Welcome to 3Keel! How has your day been so far?

I am enjoying it! I spent most of my first few days getting to know about my project and meeting my team and others. Everyone is so amazing and so helpful. It is just a joy to work in this environment.

What have you started working on?

I am working on the palm oil mapping for our client, helping them to improve the traceability of the supply chain and achieve their deforestation-free target. I am mainly working on the data side of the project and identifying the key stakeholders to engage with at the moment.

What are you looking forward to most about working for 3Keel?

Everything! Working with partners and clients to make positive changes, learning wider aspects of sustainability, collaborating and socialising with an amazing and super lovely group of people… I just can’t seem to choose my favourite!

Who or what inspired you to work in sustainability?

I can’t pinpoint who or what inspired me, but I guess it’s the combination of many life experiences. Perhaps it started as small as realising the warmer climate makes my laundry dry faster and seeing dust build up quicker raised my awareness of the ever-worsening environment we are living in. Perhaps it is my experiences with sustainability and social impact projects that developed my interest in sustainability. After I graduated from university, I know that I want a career that allows me to make positive changes to our global community. Sustainability is one of the career options for that I have the skills and knowledge, as well as fulfil my career values.

How has the pandemic affected your views on sustainability?

The pandemic makes me feel more hopeful about a sustainable future. I’ve heard people say most people wouldn’t change their behaviour, but the pandemic shows us otherwise. When we’ve reached the point when climate change and resource scarcity are significantly affecting people’s lives globally (which I hope we would never reach there), I imagine human activities will become more environment-driven instead of economic-driven. Although some damages that are done to our environment might not be reversible, I believe in our resilience in adapting to a sustainable lifestyle, a new normal for all people.

When you’re not working, what do you like to do?

As I live near my previous university, I am still involved in some of the university’s societies after work. As a big fan of musical theatre, I am involved in a university’s light opera production and hopefully, I’ll be able to perform on stage this year. I am also involved with an NGO to welcome international students (and be welcomed as one) and exchange our experiences in the UK. If I am not doing any of those, I’ll probably have tea and chat with my friend or be adventurous in the kitchen.

For those wanting to learn more about sustainability, what key resource (tv, film, book, podcast, etc.) can you recommend?

News! I usually read general news because it is not only common to come across climate-related articles, but also gives me a bigger picture of the environment, social and economic relationships. I also find it helpful to engage with the local community and I sometimes find it inspiring to see the sustainability efforts of people from different socio-economic backgrounds. Perhaps my unique contribution to this question is to learn more about social initiatives and enterprises, as many of them are environment-focus enterprises. Their commitment and ability to scale up actions are inspiring and deserve more attention!