Interview Exercise

Word count: 624

When I first meet Christine, she has just got in from her evening chores on the farm. Her cheeks are flushed from the cold air, her eyes are streaming from the wind but she has a smile on her face and greets me warmly. She makes coffee and we sit on the futon in the yurt she’s living in, at least for now. In May 2021, when the UK was starting to tentatively stretch its collective limbs from the deep sleep of the pandemic, Christine quit her office job working in the field of carbon offsetting and sustainability of five years and got on her bike. Christine explained that it wasn’t an easy decision, and that she had been surprised that the most immediate feeling wasn’t one of freedom but rather one of heaviness. That heaviness has now lifted and she’s finally living the life she always knew would allow her to flourish, but that she had denied herself for so long.

We talk about how common is the phenomena of people living lives constrained by their own thoughts and actions, and how difficult it is to overcome them. She has thought a lot about this and she tells me of how a few days ago she conceptualised it as ‘electric fences of the mind’. On a frosty morning, she had visited the cows in their pasture to top up their water. These big, hairy beasts are kept in their pasture with flimsy white electric fencing - fencing they could easily escape to wander the rest of the fields at their will if only they knew their strength, and were able to endure a few moments of pain.

In the sixteen months since Christine quit her day job she has done an impressive number of things, including volunteering at a seafood cooperative during which she learned how to harvest different kinds of seaweed from the wild Welsh shores, and setting out to cycle the length of the UK solo, off-road. Christine has a keen interest in humanity’s relationship with nature and the world around us - an interest she has nurtured through these experiences and through “relentlessly” listening to podcasts and reading books about the subject. We reel off books we have both read, including Yvon Chouinard’s  ‘Let My People Go Surfing’, and discuss how business leaders are pivotal to the change we need to see and that, while there is a lot of what is often referred to as greenwashing out there, there’s also a lot of genuine desire to do business differently.

With a degree in Geography, a masters in GIS (mapping and spatial data) and seven years’ experience in fields related to sustainability, she has a solid foundation on which to nurture her interest. Christine spent five years in a grant-giving program for forest-friendly businesses in the tropics where she developed a deep understanding of sustainable land use in the tropics and intersectional issues such as climate change and social impact. During her time on the program she visited Ghana, Ethiopia and Indonesia to work with the regional teams, though she tells me her favorite experience was working closely with the Executive Director of an international organization, the High Carbon Stock Approach, that supports commodity producers to address deforestation.

After a wide-ranging conversation I ask her what she plans on doing next. Christine tells me that feelanching has given her the freedom to explore the world and her more creative side. Her plan is to redirect from freelancing in the International Development sector to writing, communications and photography, areas she feels she can truly excel in. Christine is clearly living an ‘alternative’ life to the 9-5 model, but she is balanced, genuine and intelligent. Before I leave she thanks me for my time.

Blog Post Title Two

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.

Blog Post Title Three

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.

Blog Post Title Four

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.