My name is Betsy Reed. I'm originally from Wyoming, USA, which means I'm a little bit of a cowgirl (meaning I have major camping and mountain biking skills).
Nearly nine years living in Scotland and five years in London allowed me to acquire a British passport in addition to my American one, and I moved to Barcelona in 2016 with my Dutch husband. So I'm at that stage as an expat where I'm not precisely sure where I'm actually "from".
I run my own sustainability consultancy and teach yoga and I feel lucky to have two jobs I love.
I've spent 15 years surfing across sectors, working for SMEs, corporates, governments, and NGOs in the UK, US and Europe. My consultancy, Big Sky Strategic Communications, allows me to work directly with clients to help them have a more positive impact on society and the environment. One of my favourite types of project to work on is behaviour change. I've also done a fair bit of lobbying on environmental and social issues and recently directed a campaign ("Have You Got The Bottle?") that convinced the Scottish Government to introduce the UK's first deposit-return system for drink cans and bottles; the idea it to drastically increase recycling and help to reduce the presence of plastic in oceans.
I'm a generalist and focus on strategic approaches and impact measurement on areas as varied reducing oceans' plastic, creating a circular economy, sustainable supply chains, and vehicle electrification. I often do training and chair or facilitate events, like an upcoming conference in Amsterdam called "Companies vs. Climate Change".
I try to only travel for my consulting work on certain days of the week, so I can teach yoga in Barcelona - and I give classes on Tuesday morning and Wednesday evening here at OneCoWork. I teach a range of yoga styles from Rocket to Yin, run a monthly "hip hop yoga club" with a live DJ and specialize myself in teaching yoga to sporty people and competitive athletes. I'm just finishing my advanced yoga teaching qualification, so if anyone is a nerd about anatomy, let's definitely chat.
I'm aiming to meet others at OneCoWork when I'm here - usually on Tuesday or Thursday. I'm really interested in getting into the Barcelona sustainability scene - particularly where it overlaps with tech - so if you ever want to chat sustainability, yoga, where to hike in Catalunya, cocktail-making or podcasts to help me improve my Spanish, wander on over or send me a message. And come along to a yoga class at OneCoWork, whether you already love yoga or have never done it before, I think you might enjoy it.