Dr Chrissi McCarthy is the founder and Managing Director of Constructing Equality. Over the past decade and a half, she has formulated and implemented research-based methodologies to bolster equality within diverse organisations. Her client portfolio spans prestigious institutions including the National Health Service and Bristol City Council.  Chrissi’s PhD explored equality, fairness and inclusion and fed directly into her work with Constructing Equality.   In this episode Chrissi shares a very honest account of her PhD journey and the challenges she faced along the way.   Chrissi comes from a non-traditional academic background and she acknowledges how important the support of mentors has been for her studies.   Chrissi explains the mindset shift that she underwent - realizing that the PhD is about learning rather than having all the answers - and the possibilities that opened up for her.   We discuss taking an interruption of studies and Chrissi talks about her own experience - including feeling like a failure - and the way in which the break allowed her to return to the PhD in full force!   We finish with reflecting on the importance of acknowledging vulnerability on the Phd journey.   You can find out more about Chrissi’s work here:  https://www.constructingequality.co.uk/ If you would like a useful weekly email to support you on your PhD journey you can sign up for ‘Notes from the Life Raft’ here:  https://mailchi.mp/f2dce91955c6/notes-from-the-life-raft