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As the CEO of Screen Canberra, Holly Trueman‘s role is to attract and grow the film industry in the ACT region.
Her career started in a pub (really!) then she was a lab assistant at the Natural History Museum in malaria research and a PhD researcher at Imperial College London in malaria parasite biology.
In a pure happendipity moment, she pivoted into media via BBC’s specialist factual department (“Child of Our Time”). Her career then alternated between science research and TV production (e.g., postdoc fellowships < > production management roles) with a brief stint as a public servant in between, before moving into CEO positions first for a small, not for profit company and now in her current role.
Here are the key takeouts from the interview about her career change. Read the interview below.
Key Takeouts
- Chance encounters can radically shift your career direction, opening paths you never imagined: “If I hadn’t happened to have needed to extend my PhD money right at the beginning…if I hadn’t have met that dole officer who put me on that course…I feel like it’s like my sliding doors moment. If I hadn’t have met that person, and it was just by chance, I would never have known that there was the career in media. I just wouldn’t have known.”
- Entrepreneurial success often comes from being open to unexpected connections and opportunities: “I embrace happendipity. I love meeting someone completely by accident, and then finding out about them and going, “Oh, hang on a second. If I connect to you with this, we can make great things happen. I am constantly doing that.”
- Bold, risky moves – even those with uncertain outcomes – develop the resilience and skills needed for entrepreneurship: “I took a really big chance on that. It was sort of calculated in a way… That moment of just really living on the edge and just going for it has given me so many skills to now be a competent CEO…”
- Adopt an entrepreneurial mindset about your own career: invest in yourself, take risks, and innovate your path: “You’re talking about entrepreneurs and that entrepreneur spirit…we sort of need that entrepreneur spirit for yourself. How can you look at yourself as the business. How can you look at yourself and better yourself? By taking those chances and sort of moving outside of the box you just don’t know where you’ll end up.”
- Follow energy, not just logic: “Go towards the job, or the opportunity, and the one that’s going to give you energy, that’s the one that you’re going to succeed with… let you use those entrepreneurial skills and create the business of you.”
- Every experience adds value: “You might get into that career and find actually, this isn’t something for me, but you will have learned something from that moment.”
- Changing careers is a superpower: “I have experienced so many very different ways of thinking that I can sort of pull on that to see things from multiple angles, and it’s great for problem solving.”
These takeouts highlight how sliding doors moments and an entrepreneurial approach – embracing risk, valuing connections, and treating yourself as a business – can transform your career journey.
Read the full interview below.
Q: What is your career story?
H: I started off working in a pub, really! That was the job, the Prospect of Whitby in England but I’d studied in in science. So I was looking for a science job. And I was lucky enough to get a position at the Natural History Museum in London, where I was grinding up mosquitoes and looking for malaria.
That was the beginning of my full-time career, a lab assistant at the Natural History Museum in London. Excellent place to work and just an amazing experience. I’d always wanted to be a scientist. Whenever anyone said, What do you want to do? I was like, I’m going to be a scientist. I’m going to change the world.
From working at the Natural History Museum, I was then introduced to an academic at Imperial College London, and I started a PhD and there. I was there for four years where I looked at the malaria parasite moving through the mosquito mid gut. I did lots of salivary gland dissections. Spent a lot of time looking down the microscope. Spent a lot of time looking for genes. That was what my world was going to be. I was going to be a scientist. But when I was writing up my PhD, I got to this stage where I ran out of money, as all good students do, and I needed to go on the dole. Being an English citizen, I could.
I remember my first day going into the office and had to write down the three jobs I wanted to do. Two of them were, I want to be this type of scientist. I want to be that scientist. Then I put on the list. I wouldn’t mind working for David Attenborough and the officer who was dealing with me said, I’ve got a Getting into Media Course. I had never even thought about media, even though I’d always been very artistic. I had done art at school and that sort of thing, but I sort of dedicated my career to science.
Anyway, I was sort of forced to go on this little two week course Getting into Media. From that, they were like, Oh my gosh, you are brilliant. You’re perfect for working at the BBC in the specialist factual department in White City. Before I knew it, I had a job at the BBC working on a TV show called Child of our Time and that really started off that career. I guess it was serendipity where I sort of moved into that career, because I sort of went to myself, Oh, I wouldn’t mind doing this and, and that’s where I moved into television. And over my career, I’ve moved from TV to science, back to TV, back to science, back to TV. So yeah, I’ve sort of flopped around.
Q: You’ve had a lot of change. Why did you switch?
H: I get a little bit bored! I’ve always loved science, and you dedicate so much time to becoming a successful scientist and to getting those papers and to doing the research. But I’m a big picture person, and in science you’re looking at very small things. I always pulled back out to the big picture when I was drilling in so far in science. I think just for my personality, that the media and TV allows me to think really big picture.
Q: You’ve mentioned serendipity having a role to play in your career. What role has happendipity played in your career?
H: I think it’s played a huge role in my career. If I hadn’t happened to have needed to extend my PhD money right at the beginning…if I hadn’t have met that dole officer who put me on that course…I feel like it’s like my sliding doors moment. If I hadn’t have met that person, and it was just by chance, I would never have known that there was the career in media. I just wouldn’t have known.
In my work now I do that. I always look to extend the conversation. And I always look at how can I link that opportunity to something else, to create something bigger. That’s probably something that I I’ve done in my career without really realising I was doing it.
Q: Are you someone who embraces or rejects happendipity?
H: I embrace happendipity. I love meeting someone completely by accident, and then finding out about them and going, Oh, hang on a second. If I connect to you with this, we can make great things happen. I am constantly doing that.
Q: Can you think of other happendipity events that changed your career?
H: In my last really big transition going from TV into going into a CEO position. I took a really big chance on that. It was sort of calculated in a way. I was like, I don’t know if I want to continue doing this same thing in my career. What I was finding is I get a lot of energy when I’m helping other people. How can I do that as a career? How can I really help others to succeed, and through their success, I succeed. So I made quite a career change, and I went off and became a CEO of a very small, not for profit company, and that was a very bold thing for me to go and do. It had low job security. Was a part-time job. I was giving away a lot to go off and do that, but actually by being that brave, I was able to get experience which is now allowing me to really do my job. That moment of just really living on the edge and just going for it has given me so many skills to now be a competent CEO, and I understand the landscape of the not for profit sector. I’ve made connections with all sorts of people from completely different walks of life that I would never have been exposed to if I hadn’t made that risky career move.
Q: What have you learned about the process of changing careers?
H: I have switched careers so many times. For a while, I felt like I was actually causing myself harm, like I wasn’t climbing up the ladder, I was stagnating in a way. What I felt by taking the chance and switching careers – and now as I get to the more mature stage of my life – I can take stuff from being a scientist, cutting up salivary glands. It’s really quite useful skill set! I can take stuff from managing budgets. And then the soft skills of HR and all that sort of stuff. I feel like it’s all coming together now to create a superpower in the sense that I have experienced so many very different ways of thinking that I can sort of pull on that to see things from multiple angles, and it’s great for problem solving.
Q: What advice would you give to someone else who’s faced with a happendipity event that could change their career?
H: I think that everyone should take a chance, because you just never know where you’re going to end up. You might get into that career and find actually, this isn’t something for me, but you will have learned something from that moment, and you just won’t know. When you do find your happy space, you’ll look back at that thing that you didn’t like that much and go, actually, I’ve taken so much from that, and it’s making me like… you’re talking about entrepreneurs and that entrepreneur spirit…we sort of need that entrepreneur spirit for yourself. How can you look at yourself as the business. How can you look at yourself and better yourself? By taking those chances and sort of moving outside of the box you just don’t know where you’ll end up.
Q: What advice would you give to someone who has a number of paths to choose from?
H: Go with something that gives you energy. Go towards the job, or the opportunity, and the one that’s going to give you energy, that’s the one that you’re going to succeed with. When you look at it, you might have some that should be much more sensible. But what one is really going to give you energy and let you use those entrepreneurial skills and create the business of you.
Check out my previous interviews on happendipity with:
- Agathé Kerr: an IT consultant turned pastry chef
- Sonia Singh: science communicator to Tree Change Dolls creator to speech pathologist
- Amit Turkenitz: software developer -> business owner and photographer -> entrepreneur and product creator -> UX consultant -> product manager -> data engineer
- Stephanie Ifrah: architect to founder of the brand The Rose
- Bianca Havas: film production assistant -> environmental advocacy campaigner -> leadership consultant
If you are interested in career storytelling coaching, find out more here.
Image: provided