From a gap year job in healthcare to volunteering with Brighton Lifeboat, and ultimately a distinguished 12.5-year Royal Navy career, Selena has continuously embraced change with courage and purpose. We caught up with her as she prepares to begin the next chapter of her career.
What initially inspired you to join the Royal Navy, and what were some of the most defining moments from your 12.5 years of service?
"Growing up I’d always wanted to be a teacher, and this is what I had a place at university for. However, during my gap year, I worked at the Royal Sussex County Hospital as a Healthcare Assistant and decided to pivot into Nursing. My gap year turned into three years whilst I reapplied for nursing courses, starting at King’s College London in 2011.
During that time, and whilst at university, I was a volunteer Crewmember on Brighton Lifeboat. It was here that I found my love for the sea and decided to pivot again and join the Royal Navy, which I did in 2013. I joined as a Warfare Officer as I wanted to be involved in the actual navigation and driving of the ship.
Although I took a convoluted route to joining, I believe it stood me in good stead, gave me some life experience and lots of transferable skills. I’m a firm believer that you don’t have to have a perfect plan in life, but it helps if you can find a passion and have the courage to change course every once in a while, even if it may feel daunting at the time.
I had a defining moment fairly early on in my Naval career. After months of pre-deployment training, and following a dynamic real-world incident, a superior officer told me that I react far better to the real-world situations than the training ones. This not only reaffirmed my confidence in my own abilities, but cemented something in my mentality: never underestimate the ‘quiet leader’, and if you are quiet, never underestimate yourself.
What can be easily misjudged as a lack of confidence, may actually be someone absorbing information, observing behaviours and analysing the best responses—and in the heat of the moment they are often the calmest, most decisive, and most effective. Of course there are situations where other leadership styles are required, and this is something I’ve honed over my career, but I realised then that my quiet leadership style was in fact my biggest strength."
You’ve travelled extensively during your time in the Navy—are there any particular places, deployments, or experiences that stand out to you?
"I’ve been fortunate enough to have travelled to some incredible places. The stand-out moments are always places you wouldn’t normally get to go. For example, navigating the Strait of Magellan in South America, rounding both Capes, swimming across the equator, Christmas in South Georgia, or visiting the most remote inhabited island, Tristan Da Cunha. These are experiences I would never have had without the Navy.
But there’s a saying in the Navy that 'it’s not the run ashore, it’s the runners'—somewhat of a truism for life really. I’ve had the chance to go to some amazing parts of the world, but it’s always the people you remember above everything.
One of my more surreal runs ashore was during a stop in The Falklands, halfway through a nine-month deployment. I walked into the base’s Officer’s Mess, only to be tapped on the shoulder by an OB! We’d been in the CCF together and he was deployed there with the Army. That must be up there with one of the more remote OB reunions?"
What did your role at Britannia Royal Naval College involve, and how did it evolve over the years?
"I’ve had two assignments at Britannia Royal Naval College. I first joined the training team as a Divisional Training Officer, taking my own division of Officer Cadets through their 29-week Initial Officer Training course. This taught them everything from ironing and polishing, to basic seamanship, navigation and leadership skills.
The proudest moment of my career was watching the division I had trained march up the steps of the College to mark the ceremonial moment of them Commissioning as Naval Officers.
I then took a Local Acting promotion and became a Senior Training Officer, overseeing a Squadron of six divisions. My second assignment, upon substantive promotion to Lieutenant Commander, was as the College’s First Lieutenant (confusingly named). In this role I reported directly to the College Commander and wore many different hats, including responsibilities for standards and discipline, health and safety, security, and planning the termly Passing Out Parades. It’s certainly kept me on my toes."
What have been the most valuable skills or lessons you’ve learned through your military career?
"I think the biggest lesson any military environment can teach you is service before self. As a leader this is especially true. As Second in Command of a Mine Countermeasures Crew, this was particularly pertinent.
We were a small team of about 40, which creates a different environment to bigger ships—there’s no escaping one another and even a slight shift in team morale can have a huge impact. We deployed twice in 12 months, at the height of Covid, and keeping team cohesion and spirit was essential to me in order to keep us operating at our best. It often meant long hours and a strong dedication to the crew, but I knew the hard work was worth it to ensure the crew were looked after, and able to focus on the task in hand.
As an individual, the biggest thing it has taught me is confidence in myself, in my professional abilities and in my leadership. Whatever sector someone is in, if they can find their leadership style, hone it to work for them in the best way possible, whilst also learning how to adopt alternative styles when the situation dictates, I think that is one of the most transferable skills you can build."
What motivated your decision to transition out of the Navy, and how did you navigate that decision-making process?
"As you can imagine, a life in the military can ask a lot of you. As a Warfare Officer in particular, you find yourself jumping from seagoing assignment to seagoing assignment. Before returning to BRNC on the staff, I had deployed six times in nine years.
The time felt right to return to civilian life—a little more stability and a bit more control over the direction of my career. I’ve been immensely proud to have served and I will miss the camaraderie hugely. But I know I’ve made friends for life and had experiences I’d have never had otherwise.
To my own surprise, because I’m naturally quite a cautious person, I seem to have got fairly good at taking a leap into the unknown from time to time, and this is just one more leap.
As I move out of the Royal Navy, I am looking forward to assuming a new role that still works closely with the RN and developing future Naval Officers. I’m excited to be able to continue contributing to the next generation of leaders and eager to see what the future holds."
In what ways do you think your military experience will inform or enrich your work in this academic setting?
"With the new role being so closely related to what I used to do, I will have a lot of my own experience to draw on. But working more closely with civilians, as a civilian, I hope I will be able to draw on everything I have learned about teams, collaboration, empowerment and leadership to make a tangible difference."
Looking back, did any particular part of the student experience at Brighton College set you up for your chosen career?
"I’ve often thought back to my time at Brighton College throughout my career, particularly in the more challenging moments. I think the biggest thing I took away and have carried with me through life was to always strive to be kind.
A career in the military can throw a lot at you and it is easy to get frustrated, overwhelmed, annoyed—but if you can recognise those emotions, understand that others are probably feeling the same way, and find a way to work through them with kindness, then that quickly ripples through to others, who are then more likely to be kind themselves.
We don’t always get it right—no one’s perfect—but if you are always striving to be kind, then you’re at least halfway there."