The woman who quit engineering to become a rock star

Luisa Hendry calls herself “that girl who makes videos about rocks”.

Under the name Scottish Geologist, she has been posting videos on social media about the country’s rich geology for nearly two-and-a-half years.

And after amassing more than 260,000 followers on Instagram, she has now given up her job as a geotechnical engineer to pursue her passion for talking and writing about rocks full-time.

“I originally wanted to be a fashion designer,” she laughs.

Luisa’s interest in geology started when she was growing up in Largs on the Firth of Clyde, North Ayrshire.

She says: “I would go to the beach and bring home rocks and try to hammer them open to see if I could find crystals and stuff.

“I also really enjoyed watching bad 90s geology movies – Volcano, the film with Tommy Lee Jones in it, and Armageddon.”

Luisa never envisioned having a career in geology until fifth year at school when she attended an open day at the University of Glasgow.

She says: “There was this stall with rocks on it and a big picture of a volcano – and I was just ‘oh my god what is this?'”

Luisa did not have the Highers needed to study earth science so went to college to do an HNC which helped her to get into university.

After graduating from Glasgow she took up a job as a geotechnical engineer.

But in April she started a geology tour company and recently gave up engineering completely to focus on growing her own business.

She says: “I’ve been approached by a few publishers and I want to make mini documentaries.

“My tour company has been going really well. I’m going to expand that and offer tours all year round.

“I want to educate people.”

Scotland’s rich geology includes Lewisian Gneiss.

At about three billion years old they are Scotland’s oldest rocks and found in parts of the Hebrides and north-west Highlands, Luisa’s favourite place for geology.

There are also volcanic rocks on the coast of the East Neuk of Fife and geological features such as the Moine Thrust, which was formed when two ancient continents collided about 430 million years ago.

Luisa said: “The geology of Scotland is fascinating and there have been so many different discoveries here.

“You can go across 500 miles and come across all these different rock types.”

On the impact of her work, she adds: “I think I have made a difference.

“I was in Braehead shopping centre and a guy who recognised me from the videos came up to me and said: ‘Oh man, I never thought about rocks before’.”