Elisabeth Charmley, Naval Architect turned Climate Action Entrepreneur – Canada

Growing up I always wanted to work on the water but I didn’t know how to translate my love of sailing into a career. In high school I wanted to be a marine biologist, but ended up in anthropology and working as a receptionist. It wasn’t until I was in my mid-twenties that I met a naval architect and fell in love with the job and what it entailed. Before deciding to go back to university, I completed a two year apprenticeship before moving 5000km across Canada from Vancouver to Newfoundland to study engineering and become a Naval Architect.

After graduation I worked for ten years providing technical support and expertise to the worlds largest containership lessor, during which time their fleet went from 75 to 138 ships. I worked both in the office and on site, working on ship optimization and visiting the ships when they required retrofits and repairs at dry dock.

Nearing the end of this time, and after I’d had my second child, I began feeling the need for a change. It was at this time I co-founded the Vancouver Maritime Centre for Climate, an industry coalition in the province of British Columbia (BC), Canada, dedicated to the decarbonziation of the maritime and shipping transport sector in BC. I grew the organization evenings and weekends, while continuing at my corporate job, and finally stepped away this past September to work full time at VMCC. In this role, I am my own boss, facing new challenges every day, but I still get the benefit of working in industry and applying technical knowledge, but now with direct impact on minimizing the effects of climate change.

This work is incredibly important to me because I love the oceans and natural world, but also as a mom I want to leave a legacy for my children, and the next generation that here in BC, we did something to reverse the effects of global warming. I never thought when I was working as a receptionist that 17 years later I would found my own start-up and become the founding director, but I’ve learned- life is long, and if we’re willing, we never know where the current can take us!

Elisabeth Charmley, Naval Architect turned Climate Action Entrepreneur – Canada