I am a photographer and writer, and love to combine both mediums. The focus of my work is the natural world and our relationship to it.
I have a background in sustainability, having worked as a sustainability strategy and communications consultant. For the last 10 years, working in both London and New York, I have advised some of the world’s leading companies on sustainability strategy and how to communicate sustainability to audiences ranging from employees to consumers to investors. Clients have included P&G, H&M, L’Oreal and FedEx. In my most recent position, until January 2019, I was head of the New York office of Salterbaxter, a leading consultancy in this field.
I am a regular speaker at conferences related to sustainability, including co-hosting the Companies vs Climate Change conference in Miami in 2017 and 2018. I spoke at the Sustainable Apparel Coalition conference in Vancouver and We Change Fashion event in New York in 2018.
I combine my knowledge of sustainability and climate change with long experience in creative writing. I gained a first-class BA Combined Honours degree in English and French from the University of Southampton, UK. In 2010, my ‘Creativist Manifesto’ was published on the ChangeThis website, following a popular vote to select it for publication. The manifesto argued that the biggest choice that we face in society is whether to be a consumer or a creativist, which I defined as ‘connecting + creating + acting’.
In 2014, I was accepted on to the prestigious Place and Environment Writing MA at Royal Holloway, University of London. Here I studied with Sir Andrew Motion, Jo Shapcott and Kei Miller, writing both poetry and creative non-fiction related to the environment. I completed the first year but was unable to finish the second year of the program due to personal reasons.
My poetry has been included in exhibitions in the Victoria & Albert Museum and William Morris Gallery in London amongst others, and been part of collections including those of the 26 Writers and Forest Writers groups.
I am also a photographer. I was part of a group show, 'Into the Immense Design of Things' at the George Lawson Gallery in Mill Valley, California, from 15 February - 15 March 2020. I have undertaken numerous personal projects, including documenting the Rose Garden at Greenwich for a year, as well as completing courses at leading institutions such as Central St Martin’s, London and International Center of Photography in New York. I have taken a picture every day since August 31, 2016.
I have Finnish and American parents, and grew up in Derbyshire, England where the trees in our garden included a redwood tree and a mulberry tree. ‘A History of the Future of the World in 10 Trees’ will be my first book.
You can find me sharing thoughts and pictures on Twitter (@sustainable_) and Instagram (@oliviasprinkel and @tentreesjourney)