Karina Izod, Cycle Training Administrator

I have been part of the Cycle Training Team for around 2 and a half years now, the team moved from Ringway Jacobs to the Sustainable Transport Team at ECC last April. Before that I was in the Road Safety Team at Ringway and earlier still I had a short career as a hairdresser and beautician!

It wasn’t specifically something I set out to do and I’m relatively new to the team, but I have always been quite passionate about sustainability in all aspects and believe it is something we all have a responsibility to contribute towards in any ways we can. I'm just lucky enough to be able to do that through my job!

Knowing that the service we provide helps to change the lives of so many people across the county and reading the feedback we get on how much of an impact the training truly has on people is really fulfilling. It’s also been lovely to see the service grow and expand, reaching more and more people through different projects and new opportunities.

At the moment I'm making bookings with several schools for Bikeability training in the Summer and arranging Holiday courses for Easter all around the county to try and reach as many children of all ages as possible and ensure they all get the opportunity to learn how to ride or take their cycling skills to the next level.

My Dad. He's amazing. He’s always been such a hard worker and taught me from as young as I can remember that anything worth doing is worth doing well. He’s so passionate about finding new, better, more efficient ways of doing things, so that everything is done as best as it can be. But at the same time, he hammered home that it’s incredibly important to have a good work life balance and always keep an eye on your mental health/stress level!

I broke my neck when a stage diver at a concert landed on me when I was 18! That’s why I had to stop hair and beauty and was out of work for a few years.

Heights! They terrify me, though I do love to push myself and face my fears as much as possible.

John Gottman! All things psychology fascinates me, but he specialises in the psychology of love.

Telepathy! I’d love to know what people are thinking, as long as I could pick and choose when to use it! Sometimes you just don’t need to know!

Chips! Preferably either covered in cheese or with curry sauce to dunk into!

None of my jobs have been bad to be honest, they’ve all taught me a lot and I’m really grateful for that, though working in a salon was definitely a tricky environment to navigate sometimes as there was a lot of pressure to look a certain way all the time.

I'm ready to embrace any new challenges and opportunities that come my way.

I’m looking forward to seeing how we can interlink further with the wider team and find new and exciting ways we can all work together to improve upon and further expand our reach of active and sustainable travel.