Why I'm still working for Greenpeace 15 years on

I'm a deep environmentalist at heart so working for Greenpeace is almost a spiritual thing for me. I was born in Africa, to Anglo-Danish NGO parents, where I had the privileged opportunity to witness incredible parts of the natural world and its geography and wildlife, but also saw some of the enormous effects that humankind was having on the planet.

My family has always been very green at heart, and I remember well the first time I saw a Greenpeace video on TV in Copenhagen, where we moved to just in time for my impressionable teens. I remember being utterly mesmerized by the ships, the rainbow dove and the courage of these people fighting environmental injustice. It definitely awoke something powerful in me, a thought that this was something I might want to spend my time on Earth doing.

I've always been very drawn to what Greenpeace does, and it's been a massive pleasure working with the people across the spectrum of all the key functions in the organisation over the years.

Before being employed as a staff member, I ran the West London Greenpeace volunteer and activist group in the UK for a couple of years which I loved. I'm very proud of the fact that I arrived at Greenpeace through the volunteer network as a lot of other people have in the organisation, I think it helps keep our feet planted firmly on the ground that we have so many former volunteers amongst our staff. It's good to know for example what it feels like to stand outside a supermarket for hours, dressed as a fish, handing out leaflets to members of the public who don't want or have time to engage with you, its an important learning curve.

My paid career at Greenpeace began when I was hired by Greenpeace UK to coordinate our relationship with the annual Glastonbury Music and Arts Festival in the UK alongside a team of amazing artists, makers, builders, fundraisers and volunteers. The role involved a lot of stakeholder outreach and coordination, helping to coordinate the set up of things like solar showers, sustainable wood skate ramps and huge teams of volunteers who worked to engage the public about our campaigns.

I then moved on to organizing Greenpeace International and Greenpeace Nordic ship tours with all three of our amazing campaign and research ships and their crew, and have since moved around quite a lot between different and often complex project management roles, involving both public outreach and campaigning as well as organisational development. I’ve also worked in several crisis response teams over the years, helping to navigate complex situations as they unfold. I really enjoy all types of high-stakes, high-intensity work, the more pressure I'm under the more I seem to thrive and find my 'flow'. And don't get me started on my love of huge multi-tab colour-coded spreadsheets, it genuinely has no bounds.

My professional career hasn't necessarily been linear but my choices have always been deliberate and intentional, I’ve always favoured interesting challenges over vertical progression and taken on projects that caught my interest rather than ones that necessarily involved more seniority. Being able to move laterally, as well as vertically is something that I appreciate about working for Greenpeace. Progression doesn't necessarily need to be vertical, personally I'm interested in being challenged and working on projects that excite me and get me thinking creatively and innovatively, you can't always do that with a conventional vertical career path.

I currently work as a global capacity builder and trainer for the Global Learning and Development team at Greenpeace International. As the organization is working more and more in globally distributed teams, we're tasked with delivering sets of best practice trainings on global standards that will help us to win our ambitious campaigns. 

I love what I do - helping people to develop their skills and maximise their potential is enormously humbling and exciting. And building best practices in an organization I love, hopefully making things more efficient, is super gratifying.

I have always felt very comfortable working with global teams. My family is mixed - I'm half Danish half English, I've studied at international schools and universities and have lived and worked in countries in both the northern and southern hemispheres over the years, so I'm very used to and love spending time in international environments. I definitely thrive most in global settings and will probably always work within them.

Most of my Greenpeace career I've worked remotely, which enables me to connect and network with other people outside of Greenpeace. Even though it is very comforting to work in a safe bubble in an office, being continuously surrounded by the same people with the same values and personality traits can run the risk of keeping you in an echo chamber. That doesn't work for me - I need to be able to look outward for new ideas so I can be innovative in my work. I therefore really appreciate the freedom of working from home, cafes and a wonderful coworking space I use in London where I live and gain a lot of energy, inspiration and useful perspectives from being around people in different lines of work.

Greenpeace was kind of ahead of the game in terms of remote working which has helped those of us operating a global level to adapt quickly in the context of Covid-19. Most of our pieces of training are delivered online, so as trainers we have been very prepared for this new way of working. 

I've been working for Greenpeace for over 12 years, so I'm quite an old-timer here. Employee retention at Greenpeace is high, and a lot of my colleagues have been working here for a very long time, and I've been lucky to make many friends for life amongst them.

Protecting the planet is a fundamental core value for me. Not everyone is so fortunate to be doing a job that is so aligned to their values, so I feel very privileged to be working at Greenpeace. Believe it or not, even after 12 years I still cry when I see new Greenpeace campaign videos because I still find what we do so powerful. I think the day I stop getting emotional at those videos will be the day to move on.

If I had to give advice to someone who is looking to work at Greenpeace, it would be to go for it, follow what you're passionate about over a conventional career path, be brave, let the doors open and enjoy a great adventure.