Suzy Stoodley

Suzy Stoodley is the BBSRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) Programme Administrator within the Department of Plant Sciences. A mother of three, she has combined a successful career at the University with a busy family life.

From a young age all I really wanted was to be happy, have a family and to be a decent person. I try to treat people the way I’d like to be treated, and that comes from my upbringing.

My parents weren’t well off, but I always felt very secure and loved. My mum became poorly when I was about eleven; she deteriorated quite quickly and passed away when I was sixteen, three weeks before my GCSE exams. Although it was a hugely difficult time, I do think I was fortunate because I have such a close family and we support each other. I went to a good college but only stayed there a few months; my head just wasn’t in it so I decided to leave and get a job. My dad was really supportive of my decision, and because he didn’t force me to stay I didn’t feel like I was letting him down.

I’ve had all sorts of jobs before I came here. I’ve been a dental nurse, purchaser for a computer business and handled escalated calls for a telephone company. I was the one who dealt with people when they got really cross. I loved it. When people shout and rant, I just let them get it off their chest because nine times out of ten they’re pretty stressed and just want to vent. Eventually they run out of steam. It’s the quiet ones you need to watch out for!

I knew I wanted three or four children quite close together. When I became pregnant with my second child it wasn’t financially viable for me to go back to work, but I think I was really lucky to get to spend time at home. After a while I ended up getting a job in a supermarket stacking shelves three nights a week. My brain wasn’t exercised at work, but my focus was on the family and I absolutely love watching the three of them evolve and grow. Life is never dull in our house; this morning the youngest woke me up at 5am to tell me his tooth had come out, then I had to dress them all as pirates for school, and later we’re going to bake carrot cake. I just think they’re pretty cool and we make each other laugh. I don’t experience a tension between being a mum and my working life, but it’s been a slow, evolving process; I have a very supportive husband and we’ve worked out what we need to make it work as a family.

“I don’t experience a tension between being a mum and my working life, but it’s been a slow, evolving process.”

It was pretty daunting when I got this job after being out of the ‘real’ working world for so long. It meant moving back into an office environment and thankfully I was given a chance to show what I’m capable of. I don’t want to be an administrator who does the bare minimum. I like instigating and improving things, for example building a new website and redesigning the programme timetable. Nobody asked me to; I just got on with it. I know I’m pretty diligent and set high standards for myself. It’s important to get the details and the small things right, otherwise the big things don’t work.

“I’ve bought a caravan (called Mabel) to go in the bottom of my garden, and I’m going to do her up so I can have a study area. I can’t wait.”

One of the professors has been encouraging me to do a degree since I arrived here. I could sit at this job and do it perfectly well until I retire, but I want more. I’m only thirty-five and I’ve got a lot to give, so that’s why deciding to do a degree makes sense. I know that it’s going to be at least the next six years of my life. I’ve bought a caravan (called Mabel) to go in the bottom of my garden, and I’m going to do her up so I can have a study area. I can’t wait.

One of the main reasons for driving myself to achieve as much as I can is that my mum was thirty-seven when she died and I suppose that instilled in me an awareness that it could happen to me at any time. I’m not necessarily going to get to eighty or ninety. It’s real and it happens, so I suppose it makes you think, while I’m still around it’s best to do as much as I can. Now I’ve got the boys, I also want to show them that they can achieve anything if they really want to.

I’m happy with my lot; I’m not dissatisfied or feeling that I have a void in my life, it’s just that I want to make the most of it. I’ve been a school governor, I’ve completed all sorts of physical challenges like a half marathon and a duathlon, and now I’m taking on the degree. I have an appetite for life and I believe people should give things a go.  Try jumping out of a plane, try doing a night course or a marathon. Too often I hear people say negative things, ‘I don’t have this, I don’t have that, I can’t do that, it’s too hard.’ I think it comes back to people I love not being here anymore and knowing that I need to make the most of my life.