By Lynn Whyatt – RRR Network Story-Teller
Sand on the seats, swag in the back, and surfboard in the ute – you have to be prepared when the urge strikes to go out bush for a night or camp by the beach. The connection to land and water can often call you into a warm embrace, providing the safety and serenity from our sometimes-hectic lives. Louise Smith shares her memories growing up on a farm in Chapman Valley, feeling at home in the ocean, and working in an environmental sustainability role in a time of energy transition in the Mid West.
From building fences with Dad to camping down by the dam, Louise is grateful for the experiences her parents gave her because they instilled in her a love of nature that formed the basis of who she was to become. After the small class sizes at Chapman Valley Primary School and being bussed to public high school in Geraldton, Louise travelled to Tasmania to study at the Australian Maritime College where she studied Marine Science specialising in Commercial Fisheries. She secured her Bachelor of Applied Science and then received a scholarship with CSIRO to do her honours study, which involved researching sea cucumbers in the Torres Strait to manage stock sustainability from a quota management perspective.
Securing a role with a National Heritage Trust funded program at Ocean Watch Australia, she then relocated to South Australia to focus on the sustainability of commercial fisheries in the state. Her projects were many, including researching gillnets, deterring sea lions from cray pots, facilitating marine debris programs with tiny regional schools, and dive clean ups.
With a degree and industry experience, Louise decided to finally take one of those Aussie gap years and worked in the private super yacht industry in the Mediterranean for two years. She was exposed to the seemingly obscene amounts of wealth that sometimes involved a private jet being tasked to retrieve fresh strawberries from a neighbouring country. She remembers reflecting on her youth to friends at the time and realised that while money is important, her “perception of wealth is the connections we make through experiences and people.”
She returned to Australia and became involved in whale research programs, but eventually entered her current career as an Environmental Advisor in the oil and gas industry, a role which she has championed for the last 16 years. When she shares her career and passion with people, she is commonly confronted with the comment: “It doesn’t seem very environmental of you to be working in that industry.” When she elaborates on how she came to this stage in her career, she gets called a dreamer and is often ridiculed.
Women are still underrepresented across a range of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) degrees and industries. Louise is accustomed to defending her choices and proving herself at times in these STEM environments, but that does not make it any easier. “I do it because I really feel like I can make a difference. These values that I grew up with: I’m sustainability-minded, a real love and respect for nature, a respect for cultural heritage – these are what I can bring to this industry.” Transitioning from oil and gas to renewable energy is not a switch you can flip from one year to the next – as we start to develop this renewable phase we do so with past lessons, histories, new ways of communicating and new ways of connecting with people. “It’s a really exciting time to be in this industry,” Louise affirms.
When asked how she navigates the complexities of her career and remains grounded in her values, she reflects on her love of community. Her network of friends, personal and professional people – “There are some really amazing people that live in this region – having them in your life on a regular basis, it’s what life is all about, right?” When Louise resettled in the region at the start of COVID, she recounts that it took a while to build her network, a task made a bit trickier because she works from home and does not have kids, two ways that most women her age would make friends. Over time, she has managed to find a supportive group of women across all industries, stages of life, and belief systems.
Acknowledging that it is difficult and that it does take time, Louise encourages women who find themselves feeling isolated either because they live on a farm where your nearest neighbour is probably 100 kilometres away, or because they just moved to a new town, to step out of that cycle. There is definitely more than one other person out there feeling the same way and definitely more than one other person who would love to be spending time with you.
Louise has chosen relatively male-dominated industries throughout her life and recounts that as a woman, she has had to fight hard for some things. “But I believe women are the future, and we are. We are really stepping up and gaining strength through our collective voices.” Louise was honoured recently to be a mentor for a young woman starting her university degree. She encourages women to be open to offering other women opportunities they come across, but also reminds women to be accepting of those opportunities when offered as well.
Discussing the present and priorities, Louise explains that she is at a point where her future is important to her. She has had fun, travelled the world, but is now at a different stage in her life. She heard a statistic recently that single women over 50 are the most likely demographic to become homeless and particularly now with cost of living rising and housing shortages, her future is at the forefront of her choices. Her focus is to live by example in the way she interacts with community, conducts herself at work, and how she treats the environment. She strives to offer opportunities for women to grow, upskill, and develop, because that statistic is extremely alarming in 2024.
Women are stronger together and need to remember that it takes great strength to be vulnerable with one another. What you are going through can be overwhelming – and not to detract from everyone’s personal story – but many of us go through similar struggles. Striking up a conversation with someone new, asking a colleague for advice, or opening up to a friend over a cuppa might be a small but bold move that can really make a difference.