What and where did you study before your Mountbatten internship?

I studied Business Management at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

What made you apply for the Mountbatten program?

I really wanted to experience living in the U.S. and New York. The city had always been somewhat mythical to me, and having the opportunity to live there was a huge motivating factor.

Describe your sponsor company and your role within it.

I actually had two. I spent the first half of the year at Citi Private Bank and the second half at HSBC Private Bank. At Citi, I worked on their Internal Communications Desk, and at HSBC, I was part of the Investment Services Business Management team.

What was the highlight or most memorable moment of your working experience during this year?

I remember having a conversation with a guy called José at HSBC about his job in strategy. At the time, he travelled the world, speaking with people about different geopolitics, macroeconomic, investments, markets and why they mattered. Whether at an investor summit in Tokyo or on a yacht in the Bahamas, his clients wanted his perspective. Since then, this has been my dream job, and I’m still working to get there!

What was the social highlight or most memorable moment during this year?

There are too many to count, but a couple stand out: climbing through an emergency roof access to get a better view of the Thanksgiving Day Parade opposite Macy’s, and pretending to be journalists from the UK to get backstage access at a festival on Governors Island. Part of the fun that year was just being rascals and seeing what we could get away with!

Please share a little wisdom or philosophy that you acquired during your internship.

This is an interesting question because there’s no obvious answer. In terms of a philosophy though, and something that has stuck with me, would be to say Mountbatten was a good lesson in balancing work and play and that there is always time for both.

This isn’t me saying ‘work hard, play hard’ because that’s rubbish. Sometimes you have to work hard to get what or where you want, but in my mind, you should never let that get in the way of really enjoying yourself or doing what makes you happy.

Upon reflection, what do you consider to be the biggest impact of your Mountbatten year? Definitely learning that I prefer living as an expat. I’ve been living in the south of France for almost five years now, and before that, I lived in Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific.

What happened after completing the year—what did you do next?

I was offered a permanent role with HSBC Private Bank. After a few months of backpacking, I moved to London to work in their St. James’s office.

Where are you now in your working life, and what do you do?

I completed my MBA in 2023, and since then, I’ve been working remotely from Nice for a professional services company. I deliver strategy workshops and market intelligence sessions for the firm’s partners, as well as oversee the company’s five-year corporate strategy.

Do you have any future plans you’d like to realize, both career and social?

Professionally, I want to make my start-up a success. A friend and I launched it during our MBA, but the lure of a salary meant we put it on ice for a while. We’re still keeping it ticking over on the side, but I’d love to really give it a go.

Outside of work, I love exploring lesser-visited countries. Last year, I spent the summer in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, and this summer, I’m hoping to visit Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique.

What would people be surprised to learn about you?

I’m absolutely terrified of flying—which is pretty unfortunate given my last answer!!

Is there any other information you’d like to include?

If anyone works in EV batteries, long-duration energy storage, or renewable energy management systems and is looking for a challenge, I’d love to connect. My co-founder and I aren’t engineers, and we lack some of the technical expertise to take our start-up to the next level.