10 Questions… with Helena Nermut

1. What is your role? 

Forestry Analyst. It’s a really varied job, in a week I could be creating high end cartographic maps, inventory work or playing with web mapping and field apps.

2. Which organisation do you work for?

Esk Mapping and GIS. I’m working remotely based in Bunbury WA.

3. How long have you been in the industry?

15-20 years.

4. What do you enjoy most about your role? 

I love solving problems and finding solutions for people.

5. What are you most passionate about in the industry?

It’s a sustainable industry employing a diverse group of people.

6. What opportunities has working in the industry provided you?

Meeting great people, travel across Australia seeing an amazing diversity of forests/plantations, career development and further education. My husband also works in forestry and we lived in Tokyo Japan for 18months for work which was a wonderful experience. I could go on and on, it’s a pretty big list!

7. What do you think the industry does very well?

Adopts new technologies, whether that’s in harvest operations, plantation establishments, haulage contractors etc. It’s a pretty dynamic industry.

8. Where do you think there is room for improvement?

Public perception. There’s definitely more room for more community engagement no matter how uncomfortable it might be.

9. On a weekend, we’d find you…

At the beach, enjoying the sunshine. 

10. People would be surprised to learn that…

When I lived in Melbourne I would go to the local women’s prison once a fortnight and teach the ladies how to make quilts which were then donated to the local women’s shelter. It was certainly an interesting experience.

With support from Esk Mapping & GIS, Helena was recently accepted into the Women & Leadership Australia ‘Executive Ready’ course—’a leadership career accelerator aimed at intermediate level leaders seeking  a higher level of performance in role and preparing for career advancement to senior level organisational leadership’.