What's your job about?

I work in the Marine Sector for Babcock AU; we focus on delivering sustainment services for the Royal New Zealand Naval fleet as well as commercial vessels at Devonport Naval Base (DNB). The big picture statement of my role here at DNB is to support minimising and managing environmental risk with our partners while also looking to further Babcock’s ESG goals with the help of my Australian counterparts. 

Overall, I’m a bit of an environmental guru on the day-to-day Devonport Naval Base is a large industrial site with many different layers of complex works going on all the time; I work directly with the Environmental Advisor and the Health and Safety Team for the site to manage and support the environmental controls required for our work packages, for me, this looks like completing inspections, taking part in safety rounds on our ships (that’s the best part of the day!), managing incoming environmental data and meeting with stakeholders to discuss environmental improvement activities and the list goes on!

What's your background?

I grew up in Whangaparāoa, a small (not so small now) coastal town about 40 minutes north of Auckland. My Dad is a Landscape architect from Georgia, USA, so I was lucky enough to travel internationally a lot growing up, visiting family, going for cruises and other adventures. My family and I love the outdoors, so we spend a lot of time at the beach, camping or road-tripping. I have four older siblings, so when I wasn’t doing that, I was getting in trouble with them!

After I finished high school, I studied graphic design at Yoobee in Auckland CBD and eventually became a fully fledged graphic designer, working in the industry for a short while, I soon found it not to be my passion and returned to university to study Environmental Sciences in 2021. Long story short, I fell in love, looking after the environment is my passion and taking the risk to go back to university at 22 was the best decision I’ve ever made!

Could someone with a different background do your job?

Yes! If you have a passion for the environment and making positive change, you could absolutely step into this role. Being an environmental graduate is not only about assessing environmental risks but looking to the future and being creative, asking yourself, what does the future of environmental management look like? It’s up to you! A lot of this role is about clearly communicating and explaining – ideas, thoughts, legislation changes, etc, to the appropriate stakeholders to make sure positive change is happening in the right places. It also pays to be organised,d and on time, your resources are limited, so being on top of your schedule is key.

What's the coolest thing about your job?

I get to work with everyone across the business, Babcock group has big ESG goals across our different business units worldwide, as a key member of the AU team, I’ve participated in working groups across the world, discussing ways of managing waste, our resources and what we want to achieve as a collective in the coming years. While I don’t have a company car, I have access to lots of cool Babcock-branded PPE, and did I mention I get to go on the vessels? (Warships! So cool)

What are the limitations of your job?

Babcock is a big company with a lot of resources, but the principles and foundation of ESGares are still a growing concept in the defence sector, so in a lot of ways, pushing the ESG agenda, while it may be what’s best for the environment and our people, it can be an uphill battle. Ultimately, Babcock must deliver a product that is suited for purpose and in some cases, environment and sustainability are not able to be at the forefront of the agenda, defence capability must come first.

3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...

1. Food = Fuel. Feed yourself healthier and more nutritious food, and you won’t need five coffees to get through a lecture!
2. Enjoy yourself, university is a great time to meet people, make the wrong decisions (if you need to) and learn something new – don’t take yourself so seriously!
3. You can always start again, finding your passion isn’t easy, and you don’t need to be hard on yourself if you don’t get it right the first time.