My name’s Maisie Wilson, and I’ve been studying at York St John for a few years now. I recently graduated with my BA in Criminology, but was so haunted by the interpersonal nature of it all that I switched to a comparatively more soothing MA in Environment and Social Justice. Thankfully climate change is a much more indirect kind of horror.

I’ve cared about social justice since my sister taught me the word ‘patriarchy’ (age 9) and this is reflected in the voluntary work I’ve engaged in. For a while before starting university I worked as a Samaritan, which was both extremely challenging and rewarding. I also unknowingly came into contact with the ISJ when I volunteered with the Converge programme in the second year of my undergraduate. It was a fantastic experience, not least because I got to mess around with cameras on the film course I worked on. Now, I work with the truly phenomenal charity Kyra. A York based women’s charity that I literally cannot speak highly enough of.

What else? I work as a chocolatier at York’s Chocolate story. This means that I have access to all the free chocolate I could ever hope for, yet can’t stand the idea of eating any of it. I go bouldering a lot at Red Goat – I think when I spend so much time in Teams meetings or staring at a (distressingly blank) work document, it becomes even more important for me to get out of my head and move around. I also knit poorly, but with great passion – and I’m spending the current colder months knitting a gawdy scarf for my dad. I have a 600 day streak on Duolingo trying to learn French (bonjour!), but recently got bored and tried my hand at Gaelic (Halò!).

I think the most important thing about me is that I’m very excited to be working as an intern for ISJ. I’ve worked here for less than a month, but I’ve already been given the opportunity and freedom to explore some of the amazing Community Research Grant projects. Right now, I’m working with Gary Shepherd on his insightful Menfulness project; and I can’t wait to get more stuck in with the Doing Change project and the Living Lab Potluck.