Spotlight on...an environmental consultant

Amie Lenkowiec is a double Essex graduate, having studied both a BSc and MSc at Essex, and her career as an environmental consultant has taken her across the world. After volunteering her time to talk to current Essex students at a Women in STEM career event earlier this year, we knew we had to shine a light on her journey after Essex.

Tell us about your time at Essex

I studied a BSc in Marine and Freshwater Biology and then completed an MSc in Marine Biology.  I lived at home in Chelmsford and commuted to campus most days in my cute little purple Nissan micra! I have lots of favourite memories including SO many late themed nights at Sub Zero and the SU and ridiculously early mornings and weekends at the lab with Michael Steinke completing research for my undergraduate dissertation.  But, my favourite memories by far were made during the two months I spent diving and living on a remote island in Indonesia as part of a module for my undergraduate degree, and later for my Masters dissertation research. 

You’re an environmental consultant - tell us a bit about your journey.

I have worked in a number of different countries over the years, including Egypt, Indonesia, Turkey and Qatar, but I have spent the majority of my time in the UAE. My first professional role was as a marine scientist in Dubai in 2010 with a company that was about to be acquired by HDR, a global engineering and architecture firm which also specialises in environmental and construction services.

In that first role I was very much a ‘field grunt’ on a four-person team. I spent a lot of time diving, cleaning equipment and collecting samples – and I loved every minute of it. From there, I started managing field surveys ranging from coral monitoring, to turtle relocation and rehabilitation with a marine NGO. After that, I was hired to start a small environmental department for an offshore survey company, this was an incredibly hard role to ease into, but also very fascinating. In this position I established and led a whole department and was also responsible for leading and taking part in extensive 24/7 offshore environmental campaigns at the time.  In hindsight, I can confidently say that this was one of the most challenging roles I’ve been in to date.  Not because of the excessively long field work hours, but because I was one of a very few females in a highly male dominated industry (oil and gas).  After a considerable amount of trial and error I realised that my “power” came from my confidence.  There were days that I definitely had to “fake it till I made it” with my confidence levels, but there is a LOT of truth in the saying “if you just act confident, no one will question it”.  Of course, I don’t mean on a technical knowledge level – faking that is a dangerous game, but with regards to how you hold yourself and interact with people – confidence is absolutely key. 

After I was able to happily hand over a fully functioning environmental department, I returned to HDR, where I have now been for six years – two years of which acting as Regional Client Development Leader for the Gulf Arab States. I recently relocated to America and now work as the Wastewater Client Development Leader for the New York and New Jersey area. The experience that I gained during each step of my career journey has really helped me understand what it is that I enjoy and what it is that I want out of life.  

It is my belief that unless you try something, you will never fully know if you love it or not.  The rule stands for all things – food, music, relationships…. so it’s not any different for your career.  I am the kind of person that will say “yes” to anything! This has served me well in my work life, as if I don’t know something, I will never say no to trying it or attempting to figure it out.