Person to Person: I've been a soldier, lawyer and humanitarian... now Cork is my home

TELL us about yourself;

I guess I’m a blow-in to Cork. Although my mum was born in Dublin, I was born and brought up in Cardiff in Wales and then England.

I have been a soldier, a lawyer and then a humanitarian with the UN in Libya and Palestine. I eventually trained in bomb disposal and became the Country Director for the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in Palestine. I was the UN’s only Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) operator in Gaza during the May, 2021, bombings by Israel and so my heart is breaking for Gaza right now.

Afterwards, I suffered from a burn-out and had to take time away from work. Having suffered from depression and PTSD since my time in the military, it was a wake up call and I made a decision to take more control over my mental health and wellbeing. 

I left the UN in 2022 to rebalance my work and personal life and moved to Cork with my Tunisian husband and our one-eyed cat, who we adopted from the streets.

I am now a leadership consultant and speaker on female empowerment, allyship and mental wellbeing, and co-host a podcast called More Than A Lumpy Jumper where we talk about the human, practical side of leadership.

Where do you live?

Shandon. I’m a Norrie now.

Family?

Mum and sister and her family live in UK. My husband Mohamed and our cat Zahara live with me in Cork.

Best friend?

My sister, Fran, we fought like tigers in our twenties but now we arrange sister dates because we miss spending time with each other

Person you most admire?

Matthias Schmale, the former Gaza UNRWA Director, now the Senior Advisor to the UN Development Co-ordination Regional Office Africa. A calm, caring, thoughtful leader full of integrity.

Where was your most memorable holiday?

I walked the Canol Heritage Trail in Canada when I was turning 21. A group of about 20 of us from uni’ walked the 350km from Norman Wells in the NorthWest Territories to the Yukon Border over four weeks. We lived off military dehydrated rations, survived a hair- raising crossing of the Twitya River, close encounters with with bears, and plagues of mosquitoes, showered in waterfalls coming off the permafrost, helped hunters carry moose to their camp and had a beautiful night watching the northern lights sitting around a campfire - speechless (for once). 

I celebrated my 21st birthday with a tinned fruit cake with one of our emergency candles stuck into it and one of our only fresh meals of caribou with potatoes and fried onions donated by a hunter we met.

It was breathtakingly beautiful and an extraordinary experience. The trail hadn’t been completed on foot in decades and our planning included a body bag as the organisers genuinely didn’t think we would all survive.

Favourite TV programme?

Lucifer, Good Omens, Dr Who. I’m a sci-fi/fantasy nerd.

Favourite radio show?

In my 30s I had a phase where I got rid of my TV and listened mainly to BBC Radio 4. So I’m hooked on old radio crime dramas like Baldi and McLevy or sitcoms like Old Harry’s Game by Andy Hamilton.

Favourite restaurant?

Sultan on Penrose Wharf (they also have a place in Marina Market). It’s run by Tunisian brothers Ali and Wissem who were amazingly welcoming to Mohamed and I when we arrived in Cork. I love Levantine food and it’s always a treat to eat brique or lamb tagine and couscous. Wissem is a flavour wizard. They make it mild for me and explodingly hot for Mohamed so he doesn’t feel homesick. I can’t forget to mention Izz Cafe for delicious falafel and mutabal that reminds me of my four years in Palestine.

Last book you read?

I’m reading Athena Rising at the moment. I’m currently doing a deep dive into allyship for a project I’m doing for a Diploma in Creativity, innovation and Leadership at the Innovation Academy UCD, to apply design thinking to the problem of allyship. 

It will help organisations find ways to improve inclusion and allyship programmes and better understand what holds men back from being allies and what women really need from allies. Hint: it isn’t rescuing!

Best book you read?

I’m a Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman fan so any of their books would be high on the list. I also love Salman Rushdie’s The Enchantress Of Florence/

Favourite song?

Talat Daqat, by Abu, which we played at our wedding and always makes me smile, or Pata Pata by Miriam Makeba. I challenge anyone to listen to it and not want to get up and dance. It’s my go to song when I’m feeling grumpy.

Do you have a pet?

Yes, Zahara, the one-eyed cat. I found her on the street in Tunisia. I ended up rescuing/fostering lots of cats while I lived in Tunis, and the ones that survived were adopted, but Zahara stayed with us, travelled with us when we went to live in Jerusalem, went back to Tunis with my husband when I went to live in Gaza, and then come to live in Cork with us.

Mohamed used to joke that it was easier for her to get a visa to travel than for him.

Your proudest moment?

When I took over as Country Director in Palestine, I promised to improve the balance of women in the programme. Security and technical focused programmes tend to be male-dominated with women sequestered into office-based admin roles. After the May, 2021, war I had funding to increase the team because of the huge number of Unexploded Ordnance (one of the dreadful legacies of the use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas (EWIPA) that we see in Gaza, Ukraine, Yemen, etc).

I recruited a female medic and operations assistants for the EOD operators and two women to increase our driving pool, and arranged for them to be trained to drive trucks before they could drive our armoured vehicles. There were no female armoured vehicle drivers in Palestine, never mind Gaza at the time.

Despite a lot of push back from male colleagues, telling me that women didn’t want these type of roles, that they wouldn’t be capable or that culturally it wasn’t acceptable, I was hearing a very different story from female colleagues, so I was really proud when they passed the truck driving test with flying colours and subsequently aced the test for the armoured cars and made history at the same time.

What makes you happy?

Sunsets, swimming in the sea, snowdrops in the spring, champagne, time with Mohamed (because we spent so much time apart when I was in the UN), frozen cherries and a golden knife and fork that I bought years ago that I take everywhere with me (that’s a whole other story).

What else are you up to at the moment?

I set up a consultancy called ‘Be the Bridge Today’ to work with organisations to help them find ways to create space to increase representation of women in senior leadership roles, to increase connection, inclusion and a sense of belonging so everyone can thrive at work rather than survive.

I facilitate workshops, deliver training and am a keynote speaker on topics including female empowerment, mental health in leadership, allyship and inclusion. I also co-host a podcast called More Than A Lumpy Jumper.

In my spare time, I am loving exploring beautiful Cork county, encouraging Mohamed to pick up a Cork accent as he continues to learn English.