What’s your job title?
Head of Communications

What sort of duties do you have at work?
Supporting SGS’s goals with consistent, high-quality messaging and content production

What has your career path looked like until now?
For many years, I worked as an academic researcher and undergraduate English Literature lecturer, while also building a parallel career as a freelance journalist and editor across the maritime, lifestyle, technology, and travel sectors. Both sets of skills tends to come in handy these days so I’m glad to have had the experience

What’s your secret to making progress each day?
I enjoy structure and so my day always starts by looking at key priorities and deciding what is urgent to execute myself, what I need to ask for assistance with, and what can wait for another day

What motivates you at work?
I appreciate the chance to work with people with skillsets distinct from mine, particularly when it comes to engineering, software development, or naval architecture — it’s a great chance to learn more and see how that evolves my own understanding of the maritime industry

What makes SGS different from other places you’ve worked for?
Working as an in-house communications professional allows me to gain quicker and deeper insight than my previous experience of working in a PR agency or as a journalist. It is a bit like looking behind the curtain — which is something I’ve always enjoyed

Who inspires you?
I am lucky enough to know several wonderful people who are passionate about making quiet, consistent change in the world — so picking one or even a few would be impossible

What kind of music do you like?
I’m a musical omnivore and tend to bounce around different genres depending on my mood. Currently my playlist involves Billy Ocean, The Beaches, Thelma Plum, Amit Trivedi, and a lot of Shostakovich

What’s the best book you’ve read recently?
Fresh Banana Leaves by Dr Jessica Hernandez

What’s your favourite food?
I’m always torn between the two halves of my history — it would either be fried bombil with fish curry and rice, or rajma and rice with cauliflower bhaji

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I thought about a career as a medical professional and even went to medical school for a year and a half before realising that it probably wasn’t for me. I still love biology and medical sciences — and take any opportunity to read about it — but I’m more interested in its histories, narratives, and evolution

What’s your favourite thing to do on a weekend?
My weekends tend to involve cleaning, gardening and cuddling my cat. There’s something very soothing about the immediate results of cleaning, whereas gardening is (for me at least) a long-term exercise in masochism. That said, I do enjoy the fact that time in the garden is patient and rarely urgent. There is something wonderful about being outdoors and turning one’s brain off to just mulch in a bed

What’s your favourite season and why?
I am particularly fond of the monsoon and have a lot of fond memories of drinking masala chai and eating pakodas indoors during the monsoon. But now that I live in Scotland, making chai and pakodas to celebrate the first rainfall is probably not going to be a practice I keep up with