or “that’s not how we do it” and a lack of understanding when it came to educating and supporting women to do work that was generally done by men.
Those outdoor skills are essential for a lot of roles and I found it really hard to get into them, frustrated at being asked to justify why I am there or being treated as though that work isn’t for me. All of these assumptions are being made because of my gender just because to work in wildlife conservation involves some sort of physical task. One of the times I did learn so much was on a woodworking training that was lead by a woman - it automatically felt safer because she clearly understood what it was like and could show us how to navigate all those skills, it was such a powerful moment - a workshop full of women, making things with their hands for the good of the environment, lead by a woman.
I’d love to hear a bit about the work you do to support other women who want to have a career like yours?
Because I had such a big career change I felt like I was jumping from planet to planet and it was oftentimes lonely and isolating, having to fight through and learn, often on my own.
I felt what was needed was a space for open conversation and a space to be yourself. If I could get in the room with people who I wanted to give me a job etc, I was able to make those good impressions. But to do that you have to immediately switch on your elevator pitch, so you are still not quite being yourself, it’s all focused on getting a job and building a career so there’s not a lot of space to explore who you really are and how you can be helped as a human.
When I worked at the zoo I had an idea to start a platform for women in the outdoor and environmental sector, we wanted to run events and have these check-ins that we called “The Big Chat” where, if you were someone who wanted to break into this industry you could come and find other people to talk to. So I built an Instagram and we invited female speakers and most of all we just made friends, bonded over shared experiences and held space for each other. I’m really proud of it as over time people would find jobs and they’d reach out and say it was partly down to having the space and the room to breathe and discuss career options etc. We’ve had people achieve their dream of going to the Maldives on volunteering experiences to people getting their first job in their 50’s when they felt that was impossible, it feels very special. It started as an idea in my head and now it has hundreds of people involved and it’s all about seeing women through a lens of opportunity, about support and not envy. What can we learn from each other and how can we champion each other's success?
Knowing what you know now- What is one thing you would love to say to a younger version of yourself?
You don’t have to pick your path and stick to it - the bus will always come back around and pick you up again, try to follow what interests you with curiosity and an open mind but don’t worry about figuring it all out right away. Things have a way of slotting themselves into place.
Community and friendship are so important- find your people that you can tether to or come home to and you’ll do amazing things.