Anna makes our clothes and textiles more eco-friendly. Fashion and all things connected with it make Anna tick.

My job is

I have just completed my PhD in Textile Chemistry and now I am employed by a chemical company called Devan Chemicals. I work as project manager and the job involves developing new chemicals for fabrics. The Chemicals are added to fabrics at the end of the processing stage and they generally protect the fabric, like flame retardant and antimicrobials. Hopefully, I will develop new 'finishes' for the company which are technical and eco friendly. I get to travel a lot in my job, next week I am going to visit our European office in Belgium.

My home is

I am living in Sheffield at the moment.

The story so far

Doing my ‘A’ levels seems like quite a while ago now, as I have spent 8 years at university! All the way through my education I chose my subjects carefully, the main criteria being that I enjoyed the subjects. I didn’t really know whether or not I preferred science or art based subjects at ‘A’ level, so I left my options open by taking Maths, Biology and Art. After completing a short course on textiles at sixth form I realised that I would like to study textiles in greater detail at university. At the time I found Leeds offered the best textile courses, and I ended up choosing a more science-based course. I was very lucky, as the course was sponsored by industry, and so the extra money came in really handy. I thoroughly enjoyed my BSc course, and after completing my final year project (dissertation) I was hooked on the thought that I could perhaps make a change in the textile industry to make it more environmentally friendly. Working at Devan is my second job in Textiles since I have finished my PhD.

Free time

I live for my free time! I am always doing stuff when I am not working. I love the outdoors and in the last few years I have had lots of opportunity to try lots of different sports. At the moment I am addicted to mountain biking and have recently started road biking. When I can I like to head to the coast and try a spot of surfing. I have collected lots of friends during my time at uni, so obviously spending time with them is also high on the priority list. I try to see my family as often as possible too.

Burning ambition

The main thing that I would really like to achieve in the coming years is to continue making contributions to the textile industry that endeavour to make it more environmentally friendly.

The best thing is

This is too hard to pin point. I love my life. I always make sure I am busy and doing the things I love. Having the freedom and ability to do this is definitely the best thing.

Regrets

Not one!

Pet project

I am working on lots of exciting things at moment, all too secret to share at this time – sorry ;)