Christina Kastrati was one of our Spring CSR Eagles in 2024. Christina has kindly written about her experience of the CSR Eagles programme:
Tell us a bit about your background, your education and what you wanted to do as a career
I was born in London to an Albanian speaking family and come from a working-class background. I attended a non-selective state school and college. As I involved myself into many different programmes during college, I realised I wanted to pursue a bachelors at King’s College London in Geography with Spatial Data Science and then went on to complete a masters in Economics and Policy. I was very fortunate to secure a role at NatWest in the Climate Centre of Excellence through the ELBA CSR Eagles programme and soon will be starting a role at Aon for Catastrophe Modelling. My resilience and passion for environmental sciences is what kept me motivated and I am very grateful to have had these opportunities, considering my background.
My favourite aspect of the Eagles programme
There are many aspects of the programme that I would consider my ‘favourite’. These range from the training period before my placement, the ELBA recall days that we have during placement and the opportunity to have a mentor. I really enjoyed the training with Adam Russ, from the National Theatre, which really helped me and my peers to become more confident and let our skills shine in our placements and personal life.
My experience as a Climate Centre of Excellence Intern/Graduate at NatWest Group
My experience at the Climate Centre of Excellence at NatWest really allowed me to demonstrate my passion for geographically related themes such as climate change, nature and the positive, powerful impact that organisations can have in conjunction to policy. I was able to leverage my knowledge as well as develop my multi-tasking skills.
The highlight for me was being able to be involved in many topics such as Nature, Agriculture, Climate Data and Economics and more. I was able to be proactive in taking on meaningful tasks. I have really developed professionally and have experienced great growth at my placement, which is fundamental for the longevity of my career.
Future plans
During my placement, I was lucky enough to secure a role at Aon, aligning with the end of my placement at NatWest. I believe my experience with the Eagles programme really helped me to become the best possible candidate I can be and has made me feel confident to be able to go into the field I have always wanted to be in. I am really grateful for the different people I have met both at ELBA and NatWest. I look forward to what the future holds for me!
