Experience

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  British Consulate-General Boston

  • Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

  • US Director

    • Jun 2023 - Present
    • Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

    Global Talent NetworkHelping international mobile talent in the US connect with high growth and high potential science and technology businesses in the UK.As US Director I lead the design, implementation and management of our program to identify and attract internationally mobile professionals to work in key science and technology sectors in the UK. The Global Talent Network launched in 2022, working in the US and India, with a focus on the sectors of Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Technologies, and Life Sciences.Responsibilities include:- Strategic planning;- Event management;- Account management;- Stakeholder engagement;- International matrix team management.

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  The Scottish Government

  • United Kingdom
  • Government Administration
  • 700 & Above Employee

  • Operational Policy, Change, and Implementation: Ukraine Welcome & Integration

    • Jul 2022 - Jun 2023

    Senior Project Manager for the operationalization of the cruise/ferry liner ships that the Scottish Government contracted for use as temporary Welcome Accommodation for Ukrainian refugees.My team was the first point of direct contact with Ukrainian people arriving in Scotland. We were responsible for ensuring appropriate temporary accommodation was available for Ukrainian people whenever they arrived, and that immediate advice and support was provided for those who need it. I worked closely with colleagues in local and state government, NGOs, 'blue light' services, and contractors to provide this service.Key tasks includes:• Effective working relationships with the other team leaders, the wider Programme and senior leaders, key stakeholders, and supporting the Unit to ensure it meets its objectives.• Shaping and leading my team to ensure that a quality service was established across all locations; creating and developing a team culture that values, inspires and empowers people to play an active role in the development and delivery of an excellent service.• Line management of a team of managers and working to build sufficient capacity and skills to support the delivery of the required services.• Building, managing, coaching and developing the team to provide efficient and effective services and embedding coaching in organisational culture.• Supporting the delivery of an accommodation strategy that explains the Directorate’s optimal approach to all temporary and emergency accommodation, managing associated costs, and approach to supporting Ukrainian people into longer term accommodation.• Working across the wider Scottish Government to support the Operational Delivery profession.• Contributing to the collective leadership of the Ukraine Resettlement Directorate and to the effectiveness of DG Communities.

  • Co-Chair of the Women's Development Network

    • Nov 2020 - Nov 2022

    The WDN's motto is 'Lift As We Climb'.Supporting statement from the Director General Corporate for Scottish Government, Lesley Fraser: As Co-Chair you were brilliant, and set a powerful direction and inclusive tone for the WDN during your period in office.As Co-Chair I was responsible for:- Engaging with 1,900+ members across the Civil Service in Scotland;- The strategic planning of the network;- Development of Governance documents such as Terms of Reference and Operating Principles; - Organisation and delegation of work to committee members;- Delivering regular and special events throughout the year - including our flagship International Women's Day event;- Collaborative working with the Network of Networks and the Minority Ethnic Women's Group;- Working with DG Corporate on staff network policy and strategy;- Offering mentoring services to members;- Liaising with and challenging Senior Civil Servants;- and Engaging with external stakeholders.- I was also a Circle Member of the First Minister's National Advisory Council for Women and Girls (2019-2021).Thank you to my fellow Co-Chair, Imogen Lambert, for her powerful feminist collaboration in this role.

  • Project Manager, Culture Prospectus for Culture & Major Events Directorate

    • Mar 2022 - Jul 2022

    Researching and writing legislative constitutional text.

  • Senior Policy Officer, COP26 & Net Zero for Culture & Heritage

    • Sep 2021 - Apr 2022

    I led cross-directorate policy development with regards to climate change, working towards two broad policy goals:1) Developing and advising on proposals to involve culture and heritage stakeholders at COP26, thereby ensuring exploitation of opportunities presented by COP26 to showcase Scotland’s world-class creative and heritage assets, in line with broader strategic goals on Scotland’s international influence and reputation. A major focus was to coordinate and support ministerial engagement around COP26, for the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture and Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development, and also for other ministers as needed on the elements of the programme directly related to culture policy.2) Following COP26, leading policy development for the directorate in realising the longer-term role for culture and heritage’s contribution to net zero, through public engagement and other means set out by a Culture Strategy for Scotland and in line with COP26 outcomes and commitments and recent public engagement strategies developed by national public bodies and SG climate change teams. For COP26 I led on delivering a culture reception that the Minister for Culture said was "expertly delivered", noting that "COP would have been missing something without this event." Policy makers, creative and heritage industry leaders, artists, and performers came together to discuss and celebrate Scotland’s cultural contributions to tackling the climate crisis. Co-hosted with Glasgow City Council, the event at Glasgow City Chambers, showcased performances by Scotland's Makar, Kathleen Jamie, renowned folk musicians Ingrid and Megan Henderson (Message in a Bottle), Glasgow Disability Alliance's 'Democracy Pioneers', and Chef from Intercultural Youth Scotland.

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  Civil Service Fast Stream

  • Scotland

  • Civil Service Fast Stream - Generalist

    • Sep 2019 - Jun 2022
    • Scotland

    The Fast Stream is an accelerated leadership development program that provides talented people with the experience, skills and knowledge needed to become senior leaders within the UK Government.

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  UK Government Scotland

  • Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

  • Senior Policy Officer

    • Sep 2020 - Sep 2021
    • Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

    Business, Trade, and Industrial Strategy Policy Unit- Lead on the development and implementation of strategic projects;- Engage with official stakeholders across both UK Government (UKG) and Scottish Government (SG), as well as external stakeholders such as the Scottish Business Growth Group, Women’s Enterprise Scotland, and the Scottish Council for Development and Industry;- Provide OSSS colleagues and UKG departments (particularly Business, Economy, and Industrial Strategy and the Department for International Trade) with intelligence on Scottish stakeholder reactions;- Provide briefings, advice, and letter responses relating to changes to business and industrial policy for the Secretary of State and other Ministers;- Provide answers to all matters regarding Business and Trade, for example for Parliamentary Questions and Orals;- Shadow Board member.

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  British Association for American Studies

  • Treasurer

    • Jul 2018 - Aug 2021

    - Non-profit educational organisation for Americanists in the UK (membership approx. 600);- Share responsibility for the strategic leadership of BAAS;- Manage a turnover of approx. £250,000 (2019-20);- Responsible for all the financial activities of the organisation, overseeing income from membership dues, donations, royalties from the Journal of American Studies and other projects, conference surpluses as well as grants which BAAS distributes on behalf of partners, including the US Embassy and the Eccles Centre for American Studies;- Make the most effective use of resources for the benefit of the organisation and its members and to satisfy HMRC and the Charity Commission, for example instituting and overseeing a payroll system, preparing VAT returns, and researching savings vehicles;- Preparation of the annual accounts for the Charity Commission and for the line management of the organisation’s Administrators;- Undertake a variety of other tasks as a member of the Executive Committee such as serving on the Publications Sub-Committee and judging the annual travel and essay awards competitions.

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  The Scottish Government

  • Policy Officer

    • Mar 2020 - Sep 2020

    Personal Protective Equipment Policy- 6-month secondment to support the Scottish Government’s COVID-19 pandemic response working in the Operational Readiness COVID-19 Response and Resilience team;- PPE Directorate: part of the original team to set up and develop the PPE Directorate in response to COVID-19 pandemic;- Policy officer leading on intra-governmental policy development and PPE supply for communities;- Leader of the PPE Policy Forum developed to identify PPE issues and find rapid solutions;- Part of the team that set up a third party supplier for community PPE that ultimately 1200 organisations signed up for.

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  The Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA)

  • HR Change Project Management

    • Sep 2019 - Mar 2020

    - Supporting organisational change;- Leading Senior Leadership Team recruitment activities;- Leading on providing experiential training through Learning and Development opportunities across the Operational Delivery Professions.

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  US-UK Fulbright Commission

  • San Antonio, Texas, United States

  • Fulbright Scholar at Trinity University, TX

    • Jan 2019 - Jun 2019
    • San Antonio, Texas, United States

    Fulbright Royal Society of Edinburgh Scholar at Trinity University- Research and writing for Negotiating Feminisms book published 2021 by Palgrave Macmillan;- Lecturer and seminar leader in Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and with the ‘Mexico, the Americas, and Spain’ programme;- ‘The U.S. Latinx Experience’, ‘Latinx Cultural and Artistic Expression’, and ‘Chicana Teatro’; - Assessment of student presentations, examinations, and coursework;- Preparation of course materials and presentation for each class;- Successfully audited by member of the faculty and took part in quality assurance with student feedback.

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  University of Aberdeen

  • Assistant Professor

    • Dec 2017 - Jan 2019

    Course convenor, lecturer, and seminar leader in School of Spanish and Latin American Studies;Teaching ‘Latin America: A Cultural History’, ‘Introduction to Latinx Studies’, and 'Spanish 1'; Full assessment of student participation, presentations, examinations, and coursework;Preparation of course materials and presentation for each class.

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  Self-employed

  • Edinburgh, United Kingdom

  • Private Tutor

    • Aug 2017 - Sep 2018
    • Edinburgh, United Kingdom

    Private tuition for GCSE English and GCSE Spanish- Integrate reading and writing to offer new perspectives;- Monitor, assess, and improve student performance;- Develop and implement comprehensive lesson plans that accommodate specific level of learners;- Identify, select, and modify resources to meet student's diverse needs.

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  University of Glasgow

  • Assistant Professor

    • Sep 2017 - Dec 2017

    Lecturer on Transatlantic Literary Women series;Seminar leader for American Studies MLitt postgraduate class;Seminar leader for History MA students (15 per class);Full assessment of student participation, presentations, examinations, and coursework;Preparation of course materials and presentation for each class.

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  UEA

  • United Kingdom
  • Higher Education
  • 700 & Above Employee

  • PhD scholar

    • Sep 2012 - May 2017

    Negotiating feminisms in la familia: Intergenerational women in the writings of Ana Castillo and Sandra Cisneros.My PhD thesis critically analyses literary representations of the ways in which Mexican American women negotiate their roles in the family across generations through the maintenance, contestation, and/or adaptation of traditional gender roles. In their writings, Sandra Cisneros and Ana Castillo explore the complex mediations taking place within the Mexican American family and the various devices and strategies employed by grandmothers, mothers, and daughters, to reveal the nuances of the Chicana experience. As women living in a patriarchal society they are compelled to navigate their place in the family within the confines of a framework that stultifies women. In order to survive in an often misogynist and racist environment they adopt innovative approaches to forge meaningful identities as women of colour. My thesis focuses on the intergenerational development of the roles of women in the family, analysing how two Chicana writers portray these experiences as a complex feminist negotiation.Keywords: Sandra Cisneros, Ana Castillo, Latina, Chicana, feminisms, immigration, family, motherhood, literature

  • Associate Tutor

    • Sep 2013 - Jan 2016

    Seminar leader for undergraduate students (25/30 students per class);Full assessment of student participation, presentations, examinations, and coursework;Preparation of course materials and Prezi presentation for each class;Successfully audited by member of the faculty and took part in quality assurance with student feedback.Imagining America: Literature 1 (AMAL4033A)Module introducing students to the major writers and themes of 19th century literature in the United States.Reading Cultures 2: Ideas and Ideologies (AMAS4037B)An exploration of contemporary American culture and an introduction to cultural and critical theory as a means to engage with current ideas and ideologies circulating around American cultural icons. Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

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  University of Glasgow

  • United Kingdom
  • Higher Education
  • 700 & Above Employee

  • Recruitment Officer

    • Feb 2012 - Sep 2012

    Attending Higher Education Conventions organised by UCAS and help prospective students by providing them with the opportunity to collect information about the university.Visiting high schools to give talks about university life, course options, financial aid, and student housing.

  • Top-Up Tutor (Focus West)

    • Sep 2009 - Sep 2012

    Top-Up’ is a mentoring programme for students who are planning on entering higher education after school.It is a rigorous, academic programme that introduces students to these new learning methods and environments, as well as equipping them with the key critical skills they will need to be successful learners.Working with schools in the West of Scotland since 1999 and was a main contribution to the GOALS (Greater Opportunity of Access and Learning with Schools) Project.

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  EMC

  • Cork, Ireland

  • Account Manager

    • Jan 2011 - Aug 2011
    • Cork, Ireland

    Middle East region for IIG software renewals.

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  British Council

  • Language Assistant

    • Aug 2006 - Aug 2007

    Teaching high school students English language with an emphasis on oral practice.Developed new teaching ideas for bilingual education across disciplines.Assessment of students’ progress through participation and examinations.