Celebrating Quiet Confidence
Catherine: Right, technological issues over?
Jodie: Yep.
Catherine: Good.
Jodie: Okay, so, yes, we are here to talk about you, Cat – your career and your role here at H+I Adventures – to celebrate International Women’s Day. As a young female in the industry, and an employee of H+I Adventures, I thought it would be interesting to hear how you got to this stage in your career where you are a director and co-founder of your own company and to pass on advice to young women like me who are at the beginning of building a career in the mountain bike and adventure travel industry. To start – and for the benefit of our readers – how about a quick introduction and overview of your role here at H+I Adventures? You wear a lot of hats!
Catherine: I’m Catherine and I am co-founder and director of H+I adventures. My role in the company is very much on the marketing, customer service and HR side. I look after our employees, the overall marketing and sales strategy, and customer service. At a broader strategic level, I work with Euan, my husband and business partner, to plan our business strategy for the coming years. Euan and I have quite different roles in the company – he looks after the product and business development side of things, as well as finance.
Jodie: Do you think you have quite different approaches to work?
Catherine: I think that we have very different approaches to everything! But it works. If there were only two ways to do something, we would both do it a different way. However, we complement each other and never seem to stand on each other’s toes. We are both happy to operate in our own spheres and come together to discuss everything based on our own areas of expertise.
Jodie: So how did H +I Adventures start for you two as co-founders? Did it kind of come quite organically or did you have a lightbulb idea one day and then decide to take the plunge?
Catherine: There wasn’t any grand plan. We met working in a company in Glasgow and discovered that we both liked to mountain bike – that’s how we got together – then we very quickly decided to leave Glasgow because we were escaping the city every weekend to ride bikes, and then we suddenly thought, “Why are we living in Glasgow? What’s keeping us here?”
Previously, I had been working for the 7stanes project, where the idea of mountain bike tourism was just starting to be talked about.
We took that seed of an idea with us when we moved to Inverness. We started exploring all of the areas around the Highlands and we just thought (naively), “We could do this!” There was no master plan, there was no investment. It was very organic. For the first few years, we were running the business and working at the same time, then Euan gave up his job, and a few years after, I gave up mine and that was us all in.
Jodie: So, that kind of answered my next question, which was ‘What was your first job in the mountain bike/travel industry?’ Was the 7stanes a graduate job? What was your degree?
Catherine: Yes, so that was very early in my career when I was 23. I had graduated a couple of years earlier from Strathclyde University with a degree in International Business and Modern Languages, which boils down to marketing, French and Italian. I was living in the south of Scotland and the opportunity came up to work as assistant project manager for the 7stanes project.
Jodie: As a young female entering the mountain bike industry, how did you find that experience?
Catherine: Looking back, it was actually a very positive experience. When I went into the project I didn’t ride bikes. I had this vision that it didn’t really matter but then I got sucked in because everyone who was working on the project was really passionate about it. Very quickly, I was on the trails and people were taking me out and encouraging me.
Even in a professional capacity, it was a positive experience for me. It was a male dominated environment, and most people were twice my age but everyone I worked with at Forestry Commission Scotland (as it was then) was extremely supportive. I never felt like I wasn’t being listened to or that I shouldn’t be there.
Jodie: That’s really funny because I’m 23, but I only started riding at 19 years old. It’s interesting that we both came into it later in life but we’ve both become so passionate about it, despite it not being part of our childhood. Having started my career in bike shops, I was always the only young female and that was quite daunting. I was always trying to prove myself to others.
Here in the office, there are only 6 of us and – don’t tell the others I said this – I’m still quite a bit younger than everyone else and the only other female – but the dynamic is brilliant. My age and gender are seen as assets to the team. I suppose it gives a different perspective that you wouldn’t get from an older, all-male team, which is all too common in the industry.
I think for me as a young woman who has been trying to navigate such a male dominated industry, having that allyship from male colleagues is really important to me, so it’s nice to hear that you felt like you had that support which set you off on a good path.
Jodie: Have there been any highlights in your career? You’re not allowed to say working with Euan, as much as he wants you to!
Catherine: He knows his place! I think as someone who’s constantly trying to improve things, you tend to focus on negatives at times and not enough on positives, but there have been so many good things. I’m really lucky to have done what I’ve done and be where I am. I’ve had loads of fantastic experiences along the way. Being able to travel to ride my bike is something that I absolutely love. The feeling of riding through different places, meeting new people, and (especially!) trying local cuisines is hard to beat, and you learn that the world is a spectacularly beautiful place, full of wonderful people.
Being on the board of IMBA EU was a really positive experience for me. They were looking to add a female voice to their board, back in 2020, and I was fortunate that they asked me to join. They do such amazing advocacy work and I always feel inspired by Mark, Loren and the team. I’ve also had the opportunity to mentor a couple of female entrepreneurs in the travel industry through my friend Iris’ incredible wmnsWORK initiative, which was very rewarding.
Jodie: I love that IMBA EU is championing women in mountain biking through their Women’s Network. For me, having grown up and still living in the Scottish Highlands, it can feel a bit isolated, so having networks like this is really beneficial to meet people you otherwise would have never met.
One of my favourite parts of the job is getting to speak to riders. On our Scottish tours, I spend months getting to know people and then one day they are here face-to-face and I feel like I already have a genuine connection with them, having bonded over a shared love of mountain biking. It’s really special. When I go on a really great ride, I feel unbelievably lucky to be in a job where I help create that feeling for others. I think it’s that feeling that motivates all of us to do what we do
Catherine: Yeah, having people here reminds you why you’re doing it. At the end of the day, it’s still your job 5 days a week. It’s very difficult not to normalise that. Reminding yourself that this is not what most people do for a living, and that it’s really special to them, helps to keep your sense of perspective.
Jodie: Anyway, back from our tangent on how great it is to ride bikes – how do you think employers and businesses can support young women to pursue a career in the industry?
Catherine: Well, before I tell you my thoughts, I’m going to ask you for yours – as the young female in this conversation, who’s forging her career in the MTB travel industry!
Jodie: Oh, you’ve just Uno-reversed me! I’m meant to be interviewing you!
Catherine: Yep, I have! You’ve experienced this much more recently than me. You changed your job and moved here to work for us. So what do you think that employers should be doing to support people in your position?
Jodie: I came from bike shops, which have a very different atmosphere than what we have here. It was very masculine and really quite intense at times. I found it quite hard to be myself and looking back on it, I think I sometimes changed who I was as a person in order to be taken seriously, especially since I was still fairly new to the sport. I sometimes found myself trying to mask my femininity and making myself smaller to blend in with my male counterparts. I actually ended up leaving the industry for a wee bit before I applied for my current position because I felt a bit lost.
I was really nervous coming into the company as the only young female in the office. I quickly realised that you and Euan saw that as a positive, not a negative. It’s been a supportive environment from day 1 and has allowed me to develop not only in my career but personal life too. I feel that my confidence has increased tenfold since I first started here 18 months ago. I’ve become a lot more comfortable in my own skin which has translated into my work. I never feel like I have to prove that I’m a ‘mountain biker’ or that I need to be anyone but myself to be good at my job. I’ve always felt like I’m on an equal playing field with all of my male colleagues, even if I like to wear make-up or a dress to work. So, I suppose my advice to employers is to embrace the differences that women can bring to a team’s dynamic. Make sure that they have the space to voice their opinions and a supportive environment to succeed, but also to learn and make mistakes without fear of repercussions.
Catherine: I would agree with that. Employers need to be a lot more open minded about the benefits of having different people in their team, different perspectives, different points of view. Not just in the mountain bike industry but any industry. I think they need to appreciate the value of having a female voice – we’re 50% of the population, after all! In terms of recruiting, it’s about seeing beyond the obvious. Maybe some employers don’t want to bring people on-board who might challenge them. But actually that’s how you bring new ideas into the company, and things progress. Don’t get stuck in the rut of employing the kinds of people you’ve always employed; embrace the challenge of new perspectives and create a space where new ideas can flourish.
Jodie: Absolutely, I’m a firm believer that you can’t be what you can’t see. A huge reason why I took the job here was actually meeting you. Someone that breaks the stereotype of how people ‘think’ someone in the industry should be, who has had a really successful career and wants to support others to do the same.
Catherine: That’s just it. If you’re not being yourself you’re not going to feel confident, and you’re unlikely to fulfil your potential. Any time I’ve tried to be someone else it has been, at best, embarrassing. So, I stopped doing it fairly quickly. Ultimately, if you can’t be yourself and achieve your goals, you’re unlikely to stay in that job.
Jodie: I think people who are different or don’t fit the ‘mould’ are sometimes the best people to employ. As everyone in the office is aware, I’m definitely a louder character. I once had an employer tell me that ‘being bubbly isn’t an asset, it’s something to work on’. I used to be really self-conscious about it. Working under you here at H+I made me realise that it wasn’t for me being bubbly and a bit vivacious, I would probably be rubbish at my job! I speak to strangers every single day on the phone, on video calls and face-to-face too. It definitely helps to form relationships and a bit of trust. I think a lot of the time, having a more outgoing personality is seen as a weakness in women… It’s really not. Everyone is their own person and that diversity in a team makes it stronger. That’s definitely something you’ve helped me learn.
Catherine: Of course, because you are being you. That means as an employer we can see where your strengths are and tap into those to help you develop your career, at the same time bringing benefit to the company. We, and your colleagues, can also support you in areas where you might need it more. And vice-versa.
Jodie: Absolutely! Do you think that would be your biggest piece of advice to a young woman starting out?
Catherine: Definitely, I know sometimes it is difficult, but I think if you’re not able to be you, you’re not in the right place. That’s really important for any young woman starting their career in any industry. There is a place for you to be your most authentic and successful self, and employers who recognise and encourage that will reap the benefits as much as you do.
