Growing up through my adolescent years in a Bangladeshi Muslim family within a Western culture was a very different time for me. There was a lot of confusion between the two different cultures as I often felt stuck in the middle of their different moral and values. During this period of my life I was figuring out what kind of person I was and what principles mattered to me the most. Therefore, having opposing ideals drilled into me from my family home and then experiencing freedom and independence at school initiated this clash of cultures. Personally, I found that the cultural views that I was exposed to at home appeared to suppress women whereas the values promoted at school embraced female empowerment. When negotiating these conflicting ideologies, I often found myself battling for the right or wrong answer in order to understand the world around me.
Coming from a working class family and working in our family run Indian takeaway, opportunities for me at the time felt very limited. I wasn’t aware of the different career pathways that I could go down and sadly I didn’t believe that someone who looked like me would ‘fit ‘ into certain industries. Changing this narrative and being the role model that I needed when I was younger has been my driving force each and every day.
When I arrived at university, it was the first place where I was truly allowed to be my authentic self. I was in charge of my own life and what my day to day consisted of. These important developmental years helped to build my confidence and work on a range of soft skills. This led me to being elected a University Student Union President for 2 consecutive terms. In this role I acted as the representative voice of the student body for 18’000 students.
Fast forward to now, I am so proud to be leading on our Net Zero Skills Strategy which provides opportunities to empower individuals from diverse backgrounds and pave pathways for their success. Being able to witness the transformative power of widening opportunities in this sector has and will continue to be a privilege. My team and I are working hard to ensure that everyone, regardless of their background, recognises that the renewable industry is a viable option for them. I am committed to giving people in Wales the exposure to the range of jobs within the green sector that myself and many others wouldn’t have had. This is pivotal to allow the industry to thrive and create that pipeline of talent and workforce for the future.
During my time at Bute Energy, in the past 18 months, I have hosted 5 girls into STEM events, hosted over 100 hundred pupils at our office, including 30 work experience students. Supported Gower College with Enrichment days and establishing a Women’s Network with their female STEM learners. Moreover, I have supported with career events in Coleg Gwent, St David’s College, Coleg y Cymoedd, Merthyr College, Swansea University, St Trinity College Carmarthen, and Aberystwyth University. I have developed and delivered 6 paid student internships programmes, with the summer internship attracting nearly 60 applicants in its second year. I am working with Cardiff University to fund 2 planning students on the Spatial Planning & Development Masters.
For me, this is just the beginning, I have many more initiatives in the pipeline that continue to provide opportunities such as creating workshops to upskill and build the capacity of local communities and businesses in procurement and tender processes.