Meet the team - Hannah Downey

We thought International Women's Day was the perfect opportunity to profile a member of the team who has made a real splash here at SRN since she started in Summer 2018, and find out some of her experiences meeting inspiring women up and down rural Scotland. 

Who are you, where do you live?

This question sent me spiraling into a bit of an existential crisis, but at my most basic I’m a Northern Irish expat who moved to Scotland for the universities, and stayed for everything else Scotland has to offer. I live in Stirling which I love for its semi-rural setting and sense of community, and in my free time you can usually find me making the most of Stirling’s natural assets with my dog, Douglas.

What do you do at SRN?

My job description says ‘Communications and Events Support Officer’, but I feel part of a much bigger rural picture! My main responsibilities include reaching out through SRNs digital channels to rural stakeholders and audiences with news and information about funding opportunities. But my favourite part of my job is collecting case studies and project testimonials from people living and working in rural Scotland, who in my unbiased opinion are amongst the most interesting people on earth.

You joined the team last summer, what inspiring women have you met in rural Scotland so far?

Throughout my short time at SRN so far, I’ve been beyond lucky to come across some incredibly motivational and inspiring women.  There are far too many to list in full, but firstly I have to acknowledge the other amazing women in my team – it’s a privilege to have women supporting women in the workplace and I’ve experienced nothing but support from my female colleagues both at the SRN and in my previous role at SASA.

I don’t have enough space to wax lyrical about all the many ways which these different influential women have inspired me, and sometimes it’s difficult to put into words anyway! So even though I said I wouldn’t write a list, here’s one anyway of some of the inspirational women working for Rural Scotland who have been inspiring me recently: 

·         Jane Craigie, and the whole team at Jane Craigie Marketing with whom we worked on the Rural Youth Project

·         Mairi Gougeon, Minister for Rural Affairs and the Environment

·         Dodie Piddock, project manager for Track 2 Train

·         Emma Cooper, former Chief Executive for Scottish Rural Action

What are some of your biggest achievements with SRN so far?

I’ve somehow or other learned how to shoot and edit videos from scratch, you can see some examples here:

Trees for Life Rewilding Project

LEADER Case Study: Castlebank Park

I’ve also supported some really great events over the past several months, such as the Rural Youth Ideas Festival, Amaze me LEADER and the LEADER parliamentary reception.

Being surrounded by so many successful women gives me hope that I’ll be able to answer it more fully when asked next year…