Jo ParkerJo doesn’t know the meaning of the word “can’t”. If she thinks she can and should, then telling her she can’t will only add impetus to her plans. At 14 her teachers told her girls couldn’t be engineers. At 24, the youngest age allowed by the Instituton of Civil Engineers, she became a chartered engineer. Two years later, when faced with a rotten roof and no experience of carpentry, she rebuilt the front of her house. People describe their building horror stories, she has gone on to renovate and extend three more houses. When told she couldn’t have a job managing manual labour she looked to get that experience overseas. When told she couldn’t work overseas as she had no experience, she signed up with a charity “Registered Engineers for Disaster Relief” (REDR) and took a job that no one else would – working with the mujahideen in war torn Afghanistan to renovate the infrastructure in one of the remotest areas. The mujahideen commander told her she couldn’t bring the cat she’d rescued out with her, but she did. Her book, Water Under The Bridge recounting her adventures in Afghanistan continues to entertain and inspire readers. In a second assignment in the mountains of Bosnia she did what the politicians couldn’t do – brought Serbs and Muslims together and got agreement to co-operate on restoring water supplies to Sarajevo. Meanwhile, back at home in her career she was told she was ridiculous to think of being a director. In 2000 she was appointed Director of Operations of North Surrey Water. Her belief in overcoming obstacles doesn’t just stop with her own career. She has been an active member of the Women’s Engineering Society and of engineering institutions, encouraging younger people to take up this creative and fascinating career, and mentoring those who have yet to progress in their career. She has maintained her links with REDR and has served on the board of trustees as well as helping fundraising. In 1995 she was awarded the MBE. Life is not all work however. She is an accomplished cellist and double bass player, having performed in both the Royal Festival Hall and the Albert Hall and is still in demand to play in jazz bands and orchestras. She started racing in triathlons at the age of 47 and has won a number of trophies. In 2005 besides establishing her own engineering consultancy, she was shortlisted for the newly launched First Women Awards, moved house and got married – in the Antarctic. So what “can’ts” will Jo disprove this year? Well, in spite of breaking her ankle when working on a water leakage reduction project in Madagascar she has made a return to triathlon and intends to race along the same route as the 2012 Olympics. She will also be expanding another new business she’s just started – breeding alpacas. She has taken on 16 acres more land, bought her own stud males and is looking to continue her success at shows this year. Jo lives in Leighton Buzzard with her husband, two demented Labradors called Rio and Alfie and after the sad loss of the cat she rescued from Afghanistan who reached the grand old age of 19, two further rescue cats from rather closer to home. Read More Read Less