In honour of International Women’s Day, here’s a bit about what it’s like for me, working for a science and tech company.

My name’s Laura and I’ve been working for Lobster Pod for just over a year.

I have always been curious about everything, especially anything living and I love nothing more than poking around in rock pools or in the woods. I am thrilled that I have a job that allows me to do that, albeit mostly in a workshop setting. We build Lobster Pods to help the fishing industry take better care of their catch along the supply chain, which means using my brain as well as my hands to solve challenges and promote better animal husbandry.

The best bit about my job is the variety of tasks I do – in the last year I’ve met fishermen at exhibitions, built shellfish systems, learnt to use all sorts of new tools, collected and tested water samples from across the UK, spoken to customers and learnt about business management. I rarely know what my day will look like week to week, and I love that! It is very fulfilling to be able to use my science degree on a daily basis, by balancing the water chemistry and the physiological needs of the animals with practical applications and designs that work for the industry. Testing our designs with scientific rigour is essential for development and improvement of the products and the business, and I love being able to get my hands wet (metaphorically and often literally!).

Being a woman working alongside the fishing industry has been an interesting learning curve over the last few years, despite the sometimes bad reputation in the press, I have found the industry to be accommodating and supportive – or maybe my boss just makes it that way! Errin (our Sea-E-O) is a woman to be reckoned with and an invaluable mentor and ally. I honestly think that being left-handed has presented me with more challenges in this job than being a woman has!

The Lobster Pod team is small but perfectly formed, with each of us bringing something different to the table. I like to think to think I bring youthful enthusiasm and a deep-seated love of fishy puns! With our leader at the helm, flying the flag for independent and successful women, I’m looking forward to seeing how we all grow in the next year – feel free to follow our journey here on this blog!

Fishing you a Happy International Womens Day,

Lobster Pod team getting a Scottish Chamber Award

Laura