A year to the day I joined Wilton Park I was on a rooftop in the Vatican City with a press pass in hand, taking pictures of Pope Francis giving a papal audience. This was an unbelievable experience and one I couldn’t have imagined when I first started working here. I had filmed with some amazing and inspirational people during my first year, and filming our event participants meeting the Pope at the Vatican City was the cherry on the cake.
Another memorable moment from the same event in October 2024, which launched a new climate action network run by women of faith, was interviewing Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland, and hearing her message of hope. It was inspirational to hear from a woman who has had such a successful career and promoted gender equality for decades and how she still had hope for a positive future. Her edit has now reached over 1 million views on Instagram which is a huge professional milestone – but also nearly every comment I saw was positive, with people praising her message. It really reinforced in me the belief that there is good in the world, and inspiration still being spread. And I feel honoured to be part of Wilton Park, playing a small part to help these messages reach others.
I started working at Wilton Park as Content Producer after completing my MA in journalism and documentary making. I naively assumed there wouldn’t be a space for a career working with cameras in a sphere such as foreign affairs and international relations. However, I feel that coming from a non-foreign policy background has been a benefit to me, and helped me in my job to create videos which explain complex topics with clarity.
I can’t name all the people I’ve filmed interviews with as the list would be too long, however there has been such a variety of people from a variety of backgrounds – I really get to see firsthand how Wilton Park brings together so many different people, and how our events inspire thought. Participants often sit down in the interviewing chair and begin to praise our location and our hospitality. They regularly mention, unprompted, the importance of Wilton Park in facilitating the event.
Every video I create is important, however I feel especially proud to have filmed interviews with two survivors of the Yezidi genocide, and a Ukrainian survivor who rescued her brother from Russian abduction. I feel honoured for people to feel so safe in sharing their stories, and very grateful to be part of the team which fosters such a welcoming, safe, and open environment.
When I get to film during the sidelines of an event – the coffee breaks, the evenings – it is really exciting to witness and feel the atmosphere of our events, the hum of important conversations in the Library or the laughter of a group in the Green Room.
During one of the interviews near the beginning of my time at Wilton Park a participant shared how enthusiastic she was about our event. She emphasised how important it was to gather people from across different sectors, and said ‘it’s amazing how listening to the challenges and seeing the challenges everybody’s facing in their own field of expertise are the same ones we’re facing sometimes.’ She stated that she ‘really, really believes’ these events make a difference and have an impact. For me, hearing someone speak so enthusiastically about the impact of our events really solidified the importance of the work we do here at Wilton Park.
I’ve learned so much at Wilton Park, from skills needed for my role, the background to our events and how they are run and managed, to the intricacies of being an executive agency of the FCDO and working within the civil service. It is a great and unique organisation to work for, surrounded by lovely countryside, lovely people, and with a mission that serves a real purpose.
