Towards the end of her commission to write and curate the 50th Anniversary Special Edition Journal, ATS Young Member’s Chair, Brodie Aitchison, put a question to Penny, “How would you feel about helping us out with ATS communications on a regular basis?”
Having explored every angle of the ATS over its history, Penny felt well qualified for the proposed one day per week role. “I read the job description and it described my skills and interests perfectly,” she says.
“Particularly the growing emphasis on promoting the importance of diversity in tunnelling and working to reframe the narrative of the profession to focus on how tunnelling can be used to address many aspects of our unfurling Climate Emergency. These are already two of my key interest areas.”
Penny has run a successful business providing writing and editing services for clients from a broad range of specialty areas for the last 15 years. Her focus has always been to tell stories with positive impact, particularly in highlighting the extraordinary achievements of ordinary people.
“I have written my way through the business world and just love teasing out the remarkable tales that academics and industry experts have to tell. I’ve covered topics including the bionic eye, kiwi conservation, polyphonic music transcription, mountaineering, straw-bale construction and much more in-between,” she says.
“Most recently, my focus has broadened out into personal history writing, which means helping an individual or organisation tell a story of importance from their past. This is how I came into the orbit of the ATS, when they were looking for a writer to help create a special publication to celebrate their 50th anniversary.”
Penny is very keen to hear from any ATS member who has an interesting story to share with others in the industry, so don’t hesitate to reach out to her. She will also be helping David Lees, Editor, in curating content for the biannual A&NZ Journal.
