Samantha Lavender

"I am the Managing Director of her family-owned company that specialises in Earth observation.I thought i might be the ‘Innovator’ type as I run my own company, but in fact I am more motivated by exploring data and how it can answer questions, and so ‘Explorer’ is more appropriate for me. The ‘Coordinator’ and ‘Quality Controller’ types reflect my need to pay attention to detail, as it's important for me to provide people with information that is as correct as possible. I need to be collaborative, persistent and organised in order to achieve this. I am very much driven to understand why things happen or how things work, but at the same time I need to be practically orientated."

"I co-own with my husband, a company that specialises in Earth observation using satellite technology. The company provides satellite and airborne information and knowledge that helps scientists and companies to study and understand the earth’s resources, weather, behaviour and features.I lead on the technical and delivery aspects of the work while my husband concentrates on the administrative side. I enjoy the fact that I don't have a typical day. If I am at home, I’ll work through her ‘To Do’ list in the office as well as talking to the staff we employ. If not, I will be having meetings and collaborating with people on projects. I really enjoy the variability and working with lots of different people, and one of my favourite activities is writing code to solve problems."

"I have a PhD in Remote Sensing. I followed this by pursuing an academic career in research before becoming a university lecturer, a role which has a starting salary of about £24,000 a year. I became increasingly more involved in commercial research, and was asked if I would like to set up and run a subsidiary company. After doing that for several years, I decided I wanted to run my own company, which I set up with my husband."

"I don't tend to have much spare time as the job fills my time and I enjoy driving it forward and focusing on growing the company. When I want to rest, I like being outside, taking long walks and going running. I am able to travel a lot with my work and meet interesting people from all over the world but I am trying to do more via electronic communication so I can reduce my carbon footprint."

"It's difficult to give a typical day as diversity is what I like about my job. If I'm not travelling I will go into the office and start by catching up with the emails that came in, and update my to-do list so I have my priorities for the day. Most days I try to write some code or think about something new we can develop as I really enjoy learning something new and trying to see what's possible. I'll also be working towards what we have to deliver for the projects we've got running and working on bids for new work. "

"Post GCSE I took A-levels, and at the time I was aiming to be a Vet so they were Biology, Chemistry and Maths plus Art more as a hobby as I enjoyed it. I didn't get offered a place for Veterinary College and so instead went to Plymouth to study Marine Science. While there my interest in computing grew and there was a short series of lectures on remote sensing in my final year. I was lucky that there were several PhD opportunities available and I secured one working on a project looking at the plume of sediment coming out of the Humber estuary. The satellite sensor I wanted to use was late launching and so I persuaded the Environment Agency to take imagery using their aircraft. I then started to work for the Natural Environment Research Council followed by the University of Plymouth focusing on research and teaching within the area of marine remote sensing. In 2009 I was working with a French company and we discussed setting up a UK company together so I left academia to do that - first part-time and then full-time. In 2012 I decided it was time to set up my own company and so did that with my husband, and we've been running it ever since... I still enjoy research and collaborate with my academic colleagues and try to focus the company on taking remote sensing forward."