Meet the team

Q. What's your role?

A. I lead the team and help shape the vision and direction of our work.  My main role is to ensure our team are happy, fulfilled and focussed on delivering a ‘gold standard’ service to our student entrepreneurs.

Q. What do you love most about your job? 

A. Working with our incredibly talented students who really do want to make the world a better place – their enthusiasm and commitment is incredible. I feel incredibly lucky to do what I do.  I also love working with our team – they really are the ‘dream team’.

Q. Why/how did you first get into this line of work?  

A. I ran my own business for a number of years and then when I moved to the east coast, I got actively involved in running and supporting social enterprise.  I subsequently joined the University of Edinburgh as their first social enterprise adviser and after a year I was promoted to student enterprise manager.

Q. What’s happening (work-related) in the next 6 months that you’re looking forward to?

A. One of our core strengths in student enterprise team is our ability to build strong partnerships so I am looking forward to a new collaboration with Techstars, the UoE Business School and UoE School of Engineering when we are running the first Scotland Techstars Startup Weekend in March.  I’m so excited to see how many business ideas are created from this collaboration!

Q. What’s the best highlight of your career to date?

A. The latest one was being able to report that the team have supported the creation of over 100 student start-ups (and continue to do so).  This is a such a great achievement for the whole team and we aim to smash that record again this year.

Q. Do you have any hobbies?

A. I love spending time with my two labradoodles – Honey and Lola.

Q. What’s your role?

A. My main role at EI is working on embedding enterprise into the curriculum, however, I run a number of workshops and events as well including Find Your Startup Idea, PhD Max and Inspire Launch Grow!

Q. What do you love most about your job?

A. Watching students’ ideas grow from a seed into a full-blown venture!

Q. Why/how did you first get into this line of work?

A. I have been an educator for over 8 years and I have always loved watching students become inspired by something they love and are inspired by. This line of work felt like a natural fit for me.

Q. What’s something people don’t know about you?

A. I am a certified nutrition advisor and Commis Chef 

Q. What’s happening (work-related) in the next 6 months that you’re looking forward to?

A. We have launched the first-ever PhD Max cohort so I am so excited to see the progress of our students in this programme! I am also of course looking forward to Inspire Launch Grow on 8 June 2023! 

Q. What’s the best highlight of your career to date?

A. There are so many but in recent memory presenting research findings at the International Enterprise Educators Conference! 

Q. If you had more time, what would you do more of?

A. I would do more travel and explore new weird and wonderful ingredients to cook with.

Q. Do you have any hobbies?

A. I love running, playing ice hockey and cooking! I am excited to run my first half marathon since the pandemic in March 2023!

Q. What's your role?

A. I lead on programmes including Power Her Up, Startup Basics, Startup Builder, Games Nights and Business Ideas Competitions and work with the MasterCard Scholars. I am always here to help students with any questions they have about starting their own business, or how they could get involved in the enterprise community here at the University of Edinburgh.

Q. What do you love most about your job?

A. I love providing students with the inspiration and motivation to start their own businesses. Most often a student just needs a gentle nudge to realize their ideas are good enough to develop. I love sharing the philosophy that you should start before you feel ready, as failure is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves. You only learn and grow from putting yourself out there.

Q. Why/how did you first get into this line of work?

A. I got into this line of work as I continue to be a freelancer and entrepreneur. I love building something from the ground up or seeing a project as a blank slate. Starting your own business is a great way to pursue your passion, and to build lifelong skills.

Q. ​​​​​​​What’s the best highlight of your career to date?

A. I won a Best Emerging Artist Award at the Adelaide Fringe Festival

Q. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​If you had more time, what would you do more of?

A. I would love to travel more on a motorcycle and do comedy shows around the United Kingdom and Europe in the summer

Q. ​​​​​​​Do you have any hobbies?

A. I love performing my one woman show, I love exploring new places and going hiking, I am a thrill seekers who enjoys adventure sports

Q. What’s your role?

A. My main role is to run workshops, competitions, and programmes for our student entrepreneurs, with a particular focus on sustainability and climate related solutions. These sustainability focused activities are supported by the Edinburgh Earth Initiative, who are working to accelerate the University of Edinburgh’s response to the climate crisis.

Q. What do you love most about your job?

A. I love working with our inspiring student entrepreneurs who are creating solutions that may shape our future world. It’s amazing to see just how innovative and forward thinking our students are, and I love having the chance to hear about and be part of their journeys.

Q. Why/how did you first get into this line of work?

A. My first role after university was in entrepreneurial tax and I loved hearing about the wide variety of solutions being developed by entrepreneurs in Edinburgh. I had an interest in sustainability, however, and so left my role as a tax associate to work as a project co-ordinator at a sustainability social enterprise, where we ran a programme for high school students, apprentices and graduates that guided them through developing solutions for real sustainability challenges faced by larger companies. Working at Edinburgh Innovations as Earth Enterprise Officer, therefore, felt like the perfect fit for me as it combined my passion for supporting entrepreneurship alongside my interest in sustainability.

Q. If you had more time, what would you do more of?

A. Reading! I love learning new things, but there’s never enough time to read all the articles and books that I want to. I don’t think I’ll ever hit my yearly reading target, but my aspirations remain high!

Q. Do you have any hobbies?

A. I love to cook. I find it’s the perfect way to chillout after a busy day and I really enjoy trying out weekend recipe projects. The only other thing you need is a good cooking playlist to dance around the kitchen to!

Q. What's your role?

A. As the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion host, I oversee that our services are inclusive and accessible for everyone, paying particular attention to the needs of marginalised communities.

Q. What do you love most about your job?

A. My favourite part of my role is the opportunity to watch our founders grow. I love every step of the journey. I relish the excitement of brand-new ideas, and I adore helping them explore new heights!  

Q. What’s the best highlight of your career to date?

A. Being selected as a Feminist Trailblazer by the University of Edinburgh in 2022 was an incredible honour that recognised my work creating opportunities for marginalised gender identities and ethnic minorities. Intersectionality is at the core of my work, and my role allows me to learn more from people with different experiences and find how we can better support their entrepreneurial journey. 

Q. Do you have any hobbies?

A. I am also a professional photographer, and my work celebrating queer joy has been featured in Photo Vogue and the Scottish Portrait Gallery. My passion for social justice fuels my creative process, which I often use as a platform to celebrate my culture and personal experience.

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