Gautami Bhor

Growing up in Pune

NataliaBefore we talk about New Zealand, tell us where you come from and what your childhood was like.

GautamiI’m from India originally. I moved to New Zealand six and a half years ago for my master’s. The first twenty-four years of my life I spent in India. I come from a city called Pune, in the western part of India, in the state of Maharashtra.

I grew up in a pretty urban setting, so I’ve always been a city person. But despite that, because Pune is quite connected to nature, I always had this inclination towards being in nature, working on community activities to do with protecting our ecosystems.

I did my Bachelor of Engineering in IT, so a relatively different background to what I do now. I always had an interest in sustainability and wanted to do something in the environmental space. I just wasn’t sure exactly what, and it took me a while before I landed on my feet.

I’ve always had this inclination towards being in nature, working on community activities to do with protecting our ecosystems.

After I graduated I worked with an architectural firm that also did environmental planning, for almost two years. Mostly I shadowed their work and learned how they did things, so it was more of a learning journey than a job, but a lot more useful to me than an IT role would have been. I got to sit in the room with architects and learn about urban planning, how environmental zones are created.

Because it wasn’t exactly related to my background, I had time to do things on my own too. I worked on a sanitary waste management paper, and it got selected to be presented at a conference in Rome. My friend and I went, explored the conference, spoke to a lot of people, and that was a real stepping stone in understanding what I was interested in. Then I moved to New Zealand for my master’s in environmental management, and that’s when my proper sustainability journey started.

Choosing Aotearoa

NataliaHow did you end up in New Zealand for your master’s?

GautamiTo be honest, it wasn’t my first option. I was looking at universities in Singapore, I’d heard a lot about their environmental management programmes and I loved the place. But I came from a slightly different academic background, so I wasn’t sure whether that would be an easy entry for me.

Some career advisors I was in touch with back in India told me about New Zealand, about the wonderful sustainability-related programmes here, the huge focus on sustainability. I did a little research and loved the place when I saw it, even though I’d never really heard much about New Zealand before. I just knew about their cricket team. That was the extent of my knowledge.

At first it did feel too far away from India. I was a bit skeptical about travelling that far. But I decided to step out of my comfort zone a little, and I felt like being a bit further from home might be a good opportunity to learn about different cultures. A lot of my friends were going to the US or Europe at the time, and I just wanted to do something different, so I came to the other corner of the world.

First impressions

NataliaSo you arrive, you’d done a bit of research but didn’t know much. What was your first impression?

GautamiThe very first impression was a bit scary, I can tell you the story. I arrived in July, peak winter, and my flight landed at five thirty, right around sunset. There was a van from the University of Auckland picking up all the students, and as we drove from the airport to the city we could see suburban houses on all sides with the lights mostly off. It was pitch dark and so quiet.

I remember thinking, why is this so quiet, why don’t people have their lights on, why is everybody so within themselves. I worried I’d landed somewhere antisocial and wasn’t sure I’d survive it.

But the moment we entered the city centre, I felt a bit more alive. There were more people around, and the hostel we stayed at made us feel welcome.

I was homesick in the first three or four days. I did cry when I called my mother at four in the morning here, telling her I felt so far away from everything. She said that’s okay, it’ll take some time. And she was right. Once I started meeting people through orientation and apartment hunting, it got a lot easier. I found people in New Zealand very welcoming, very friendly, like they genuinely wanted to look out for you.

I did cry when I called my mother at four in the morning here, telling her I felt so far away from everything.

Finding her feet

NataliaHow did your journey continue from there?

GautamiIt was a two-year master’s, one year coursework, one year research. I arrived in July 2019, and then in 2020 COVID hit, so it became a transition again, studying remotely instead of interacting with people in classrooms. I do feel I missed out on the socialising a little, right around the time I was ready to make new friends, I had to sit at home instead.

I finished my master’s in 2021. I was doing a couple of part-time jobs while studying, at a Mexican restaurant for the first eight months, then stocktake shifts, cashier shifts at Eden Park. I was also trying to find something closer to my actual interest, and I found a job listing on Facebook, of all places, for a company called Ecological Associates. We were doing surveys and door-to-door conversations about energy efficiency and sustainable transport. I loved interacting with people, and it really shaped my interest in individual behaviour change, which came through in my thesis.

My thesis looked at youth in Auckland, ages sixteen to twenty-four, and their perspectives on climate change, what barriers they face in taking action, and what motivates them. It was really wonderful hearing from young people who are still figuring out their own lives.

I felt strongly that they’re the ones who’ll be creating the future, so their perspectives matter.

Three months after finishing, I landed at Proxima Consulting. It was relatively fast, and I was lucky, they found me on LinkedIn. I’d made a real effort to be more visible there, and that’s a good tip for any migrant woman. When you come here as a single person you don’t have the networks, you don’t have New Zealand work experience, and that can be a real barrier to finding a job in your field.

Learning to speak up

NataliaWhat did stepping up your LinkedIn game actually look like?

GautamiI was more transparent about what I posted. There’s this perception, especially starting out, that LinkedIn is for a professional network, so you post your achievements, a certification, a new job, finishing a degree. There’s nothing wrong with that. But I started sharing my thoughts a bit more too, articles on climate change and sustainability that resonated with me, reposting them with my own take. I was becoming more open about what my value system actually is.

It can be uncomfortable at first, because you only want to put your best foot forward. But it’s nice to be honest about who you are and what you believe, and I think that’s what resonated when I joined this team, the like-mindedness, similar values. The right work will find you that way. This is a common thing especially for women coming from cultures, a lot of Asia included, that are focused on not having women speak their minds. That was a big change I had to make in myself, and honestly, I’m still learning it.

What’s the worst thing that can happen if I say this out loud? Maybe people laugh. I can have a good laugh with them too. It’s a lot better than keeping it inside and wondering afterwards if I should have said it.

People will judge you no matter what you do, whether you’re on LinkedIn, whether you’re working, whether you’re a mum. There’s no escaping judgement. So find your own way to build a network, and the people whose values align with yours will find you.