It’s our pleasure to spotlight Sara Telahoun, a long-standing mentor for the Catalyse Change Mentoring Programme, with over 10 years of experience in the sustainability sector. Sara brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to guide mentees in this field, and we’re excited to share some of her valuable insights more widely through this green career story blog post.


In 2-3 sentences, please tell us a little about yourself (your background/story and anything you feel you’d like to share).

My current role is Associate Director at 3ADAPT where I consult with organisations to help them understand their climate and sustainability impacts and develop strategies to reduce them. I’ve been a mentor with Catalyse Change for about 6 years and I also wear a few other different hats as a Trustee and a Steering Committee member in other climate projects as I love to have a varied professional green career.

 

What made you decide to pursue a career in sustainability?

I originally studied Architecture because it was the one subject that combined soft studies (Art) with more technical aspects (Physics and Maths). During my studies, I learnt about sustainable building practices and that’s what got me interested in sustainability. As I learnt more, I realised this was the most pressing issue with lots of opportunities where I could use my skills, so decided to take my green career into climate.

Advisory Board

Catalyse Change Advisory Board meeting at Poco a few years ago

What does success mean to you? Can you provide an example of a time you felt successful in your green career?

Success has had different meanings throughout my career. In my early years in sustainability, it was about having the most influence over reducing emissions as possible. As I progress into my career and having worked in sustainability for over 10 years now, its become much more about how I can support people. I get a huge amount of joy – and feel really successful – when I feel I’ve enabled clients, my team or people I mentor to expand their understanding of sustainability and the influence they have.

What have been your go-to tools and strategies for overcoming challenging experiences or people in your career?

My best strategy for challenging discussions is to try to understand people. Most of the time people are trying to do the best they can with limited resources or knowledge. When we zoom out of our own perspectives and think about the challenges others are having, we can understand what’s driving their behaviour. I’ve found this really helps when trying to shift mindsets. In addition to this being mindful of using relevant language for the right people, speaking and communicating in ways they understand. 

Can you share a time when you faced failure or a significant setback in your career and how you bounced back?

There was a time where I had worked really hard beyond my role so I put together a case for the promotion and felt strongly that I had the evidence to back it up. When the time came I was taken aback that I wasn’t awarded the promotion, and I was really surprised at how much of an impact it had on me. It took me months to recover because I thought it meant I wasn’t good at my job and I began to question everything. This obviously wasn’t the case but the anxious voice inside my head was telling me it was. After lots of discussion and self-reflection I realised I had all the validation I needed inside myself. I focused on all the parts of my wider career that I get joy from, and the specific skills I have that make me who I am. It was a real learning point for my career. 

book launch 2023

Sara and Traci Lewis at launch of ‘Your Green Career’

How have you navigated the challenges of work-life balance, especially in high-pressure environments?

This is a tricky one because I do think it depends a lot on the environment you are in and the cultures instilled by senior management. When I’ve been in positions of seniority, I’ve always demonstrated the importance of good work-life balance and encouraged others to do so. I’m in a really fortunate position in my life where I can afford to work part time at reduced pay to allow myself more time for my other passions and voluntary work. I think its so important to have a fulfilling life outside of work. This allows us to take on challenges at work more readily and more importantly allows us to live healthier, happier lives!

How can we follow your journey?

You can find me on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saratelahoun/