Karen Rees, Ba(Hons)

What’s the work that you do?

In the role of Tasmanian Antarctic Advocate I connect organisations and individuals to the Hobart Antarctic Gateway to build its reputation and capability. I participate in Government delegations to ATCM, COMNAP and on Tasmanian Trade Missions with Antarctic-related industry representatives. I also lead the newly formed Antarctic Women’s Network in Tasmania. I am a board member of Mawson’s Huts Foundation, and an IAATO observer. In the past I drove a tractor as part of an inland traverse with the French Antarctic program for a season.

What keeps you going?

I am a passionate advocate for the Hobart Antarctic gateway and love my work in Antarctic policy and international relations as well as promoting the role of women in Antarctica. Antarctica has captured my heart and I work in service of this vast wilderness and its importance to the future of our planet.

What’s your message to the world?

To fulfil your dreams it is important to ask. I have learnt that the things that are deeply important to me at a heart and soul level usually come to me, often in surprising and unexpected ways. I no longer question the pathway, but simply take the next step. When I had an opportunity to drive a tractor across the Antarctic icecap at age 53, while going through menopause I realised I could never have dreamed big enough for this to happen, but I was smart enough to listen and grab the opportunity when someone else pointed it out to me. The big opportunities along my Antarctic pathway were actually a question of saying ‘yes’ in the face of fear.