You have been involved in sustainability for many years , what led you to that career path ? I wanted to be an astronaut , so I trained as a space scientist . I ’ ve always been passionate about the planet , the environment and the balance that ’ s existed for millions of years but that we ’ ve disrupted so much in the last 200 or 300 . I went off to university and did the degree to be a space scientist , and worked as an atmospheric scientist but I realised that I really do like people and wasn ’ t the kind of person who wanted to be in a lab or at my computer looking at reams of data – I wanted to learn as much as I could about preserving the planet .

What sparked the move into events , and the launch of Legacy in 2016 ? I worked as a sustainability consultant for local authorities , Government , public and the private sector , advising companies on how they could be more sustainable ; particularly in the built environment . I also worked in-house as a sustainability manager , mainly for social organisation , so that gave me insight into the social side of the picture , which is often left out of the conversation . I was working in sustainability , and loved it , but still didn ’ t really feel like it was speaking to what I wanted to do personally . I was working in a job that required me to organise lots of events , lots of conferences and workshops . I really loved organising those and thought the events industry could benefit from some of the sustainability knowledge I ’ ve picked up over the years both in terms of environmentally and socially .

How do you feel the events industry is doing in terms of its sustainability progress ? It was a little bit behind other sectors in getting to grips with some of the issues around carbon emissions and waste . So it ’ s good that the industry is now off the

starting block and starting to grapple with the issues . The big benefit for the live events industry is it ’ s an industry full of very enthusiastic , very creative , people who are used to getting things done . Anyone who works in the events industry knows it attracts people who are really innovative and that ’ s exactly what this problem needs . I feel that from a slow start , the live events industry could take the lead .

Who has inspired you the most in your career ? I feel very fortunate to have interacted with so many really inspirational people because I ’ ve worked across a broad spectrum of industries within sustainability . Someone who I haven ’ t worked with but who has really inspired me is Gwynne Shotwell , COO of SpaceX . Everyone knows Elon Musk as being the face of Space X but arguably Gwynne Shotwell is the one who ’ s kept the show on the road for the last 20 years and made it the ground-breaking world leading company it is today . She ’ s quite quiet , she ’ s not over social media , she just does what she does , but she does it extremely well and I find that really inspiring – to be such a strong leader but in a quiet , influential way .