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Fiona Mille came to us from Science Po Toulouse, and plans to pursue a master’s in environmental politics. An ecology enthusiast, she has been working for Jeunes Écologistes—a network of young people, aged 15 to 30, that promotes political ecology in a humorous way—for five years.
Fiona is also interested in small-scale farming and everything related to protecting natural species. Just before landing an internship with Équiterre, she was completing one with Mountain Wilderness, an organization fighting against the artificialization of mountains in the Alps. “I identified wilderness areas in Europe and developed tools to increase awareness among adults in an effort to better protect them.”
Fiona found her way to us through a former Équiterre intern in institutional food: “I was looking for an internship and Juliette, who was in the same association as me at university, suggested I contact Équiterre.” Word of mouth works everywhere!
At Équiterre, Fiona worked mainly on the Croqu’Plaisir project, which aims to increase the consumption of local fruits and vegetables in schools and daycare centres in Montérégie. She planned and participated in meetings with partners, helped write a best practices guide for daycare centres and carried out extensive research. She also helped organize a conference on pesticides and write a grant application for a food waste reduction project.
“What I love the most at Équiterre is everyone’s attitude and passion for their work—it’s an energizing team!” Fiona had the opportunity to participate in various stages of Équiterre’s strategic planning process: “I love that employees and interns are asked what they think about the organization’s strategies. We feel really involved! It’s opened up a new way of working for me: to really value others’ work—it’s great!”
Skills acquired
Fiona appreciates the opportunity she’s had to work on concrete projects: “Being involved in all stages of a project, from A to Z, is very rewarding.” She also loved working on large-scale events, saying that meetings with stakeholders from different backgrounds gave her confidence to manage these situations professionally. “I’m a very committed person and I’d like to help move the environmental agenda forward.”
With her master’s in environmental politics, we’re confident she’ll succeed! After about 15 years in this career, she’d like to fulfill her childhood dream: to set up a cultural, community-based hostel in the Pyrenees. “The small mountain villages are heavily dependent on tourism, but the social fabric is deteriorating. I’d like to recreate it.” Thank you for reminding us of the social aspects of sustainable development, Fiona. We look forward to staying in your hostel one day!
