“I think that society can have such a negative perspective of ‘quitting’ things, but honestly, sometimes that’s far braver than sticking something out just for the sake of it.”
Alexia Yiannouli is junior communications officer at CERN openlab, a public-private partnership that works to accelerate the development of cutting-edge ICT solutions for the worldwide Large Hadron Collider community and wider scientific research. She also writes a monthly column for The Veterinary Edge.
Please summarise your career journey so far
For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a vet. In some ways, I’m the walking cliché – ever since I was little, that was all I wanted to do. After fighting my way into vet school (a failed application, a gap year, and several resits later) I had finally achieved my dream – or had I? As the degree went on, I began to wonder if there was any alternative to being a practising vet.
My love of writing, always hiding in the shadow of the vet degree, began to play on my mind. In my third year of university, I did a placement with the Vet Record, and suddenly I knew the path I wanted to take. After finishing vet school, I went on to study for a master’s in science communication at Imperial College London. Alongside that, I worked part time as editor of Vet Report with Companion Consultancy. I even dipped my toe in getting involved with Veterinary Woman – it was a fab job to get to do alongside my masters!
As my masters drew to a close, I had the opportunity to do an internship in Geneva at CERN. I worked in the communications department at CERN, getting involved in organising an international conference on artificial intelligence. The internship also involved working with the arts department to create and organise artist residencies at CERN – not exactly what I thought I’d be doing after vet school! The initial two-month internship turned into a four-month internship, and before I knew it, I was applying for other positions at CERN. I write this as the first month of my new job comes to a close, so I’m excited to see what else is in store!
Describe your typical day from waking to sleeping
I always aim for a nice leisurely morning routine – and it never happens. I always snooze the alarm too many times and end up rushing about at the last minute! Once I’ve had breakfast, I cycle into work for around 8 – the route isn’t particularly picturesque, but it does involve crossing the French-Swiss border every day. The novelty of this wears off quite quickly, especially since so much of it is uphill. I work in the comms team for CERN openlab, so this involves lots of writing, social media, and working on the website. Part of my job is working with some of the tech companies openlab partners with, and there’s also a fair bit of events management and organising as well in my day-to-day work. After work, usually about 5.30-6ish, I cycle home and usually spend my evenings cooking (often baking), and most of the time find myself sat on the sofa embroidering whilst watching something, reading, or catching up with friends in the area, or chatting to family and friends back home.
How would you describe yourself in a sentence?
Organised chaos.
How would others describe you in a sentence?
Organised chaos.
(I assume that, although colleagues, friends and family would perhaps be more inclined towards a more diplomatic answer, those who know me well would probably not disagree.)
What has been your top success and what have you learned from this?
I think my biggest success is trusting my own mind enough to not go into clinical practice and pursue a different path. It might sound daft, but me deciding to do a masters degree immediately after finishing my vet degree was challenging, both financially and mentally. I knew it would be the best decision for me, but it wasn’t the easiest to make. When I talk about this as a success, I don’t mean in relation to any of the academic achievements involved in those decisions. I think the real success was me going on to pursue something that I was really interested in, after so many years of being unhappy at school. My key take-home message from this was that life is too short to do something that genuinely makes you unhappy.
What has been your biggest challenge, setback or failure and how have you overcome it? How did you grow or change as a result?
I think my biggest challenge was at the end of my third year of uni, when I failed quite a few of my practical exams. I had failed exams before and narrowly avoided resitting them, but it was quite a shock to me. I had to spend my summer practising in the clinical skills lab for my resit OSCEs, with the weight of potentially being kicked out of vet school on my shoulders. I passed the resits and moved to fourth year, when the same thing happened. Except in fourth year, I failed way more exams – both practical and written this time. There was even more of a possibility of failing them again and being asked to leave, and I found myself spending my Easter and summer holidays juggling EMS, practising for resits, and trying my best not to have a meltdown. Somehow, I managed to pull through and pass everything and make it to final year by the skin of my teeth (the year where I passed almost everything first time!).
From this, I really learned what it means to be resilient. I learned how to deal with failure, and I had to adapt my mindset. It also made me question what I wanted – I was doing a degree I hated, and I was struggling to deal with that alongside the fact that I wasn’t just sailing through it. I could have called it quits after third year – pass my resits and leave with a bachelor’s degree – but it really made me question what I wanted and how I wanted my career path to look. Looking back, I don’t regret sticking it out – it’s taught me to manage expectations, deal with unfavourable situations, and gave me valuable transferable skills that I can take with me whichever direction my career goes in.
What compromises have you had to make and what, if anything, could have helped?
I think the main compromise I’ve made along the way was happiness – although of course it was unintended, I found myself on a career trajectory that I really didn’t like. I don’t want to paint the picture that I found the whole experience miserable, as of course it wasn’t always the case.
My mental health was the main thing I compromised, inadvertently of course. I’m not sure what could have really helped – perhaps more career support. At that point, I hadn’t even heard of organisations such as Vets Stay Go Diversify; platforms which promoted the diverse career you can have as a vet.
What advice would you have given to your younger self, that you would now give to others wanting to follow your path?
I always find it strange when asked this question – I don’t feel particularly qualified to be giving advice to myself, let alone anyone else!
But if I did have to give some advice, it would be that you can’t really know if you’re going to like something before you do it. I’d also say that it’s completely ok to stop doing something if stopping it is the best decision for you. In general I think that society can have such a negative perspective of ‘quitting’ things, but honestly, sometimes that’s far braver than sticking something out just for the sake of it.
I couldn’t have got where I am today without…
My parents – honestly, I feel like they’ve suffered through my education alongside me. It is a massive privilege to say that I’ve got parents who have supported me in every decision I’ve made, listened to me moan and struggle, and have always been there for me. Whether it was driving me to dairy placements at 4am, to moving me back into uni every year for six years, to now moving me all the way to France/Switzerland. I am SO lucky that I have them, and I honestly wouldn’t have been able to do any of that without them. Sounds a bit cringey, but it’s true!
Instagram: @alexiayiannouli
LinkedIn: @alexiayiannouli
Many thanks to Alexia for sharing her story to inspire veterinary women to aspire and grow into their full career potential.
Who is your veterinary role model? If you would like to nominate someone, or share your
own story please get in touch at info@veterinarywoman.co.uk
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