Can you tell us a bit about your job and what you do?

I am the Campaigns and Communications Officer for Wildlife Trusts Wales, mainly focused on running a pesticide free campaign with young people across Wales, as well as undertaking all the communications needs for my trust. That includes managing 4 social media channels, connecting the Wales communications teams in the Welsh trust together to collaborate, working with the press and media, managing a bilingual website, and other bits and bobs as they come up.

How did you get to where you are today?

I have had an interesting journey to where I am today, starting out my conservation career completing a Marine Biology and Zoology course at Bangor University. Through my degree I volunteered with lots of youth organisations, mostly connected to raising youth voice and representing young people in my area, and it was through that work that I found my passion for working with people. After leaving university, I spent 8 years developing my youth work skills in youth work roles, and had a total youth work career of nearly 14 years before deciding to take on a new challenge in campaigning and communications. I would say I have got to where I am now by taking on as many opportunities as I could for learning and connecting, and always thinking about what might be next and what would benefit the people I work with to try and make the world a better place!

What advice would you give to aspiring conservationists?

The world of conservation is a big one, and it is changing drastically now that we are learning that the international shared crises of climate change and biodiversity loss are massively impacting how we can traditionally manage land areas for wildlife. Conservation and the green sector are diversifying fast, utilising digital solutions better, and expanding more into people focussed work as we understand the power of the public is what will help us solve the massive issues we face as a species. Therefore, my advice would be to make sure you diversify your own skill set where possible! Learn about effective social media, have a go at running an event, run some local campaigns, dabble with AI software, because people with creative ideas and diverse skill sets will likely be the future of the conservation sector.