I am an architect. I spent 12 years in practice, mostly designing housing. I then moved to non-profit development, becoming Development Director at Peabody and leading a programme of 5,000 new build homes across London. After a year's sabbatical (which included two months visiting 70 housing schemes in Europe), I set up my own company which supports public sector developers to build better quality homes.

I always liked drawing and painting, but also maths and physics! So architecture combined my rather opposing interests into a single pursuit. What I didn't appreciate at that time is that the built environment is also about sociology and politics - it's such a multi-disciplinary activity.

Did you know - I sing alto in a number of choirs and travel abroad with them!

I'm very good at communicating with all kinds of stakeholders (politicians, communities, designers, funders). This makes sure trust gets built and things get done. On a more prosaic level, I'm good at drawing, summarising complicated projects and strategies, development appraisals, design review, writing topical articles, procurement. I know a lot about London's housing, especially 1930s flats.

Networking can be a pain for women in this industry. It tends to revolve around sport and cycling, or MIPIM, which is a bloke-fest. In terms of being involved in this sector and parenting, that can be hard to combine, but that should be an issue for all genders, not just women. Women can be more consensus seeking rather than showing strength through decisive action. This can be a strength and a weakness in this sector. As ever, a mix of styles is always needed.

There are loads of roles within the built environment. Find out about all of them (I have a handy diagram!) and try out a few, if the first doesn't feel right.