Mair came to radio after studying film and literature at Warwick University (which involved watching a lot of Fellini films and reading stacks of wonderful books) and working in the not-for-profit sector (which involved wrangling a lot of spreadsheets, writing profiles of the great and good and making terrifying conference appearances).
She’s not really sure where she’s from, having lived in many places over the years; including a narrow boat in Bristol harbour, a big shiny house with a pool in Jakarta, a house in the woods in the Forest of Dean (where she played in a brass band for a time), a basement flat in Hackney and now a cottage in Middle-of-Nowhere, Dorsetshire.
For the past five years she has worked as a prospect researcher and fundraising consultant, helping charities to raise funds from wealthy individuals, foundations and companies. She has worked with a wide range of organisations, from The National Trust and The National Theatre, to Save the Children and Médecins Sans Frontières. Most recently, she was Research and Information Manager at the international development NGO ActionAid, where she headed up a small team responsible for proposal writing, communications and prospect research in the Philanthropy and Partnerships Team.
After years of scribbling down programme ideas on buses, listening enviously to The Kitchen Sisters, This American Life, The Hackney Podcast, Radio 4 features and 6Music’s Sunday goodness, dabbling in Community Radio in the evenings after work and feeling that radio was where her heart truly lay, she decided that 2010 was the year to take a leap of faith. She quit her job, packed the contents of her London flat into the back of a van and followed the call of radio to Bournemouth.
She is happiest clattering along on old trains in India, pigging out on tapas in Barcelona bars, canoeing the Wye, clambering around Cathar castles, writing bad poetry in her kitchen, drinking green tea with Vietnamese tribeswomen, singing Bluegrass songs by the fire and making radio.