Sophie Lewis
BIO
Project coordinator and mom to a one-year-old boy.
Instagram: @sophieeelewis
Twitter: @sophielewis_xo
Sophie Lewis
“I’ve learnt that I can be a mum and still have my own interests.”
I went back to university at 26 after an awful job that lasted just two months. The original plan was to take over my Dad’s wastewater treatment business, so I took Biochemistry. It was hard learning how to learn again and it was even harder trying to keep up after not studying for four long years.
A couple of weeks before starting my third year, I found out I was pregnant. I wanted to carry on studying, and taking a year off was out of the question as far as I was concerned. Being pregnant was a real motivation to do well, and luckily it was timed quite well.
We had finished all our lectures by the time I was due to go on “maternity leave” from university, and would just be revising before exams. The week the final exams started, I had Rory, so I sat my exams four months later. My poor mum did so much babysitting in those four months so I could revise! I graduated with a 2:1 in September, then took a total of 15 months of leave with Rory before starting a new job.
I wanted to go on to do a Masters in Medical Genetics as I think epigenetics is fascinating! But we decided we needed another income more than I needed another degree.
I spent months applying for jobs and got nowhere, until I stumbled upon my current job. I now work as a project coordinator for a medcomms agency. It’s not quite the career I had imagined, but it is perfect for me and my family. I help to organise advisory boards, symposia and expert meetings, and I have the opportunity to move into medical writing. Our main client specialises in treatments for rare diseases, so I still get to use my degree and keep up to date with what’s going on in the scientific world.
I was worried about mentioning my child in interviews because I thought that would negatively affect my chances of being hired, but my company really values work/life balance and understands how important it is.
I’ve learnt that I can be a mum and still have my own interests, and this job values both of those things.