I was born in Dunedin, New Zealand and growing up in rural New Zealand allowed me to spend lots of time outdoors and pursue my passion of the natural world. From a young age I was always interested in Botany and knew that I wanted to study at university so I set myself on that path. Little
did I know that it would lead me into the unknown, dynamic world of bryology.

I have been interested in bryology for twelve years, when I first encountered it in a botany laboratory, in my undergraduate degree. I became fully interested in bryology after looking down the microscope and
seeing something I had never seen before. As I got further into identifying bryophytes and reading into their Ecology, I got hooked. I did many of my undergraduate projects with a bryology component, which led to me being awarded the Tom Moss Award for students in Bryology, in 2011 and attending the annual New Zealand Bryology conferences, eventually organising one on the beautiful Stewart Island, in Southern New Zealand.

I was fortunate enough to have highly knowledgeable people around me, namely Allan Fife and John Steel, who gave much of their time to teach me and encourage my new found passion. After completing my bachelors degree, I went on to work for the Department of Conservation, in New Zealand, as a Bryologist for three years. Primarily working on a national project to measure carbon in our forests, and surveying biodiversity.

I then took a few years off, before returning this year, to embark on a Masters degree in Botany, with a focus in Bryology. More specifically, measuring whether bryophyte biodiversity can be used as an environmental indicator for soil and ecosystem health by surveying exotic plantations versus native forest. I am really enjoying working in a field that keeps challenging me and takes me to beautiful places.