Kirsty was born and raised in Nairn, a small coastal town in the north of Scotland and now lives in Inverness. Growing up, she loved swimming, trained as a competitive swimmer and dreamed of becoming an Olympian. After years of struggling with poor mental health and self-harm, she gave up swimming at 15. At about the same time, she was introduced to Sports Leadership and Volunteering through the Active Schools programme, and she’s never looked back.

Kirsty currently works part-time for two organisations, Scottish Disability Sport and Scottish Association for Mental Health, two roles which reflect her dedication to for helping others and enable her to combine her passion for both sport and mental health. She is an Ambassador for Scottish Swimming’s Young Volunteer Programme, ensuring that the voices of young people are heard on both a national and local level in terms of improving experiences within the sport, and even finds time to share her swimming skills by by coaching swimmers at her local club.