I have never been one to be conventional. Now the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Western Australian Meat Industry Authority, I’m often met with surprised looks when I tell people what I do. And their first question is usually how did I end up here. 

The short answer is I took the road less travelled. As a Physics and Environmental Engineering undergraduate back in the late nineties in UWA, the hope then was to land a job in a major engineering, mining or oil and gas company in Perth after graduation. But as an international student, that was not an option for me. 

So, I left Perth and found myself in Singapore, with a job as a Project Engineer in a water treatment and piping company. I lasted six months. 

What I was never told during my time as an undergraduate was that while I truly enjoyed studying to be an engineer, I could end up using my skills and knowledge in non-engineering fields. 

I had my Physics degree to fall back on and landed a job as an Operational Meteorologist for the Singaporean Government. I was sent for further training in New Zealand and provided aviation, marine and public weather forecasts from my state-of-the-art office in Changi Airport. No two days are the same, from handling emergency responses during earthquakes to an airplane skidding off the runway on my watch. I even spoke to Air Force One when George W. Bush visited Singapore in 2003. 

I decided to return to Perth in 2006 after being granted permanent residency. Perth held a certain mystic and charm for me, perhaps because it is off the beaten path. Not many of my friends would choose Perth to settle in. But like I said, I’ve never been one to be conventional. 

When I returned, I was confronted with two paths – the conventional path of being an engineer with Water Corporation and the unconventional path of a public servant with the Environmental Protection Authority with the Western Australian Government. No surprises at which path I chose, and the rest is history – a varied and diverse career pathway meandering from roles in strategic environmental policy, climate change technology and waste management. 

It was during this meandering path that I discovered my love for policy; not because of the thrill and opportunity of shaping a nation with public policy, but because the multi-criteria and interrelated policy issues require structured, yet creative problem-solving approaches. I was hooked. 

Then on a whim and in part due to circumstantial necessity, I applied for a role in biosecurity in the Department of Agriculture and Food WA, and landing the role in 2013 started my unexpected career pathway in agriculture. In that role I received the Australian Biosecurity Award in 2016 for prioritising invasive species based on their impact on the Western Australian agriculture industry. The priority list was a structured and evidence-based method to target government investments for invasive species control programs. It was a highlight of my career, and I have no doubt the methodical problem-solving skills gained from my time in UWA provided the foundation for this work. 

From there, I moved into a role advising the Western Australian Minister for Agriculture and Food on a range of policy matters relating to the agriculture industry, then into a couple of economic development roles before landing in my current role overseeing the meat sector in Western Australia. I have also recently completed the report into my findings from my Churchill Fellowship travel in 2022 to New Zealand, USA, Netherlands and the United Kingdom investigating the drivers and incentives for regenerative agriculture.  

The road less travelled is not without its challenges. It can sometimes be lonely, and the uncertain, often unlit path ahead, brings many struggles. While I may appear from the outside to go from peak to peak in my career journey, there were many troughs as well. Those troughs are times of self-discovery – my values, my ways of working and my genuine support networks. The difficulties and challenges forced me to sharpen my skills and discover my own strength and resilience. No doubt, I have become a better leader not from the time spent at the peaks, but from time spent in the troughs. 

I am grateful for all the wonderfully exciting and unique experiences that my unconventional professional path has offered up. Built on the basic foundational critical analysis and problem-solving skills from my time in UWA, I stepped out of the conventional engineering career pathway. My encouragement to those contemplating the road less travelled is to trust in your own skills, knowledge and resilience to build a career pathway that is your own. 

Looking forward, I will be taking on the advice I gave to the 2022 engineering graduates back in December 2022 – challenge the status quo, value diversity, remember my own strength and resilience, and reach for something bigger than myself. I am excited for what the future will bring. And whatever my future looks like, building solutions will be a key part of it!