At A level I did Chemistry, Biology and French. Then I went to the University of York and did Biochemistry.

As part of my degree I chose to do a year in France. The first half I was studying and taking exams in biochemistry (in French!) and the second half was doing an unpaid internship in a laboratory. I quickly realised that research wasn’t really for me – I wasn’t very good at it, and I didn’t like being in a lab on a high security site, I wanted to be on the outside telling people what was going on on the inside. So I started looking into careers using science but which weren’t themselves about working in labs. I found out about Science Communication – which covers everything from journalism, broadcasting, making TV programmes about science, to running events at science festivals or in supermarkets raising awareness and interest in science.

The best thing about my job is that I get to meet loads of people who all really love what they do and are really passionate about their work. They are keen to tell the next generation about what they did and how they got there and their enthusiasm is often infectious!

I like running training events as I am a bit of a drama queen and like standing up in front of people and being listened to. Many people thought I should go into teaching, but I prefer meeting many hundreds of young people in all different sorts of schools and with all backgrounds, and then ‘giving them back’ at the end of the day. It keeps it interesting and I love the variety of what I do.

If you’re interested in science that’s the best thing – don’t worry that you’re not very good at it. There are lots of jobs out there that benefit from some science background but where you won’t have to use science every day in your job.

Be creative in what you want to do. Write down all the things you enjoy doing (they might be talking, meeting people, travelling about) and keep this in mind, more than ‘what you want to be’.

My real passion in music and I have played various musical instruments during my life including French horn and guitar. Now I mainly sing, and I sing with an Operatic Society which means that I get to prance about on stage wearing a silly costume twice a year. It is really important to me to have lots of interests outside of my work, I think it keeps me interested in my day job knowing that it’s not the only thing in my life.