Fellow Spotlight: Louka Travlos

We're constantly inspired by the remarkable ways the On purpose community creates impact and brings about transformative change. This month we're excited to shine a light on Louka Travlos, April 2015 cohort, who is now leading UK social investments around employability for Shell. 

At the outset of On Purpose, I was reminded of the poem Ithaka by C.P. Cavafy:

"…Keep Ithaka always in your mind.

Arriving there is what you’re destined for.

But don’t hurry the journey at all.

Better if it lasts for years,

so you’re old by the time you reach the island,

wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,

not expecting Ithaka to make you rich."

Having a career with purpose is a journey, not a destination. This poem still gives me solace when I reflect on my own somewhat un-strategic career choices. I’ve generally been drawn to roles where I can make the biggest impact, be challenged and learn new things. That’s what drew me to On Purpose. Having worked only in London schools or global education programmes, I felt I’d specialised too soon, and I was looking to broaden my skillset and networks.

On Purpose didn’t disappoint – my confidence grew by adding value in different sectors. Even though I never mastered the “problem tree”, somehow the grounding equipped me to solve real life strategic problems. Majorly upgrading my ‘phone-a-friend’ options has been invaluable, especially during career moves.

I applied the same ‘impact x challenge x learning’ logic when I joined Shell in December 2022 to lead their UK social investments around employability. Shell UK has an ambition to support 15,000 people into energy transition-related jobs over the next decade. This includes plans to fund partners with a view to reskilling and upskilling the UK’s energy workforce, as well as broadening access to energy-transition employment for communities and regions that need it most. The challenge is real: the UK needs a net-zero workforce of 1.18m by 2050. Having spent 15 years working towards better education outcomes for less privileged people, the opportunity to create new employability pathways that leverage the massive opportunities presented by the energy transition, was too hard to turn down.

If you’d like to connect about Shell, energy transition, skills and employability or social impact please message me on LinkedIn.