The story so far
After graduating from Oxford University in 2007, I dived straight into the world of brand strategy and consumer insight, delivering projects for a range of clients from Sony to TUI. Highlights included forecasting the state of work for John Lewis and an ethnographic study on how households engage with TV for ITV and the BBC.
After several years of saving, my partner and I embarked on an expedition to circumnavigate the world without flying. Twenty months later, we returned to London, having sailed, biked, hitch-hiked, couch-surfed and worked our way around the Northern Hemisphere. I was fortunate enough to channel my experience into my new passion — sustainable travel — creating Green Guides for destinations at Green Traveller.
Between 2010 and 2017, I gained experience in the nascent sustainable hospitality scene as Communications Manager for the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance and Editor of its magazine, Green Hotelier. The role involved supporting sustainability working groups for the world's largest hospitality brands and creating industry-first guides on topics such as environmental management, child protection, modern slavery, and climate. There was no better place to learn the practical demands, implications, and holistic nature of sustainability.
As overtourism and the climate crisis grew in urgency, I realised that for tourism to be truly responsible, it must be actively involved in nature restoration and community uplift. In 2017, this led me to The Long Run, where I supported over 70 nature-based tourism businesses as Communications Lead. Alongside learning from ecotourism pioneers worldwide, this role involved facilitating workshops and webinars, accelerating the brand's digital presence, organising in-person and virtual events, supporting members with sustainability planning, and speaking at numerous industry events.
Alongside these roles, I have taken on various freelance writing and consultancy projects, including writing a sustainable travel column for Wanderlust and being a regular contributor to The Guardian. Other bylines include National Geographic Traveller, Conde Nast Traveller, and The Times. In 2020, I published Sustainable Travel: The Essential Guide to Positive Impact Adventures, and in 2022, Slow Travel Family Breaks. In 2023, I won the inaugural Sustainable Travel Writer of the Year award.
To date, consultancy roles have focused on project management, communicating impact, research, strategy, and sustainability planning. Stand-out projects include copywriting for the World Travel and Tourism Council's Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, climate research for RTÉ's Manchán's Europe by Train, project lead for Wildlife Heritage Areas, and DEI research for All Corners. Since moving to Brighton, I've been enjoying local, in-person projects, such as supporting the socio-economic impact of Weald to Waves for the Knepp Wildland Foundation and story development for Arts Council-funded project Enchanting Forest.