A Female Executive's Journey to Forging Change in Sustainability

Keiva Ditchfield: Welcome to Inspired Insights. I am Keiva Ditchfield with The Barrett Group and joining me is Alisa Preston, P.Eng. Preston, a leader in sustainability and change-maker.

Today we'll discuss a topic that can help many female executives or female employees, who aspire try to achieve an executive role in the C-Suite. Our topic, quite fittingly, is “A Female Executive’s Journey To Forging Change In Sustainability”.

Welcome Alisa Preston.

Alisa Preston: Thank you very much.

Keiva Ditchfield: My pleasure. It's a pleasure having you on today. Alisa, I'm excited for the audience to learn about your journey. Before we begin, before we delve in, please explain to us what sustainability is - for our viewers.

Alisa Preston: Oh, that's such a big question these days. It's the ability to meet our needs without compromising the needs of those in the future for future generations, and that certainly has… is taken from a natural system. So extractions biodiversity, atmosphere, environment, everything that actually makes our lives sustainable and livable today.

Keiva Ditchfield: Beautiful. And what led you to a career in sustainability?

Alisa Preston: It's interesting, you ask that. Over my life, I have seen some significant changes which has been quite concerning for me. One of the biggest ones was a number of years ago. Only a few years ago I should say; I had a chance to go back to visit the Athabasca Glacier in Alberta. So it's between Banff and Jasper Alberta.?

When I was a child, there used to be a road that was adjacent to that glacier. You could literally hop out from the side of the road to see it. And now it's kilometers inland. You actually have to drive in off the road to see it, and that was really quite stunning. But then you also, combined with having a chance to travel all over the world, see the impacts of climate change. You see garbage and pollution in every single place that I've been to. These are all things that certainly played a role in waking me up and wanting to make a difference and not leaving that type of footprint behind.

Keiva Ditchfield: It's waking a lot of people up as well. A lot of companies are starting, and even households. So thank you for taking the lead there.?

You've worn many hats throughout your career.? Can you give us an overview of your career and what has led you to where you are right now?

Alisa Preston: There are so many different aspects to that question. But, generally speaking, up until recently, I had two careers, that were parallel. Engineering being the predominant one which was my baseline day job, as I like to call it. I graduated from mechanical engineering. I then went into particle and nuclear physics for many years. Just through different circumstances that led to that not being the right fit for me after a while.

I moved on to large capital infrastructure development and planning with Department of National Defense with Canada. I had a really great opportunity, but those the situations kept allowing me to expand up to higher and higher levels that were going to require me to move to Ottawa, which is away from the coast where my second job was, which I'll get back to you in a second.?

So then I got into asset management positions, planning positions, project management positions, none of which on their own were as fun and passionate as my other job, my fun job; which was certainly scuba diving, ocean science, scientific diving, education, travel and environmental work and just conservation efforts that really are what energized me every day.?

And so the opportunity was for me to try and find a way to blend the two of them. And that's what actually led me to The Barrett Group . I was trying to figure out how to do that.

Keiva Ditchfield: Wonderful! And I take it that you're enjoying. You mentioned before you had your fun job. But I take it that now you're really enjoying what you're doing. We’ll get to that.?

Alisa Preston: I've managed to find… and again, the caveat is they were both fun jobs, but one was certainly financial support, and the other one was more passionate support. And now it's moving towards combining those and just finding something that just fulfills me overall without draining myself and doing too much at one time.

Keiva Ditchfield: When we spoke earlier, you mentioned that there was a project that you're undertaking with a school in North Carolina and one of Kenya; very interesting. That project is titled, Solemate Walk-A-Thon. Please share a bit more about the project. How did you get involved in this? And why?

Alisa Preston: Just again, through some of the travels that I've had I. I got to see some of the bigger differences in terms of climate change.?

The last trip that I was on in Kenya, a year ago I was really struck by the level of drought that had hit the area. At the same time, a colleague… I was teaching a class in North Carolina, and her students were focusing on a book called a “Long Walk to Water”, that spoke about drought in Sudan and Kenya. And it just made me realize that, outside I had not heard of this book before, and then these these kids were learning about something, and I was having the chance to see it. And what a great opportunity to find some of the locals that were experiencing that first-hand and pairing them with the school in North Carolina, so they could actually speak one-on-one, rather than just reading out of a book, which certainly is important, but actually have those personal connections that will allow you to develop that, that meaningful connection to what you're seeing and experiencing.?

Similarly, the kids in North Carolina certainly are experiencing climate change as well. So we created a program where there's a video camera set up, and the kids can ask questions to each other, which is amazing. But the Maasai people in Kenya, despite being some of the most vulnerable, subjected to climate change, they found some really interesting ways to reuse and recycle, and so they often take old tires and turn them into shoes. And that's of course, out of an aspect of poverty. But being really ingenious in terms of how they're reusing products, so they're not ending up in the landfill.?

So the kids in North Carolina are actually making their own tire shoes, and they're going to be walking a mile in their tire shoes. So that's going to be the Walk-A-Thon efforts to raise money. And then the money that's raised is going to be split to support environmental efforts, community gardens and water capture systems in North America, as well as the same systems that are going to be developed in Kenya. So supporting both schools. And rather than doing, raising something to really support one, it's really making a partnership between the 2 schools.

Keiva Ditchfield: Wow! What a great way of tying it all together.?

Alisa Preston: No problem.?

Keiva Ditchfield: You're also working on a circular economy project around a safe seaweed harvesting system. Can you describe that further and what your involvement is?

Alisa Preston: So the ocean plays a significant role in carbon capture, often called blue carbon. And so we look at seaweed harvesting as a multi-faceted project that can really help us in multiple ways.?

So by creating an infrastructure in the ocean where you're growing seaweed, if you use a one-third system, so one third, one third, one third. One third is carbon capture, and allowed to sort of naturally decay in the ocean and hang on to that carbon that it's taken out of the atmosphere. And the other two thirds would go to a net 0 processing facility on land. One third of that being for food, and then the other third of that being for natural fertilizers.?

Natural fertilizers could then be applied on agricultural properties, replacing some of the more chemical laden fertilizers that have damaged some of the local waterways. That allows you to restore some of the streams, especially for us locally. We have salmon habitat. But through the restoration of stream areas, then you've got estuaries where you can restore them as well, adding things like eel grass, which add to increased biodiversity. Increased biodiversity allows the opportunity to increase things like herring, salmon, other apex creditors and just helps that natural cycle really come back after it had been depleted for so long.

Keiva Ditchfield: We hear a lot of these types of projects on National Geographic and many science stations. It's really great to be speaking with someone who's actually doing something.?

Alisa Preston: Thank you.

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Keiva Ditchfield: So congratulations as well is an order, to you, on your acceptance into MIT ( 美国麻省理工学院 ). That's no easy feat. Now as a result, you're working on a very unconventional water capture system project right? You mentioned some of it. Would you briefly summarize what that is, and what your desired outcome for the project is?

Alisa Preston: Absolutely. It actually stemmed from a number of years ago. I had a chance. I was teaching engineering students, first and second year, primarily engineering students, and I was working on a project project management, professional responsibility and ethics course which was really to support an overarching project that the students were on. It was interesting how generic the topic was for the students, and as a result, some of them sort of felt without a purpose, without, you know, a little bit lost in terms of their design. But one project that really stood out for me was a water capture system. Very mechanical, being mechanical engineers, but it also looked, as much as it was a way of harvesting water out of the atmosphere, it wasn't necessarily taking into consideration the lack of supplies and materials that some of the most vulnerable people like the Maasai people in Kenya would have. And so this particular water capture system that we are imagining at this point, if you will, is based on biomimicry. And biomimicry is using nature and natural processes, natural materials to solve some of the biggest challenges that we have today, often driven by nature.?

Maasai people have switched from traditionally, being a hunting, gathering society to light agriculture. So they often have flocks, much of, or many of which are sheep. Sheep of course, you can harvest their wool. And so, if you actually have a framed system that is then wrapped in a wool, the wool fibers as they're all interwoven, as they go back and forth, they create a static. And so between the static on the outside, and then you can create a condensing core on the inside. You're able to harvest water out of the atmosphere that's naturally clean, ready-to-go drinking water. And if it's a system that can also be portable, it really helps support the traditional nomadic characters of those people.

So I'm looking at something that can actually develop and be designed to put everywhere around the world.

Keiva Ditchfield: That's incredible. And this is something you're currently working on.

Alisa Preston: One of my little side projects.

Keiva Ditchfield: That sounds so interesting, and it can help many people in many parts of Africa and developing countries, but it might be something nice for the US to look into as well, as other areas of the world.?

Alisa Preston: Absolutely. Water is going to be a very big thing going forward.?

Keiva Ditchfield: I wish you tremendous success with it.

Alisa Preston: Thank you!

Keiva Ditchfield: You're welcome. So you're studying to be a Chief Sustainability Officer at MIT, and it's with a focus on sustainable infrastructure systems for planning and operations. When you're finished with your studies at MIT. Where do you see yourself next?

Alisa Preston: That's a good question.

It's interesting how I am still learning about what that's going to be. There have been some amazing groups to be part of. Again, going back to the Sea Change Marine Conservation Society, being with these like-minded individuals that create these think tanks, and how to find some of the solutions going forward has been incredibly meaningful. But some of these little side projects that I've started on my own are really developing into initiatives that are going in a different direction, and on a bigger scale. As the question really is going to be, is do you continue to go down the path of a collective which I think is incredibly important, or do I start to support some of my own initiatives, and then really turn that into my own collective based on the mentorship that I've received, from places like Sea Change. So I suspect that will be the direction that I go. But I don't know. You’ll have to come back and ask me in 6 months.

Keiva Ditchfield: Sounds good. Whichever direction you take, you're definitely a change maker. So, there we go. You can’t go wrong. So, as indicated, you have many interests and many possibilities around sustainability, and your career has taken many turns which is typical of any career.?

So a few years ago you departed from your family-owned diving business; you resigned from your job, and then you engaged The Barrett Group to navigate your executive job search process. Can you describe 3 things for me? I'm going to ask you them in sequence. The first is what were you looking for?

Alisa Preston: You know what. I think as one continues on with your life, you do realize the value of the skills that you have. And I am so fortunate to have the influences that I've had growing up to have a fairly broad spectrum of skills but I didn't know how to combine these things, and I didn't really know where it was going to take me. So really I just didn't know what I was looking for, and I didn't know at the time, who I was, and how I would fit into that search process either. So that was one of the biggest things. I don't even know if I was looking for that from The Barrett Group. But that was something that The Barrett Group certainly has assisted with.

Keiva Ditchfield: Well, I'm glad that we were able to help. But how did (we call it the TBG process, for The Barrett Group), so how did the TBG process help you land your role of Director of Marine Technology for a marine services company. I think that was your next step.?

Alisa Preston: Absolutely Yes, that was the position I landed through The Barrett Group .

So when I first started with The Barrett Group, and as I went through the entire process, we came to the part where we reached out to the recruiting network. And that was such an overwhelming response. And then, about 2 or 3 weeks later, COVID hit and that just brought everything to a standstill. And so The Barrett Group process, as I call it, really was about how do you leverage the power of your network? How do you communicate most your peers, and not just your peers, but beyond that, using the people that you know, to really create connections and links to ask questions, and that ultimately is probably through a series about 4 people, 5 people that put me in touch with the president of the group that, the company that I was working for.

And so that was the core behind that process. It's using that community that you develop. The people skills and the community developed and the network is really an important part of not only job development, but developing who you are, where you want to be.

Keiva Ditchfield: So then, how has it helped you to get to where you are right now?

Alisa Preston: Interestingly enough, I think you, once you sort of start down that road. You don't stop. Because you realize every time you have a conversation with someone, it not only opens up more doors for you, but that actually can work in reverse. You open up more doors for others as well. And as a result, where I'm at today, and the network of people that I have around me are more like minded, more focused on where we're going to be at with similar things that are really important to me, sustainability, conservation certainly being big areas as well.?

But I find it's developed a higher level of trust. And just because it's just that vulnerability in asking. And so the more that you put yourself out there, the more you see that in return. And I find right now, I'm in a really amazing place, not only continuing to ask questions for myself, but being in a position to being open to have others ask questions of me. And that's played a big role in developing my confidence in terms of who I am, and where I'm going, where I'm at… all of the things.

Keiva Ditchfield: All of the above.?

Alisa Preston: Yeah

Keiva Ditchfield: As you know, here at The Barrett Group, we also help executives get clarity on where they're going, right and we help them to get there. So what advice can you share with executives who might want to do something different in their career, but they're reluctant, or just scared to take the next step to get there?

Alisa Preston: I would say one of the greatest takeaways that I received was narrowing down your focus, and knowing who you are, and how to apply that, to that focus. Because I was so scattered, I know I've had other conversations where you're very nervous about where you're gonna go, and you're leaving behind a degree of stability as you're stepping out of your comfort zone. It's really easy to jump into the first opportunity that comes up, but that might not be the right fit. And so it's taking the time to figure out who you are, what are the best fits and really seeing what your strengths are. There's some exercises that I was part of that brought my awareness to things that I don't even think I realized I really valued in myself. And those pieces have really played a bigger role going forward.

Keiva Ditchfield: Yeah, some of the intangibles are really poignant. When we put a finger on it, and it brings this awareness to you, suddenly a whole new world opens up sometimes that we weren't aware was there already.

Alisa Preston: Absolutely.?

Keiva Ditchfield: So you've been a leader for a large part of your career. You've been on a few boards, and you're now currently a very active leader. You're a Director of the Sea Change Marine Conservation Society. What has leadership in sustainability been like for you as a female in upper management?

Alisa Preston: Not always easy.

I would love to say that the unconscious bias for many different things is something that we're trying., we’re certainly as a society working to better understand. But it has at times been really difficult to overcome.

Where I'm at now, again taking that extremely long and twisted journey really to find where I'm at now, and the people that I'm working with, it's made a really big difference in terms of respectful workplaces. Just the manner, and the intelligence and the experience and education - and not everybody is the same - it's valuing differences and supporting one another. And so every single person that's on the current board has such vastly different backgrounds. And every single person there has such an incredible role to play, and how we come up with things going forward, and that has, that has been… it is so comforting to be amongst that. But then you realize, hey, that that means, I'm one of these amazing people. And just to have that sense of self is pretty cool.

Keiva Ditchfield: Yes.

You mentioned quite a few key things. I interviewed a CEO of a diversity and inequity firm. She goes out. She does training for various organizations and finding the value in each person, has been something that she stressed in upper management. Because yes, it's. It's easy to know that people are valuable, but sometimes it's easy to overlook as well. And I'm glad that you found that for yourself as well as in others.?

Alisa Preston: I'm very fortunate.?

Keiva Ditchfield: What are some pivotal points in your career journey thus far… maybe some obstacles, and certainly some successes?

Alisa Preston: As I mentioned earlier, there's definitely been some some challenges in terms of sexual harassment discrimination early on in my career. That really led me to wondering where my place was because often in those situations there is…there's a term that I heard some time ago. It's called the bully, the bullied, and the bystander; and that, understanding that definition as I tried to understand what were the circumstances that led to the situation that I was in.?

You realize there's a lot of places that have these amazing policies in terms of human relations and harassment, and even coming down to environmental practices and sustainability. But what do those actually mean? Because it's really nice to have them. How do you actually have them dovetail into day to day life in your workplace? And so the circumstances that I've experienced in the past really led me to better understand myself first; what a respectful atmosphere would look like second; and realizing that those are important pieces, regardless of where I go into the future, whether I'm the one supporting and sustaining that. But I would actually expect that the team that I'm working with, and the team that I might be building would also play a big role, too.

Keiva Ditchfield: Absolutely, I appreciate your candor. It is something that, especially for females, may not be spoken of as openly and it certainly is prevalent, and it's great to shine a light on it and viewing it from a higher aspect as well.

So then, what words of wisdom can you give… can you offer females who are making their way up to leadership roles, or even females who are in leadership positions?

Alisa Preston: I think, supporting each other, using your mentorship roles, the professional groups that are there. Just really celebrating everyone for the differences that they bring to every single team. Unfortunately, being in engineering at times, there's not a lot of women and so it is so important to find those role models. I was very fortunate for most of my life to have an incredible woman who was a mentor for me. But I think sometimes when you've had to spend so much time fighting to really be at that table, you kind of lose your sense of self.

So as you go along the way to build up that network, so it really enhances what you are, doesn't strip away… is so important.

Keiva Ditchfield: What benefits do you believe females in the C-suite and in leadership roles can offer organizations?

Alisa Preston: Right off the top representation. I mean, we make our 50% of this planet. So it would really be nice to know that our voice counts or something. And that's not to diminish the value of anyone who's at the table. But all of us have an important role, and I think it's accepting the different perspectives that come forward. Especially as we go forward with sustainability. The value of what we all contribute to as a team is really key.

Keiva Ditchfield: It is. it is.

So, then how do you believe organizations can better develop female leaders?

Alisa Preston: Oh, that, I think, is taking advantage again of mentorship, mentorship, mentorship. Really having people that are in roles that we can look up to.

You know. If I were to go back, for me, one of the biggest mentors from my life was Dr. Sylvia Earle . She was a scientist in residence I think for 5 different Presidential campaigns, sitting Presidents in the United States. Not to mention working with NOAA. She's probably my number one hero, and is probably the number one reason why I'm here today.?

But there's also been some incredible role models for me like my own mom. She was a university professor in Biology. Might be why I went to Engineering versus Biology. But I think that the perspective that she offered me is really what drove that connection to the ocean and the biological components of this planet.

Keiva Ditchfield: What advice do you offer organizations to make a more sustainable planet… make sustainability a priority?

Alisa Preston: I think that is one of the things that I am truly learning at this point, because at times it can be really frustrating. Again, coming back to organizations that use the term sustainability as a catchphrase, greenwashing anything like that. I think, at some point we're going to be at a point where we can't do that anymore.??

And as we see these incredible, international collectives coming up with what the plans are going to be to prevent further overall and average warmings around the planet, we're gonna have to do something. And the private sector, as well as the public sectors, are going to play an incredible role with that.?

And so, if you continue to push back, and I say you as a corporation as opposed to an individual. But if you, if you delay getting more and more involved with transitioning to what that's going to be. It's going to be harder and harder down the road. So now we can do it voluntarily. But I don't think that we're too far away from it essentially being regulation and law out of necessity, especially as we see more and more climate change along the way.

Keiva Ditchfield: Yeah, and it makes sense. It really makes sense. If we were to think about it on a human level. This is the one planet that we know that we have to live on. We might as well take care of our home.

Alisa Preston: Absolutely.?

Keiva Ditchfield: So, I like to end with getting a macro and human view from executives on the Inspired Insights series. What would you like to see the world and corporations evolve into?

Alisa Preston: Collaboration, partnerships, collaboration. The United Nations have developed a set of sustainable development goals and those aren't all about conservation projects. Some of that is really looking at how we operate, where our resources are coming from our energy use. But we can't really even figure out what the metrics are for that unless we're working together.

And so collaboration, partnership, innovation; those are all going to be really significant things as we go forward. But the underlying thing is people working together.?

As you say, we have one planet, and things are changing very, very quickly, and we're at a point where, with the amount of emissions that we've released into the atmosphere, I think we’ve surpassed the threshold of what we can, what we can actually control. And so we have to be prepared to work together on this. Otherwise it's gonna tear more and more people apart.

Keiva Ditchfield: Absolutely. Thank you for those words. That with transparency for all would really help. So, Alisa Preston, we've come to the end.

Alisa Preston: Thank you.?

Keiva Ditchfield: It's been a pleasure speaking with you, and I thank you for this candid discussion.

You're in a position to help many, and I wish you continued growth and success in your career. I would love to know where your journey takes you.

?May you continue to make a positive impact in all that you do.

Alisa Preston: Thank you very much. It's been a pleasure.

Keiva Ditchfield: Thank you.

We specialize in executive career change at The Barrett Group . If your career is not progressing at the rate you feel is commensurate with your talent and achievements, if you are not having much success with your current job search activities or if you are simply ready for your next executive role and know that you can benefit from professional help, contact us .

We have been successfully helping executives in this process for over 30 years. Our clients gain career clarity, work their ways through personal branding, market access, preparation, and on-boarding to reach unprecedented results and land their jobs . Let us help you advance. If you are an executive ready to make a career change, submit your resume here for a consultation.