Breakdown
Abusive Relationship
Depression
Suicidal
Unfulfilled Read on to the end and I’ll tell you my story of moving from breakDOWN to breakTHROUGH, how I turned my life around to create a powerful, authentic business message and a tribe of clients and advocates, and how I can help you do the same.
If we look back to my heady corporate career days, what nobody knew was that I was desperate to escape life. I’d been through a hellish abusive relationship that resulted in me having to go into hiding to get out safely, I’d broken my back in three places taking stupid risks because I didn’t want to be alive and I’d spent way too many nights praying for some terrible illness to give me an out.
On the surface, everything seemed perfect: I had high-flying jobs in the publishing world – everything from journalist to editor to UK director of one of the world’s biggest business-to-business publishing outfits. I was driving a new, top-of-the-range Audi, holidaying in the Americas and regularly jetting off for business meetings in Paris. I had the Armani clothes, the Tag Heuer watch, private healthcare and a salary and bonus package just shy of three figures. On top of that, I had an amazing partner, an active social life and a house in the countryside.
But all that glittered was most definitely not gold, and I was crumbling beneath the pinstripes. My career no longer filled me up,
I’d been promoted away from everything I enjoyed doing, I was constantly tired, frequently ill and surviving day-to-day on anti-depressants and walking on sticks while the specialists decided whether my knees were beyond saving.
In that small space of time, my uncle died, my father died, my parents’ home was broken into on the one night I went away for business, the financial safety net I thought I could rely on disappeared, a very close family member was diagnosed with a degenerative health condition and my partner was made redundant. At an all-time-low, buried memories from the abuse came flooding back to haunt me – old wounds I thought I’d dealt with reopened and dragged me down even further. At the end of those eight weeks, when I found myself hugging my knees to my chest, crying and hiding beneath my mother’s dining room table, I realised something had to give – and that something could absolutely not be me!
I spent four more years hiding behind my job. In retrospect, it’s plain to see that I was going through a breakdown and getting through each day by retreating so deeply inside myself that the outside world saw only a flesh-covered robot. I was just going through the motions by day and falling to pieces each night. It’s no wonder the support was lacking when I longed for it from my professional peers, or why I felt rebuffed by my fellow managers when I admitted to being on anti-depressants – they saw a high-functioning, well turned-out machine, and the idea of there being suffering beneath that polished exterior just didn’t make sense. It was the same pattern I’d created when I’d been in that abusive relationship; I hadn’t told anyone what was happening behind closed doors, and I’d made damn sure the exterior was gleaming.
Because, these days, I’m all about authenticity and, more so, I’m all about finding the positives from the most challenging experiences and using them to power into the future. More so, I want to make sure you’re on the right path – one that fills you up and makes you eager to greet each new day, and if that doesn’t sound like the life you have now, I want to help you create that AND develop the message and presence to ensure you can make a good living doing the work you were put here to do.
Your past absolutely does not need to DEFINE your future but, harnessed properly, the LESSONS we take forward from our experiences can be alchemic. Those rich experiences – the ones so many of us try to bury deep, hide or forget about – really do have the power to turn our future endeavours into gold!
The formula for creating an abundant future is remarkably simple, and it’s available to absolutely anyone with enough heart, courage and determination to make it happen.
On my journey from rock bottom to the top of my game, I trained in Neuro Linguistic Programming, coaching and mentoring, conflict management, together with all kinds of ‘managerial’ training programmes you might expect for someone who’d been at the height of a multi-national corporate career. Alongside all the traditional ‘left brain’ development, I studied with shamans and medicine people for several years, learning some of the most powerful personal development techniques I’ve ever come across, even to this day! This was much more than ‘woo woo’ energy medicine and meditation – it gave me a transformational body of tools to repair and rebuild myself from the inside out.
You don’t need to wait for that breakdown to hit before switching direction. You don’t need to stumble through all those holes in the road. You don’t need to spend a decade studying change programmes in order to create the success, confidence and happiness you deserve, because I’ve done it for you. That means you can skip the middle man and work directly with me to create the life you want to live.
I can’t stand BS. I abhor this new-world concept of ‘life coaches’ who pedal a set of learned tools without ever experiencing challenges of their own to draw from. And my heart sinks when I go to a seminar or event promising transformation, only to be fed teasers and then a promise of more only if we sign up to the next high-cost package at the back of the room.
AND I have used everything I pass onto you to rebuild and reshape my own life and begin to manifest and create a future full of positive outcomes, self-belief and authenticity.
Authenticity… that’s one of those words so many are trying desperately to turn into a cliché, isn’t it? Maybe, instead of being carried along on the tide of cynicism, we need to look at why that is. Authenticity is at the core of everything I do – and I believe that should be at the heart of ANY business in today’s world.
I went from nobody to somebody in the space of 18 months, creating a personal brand so authentic and powerful that people wanted to know more. Using my own story, I attracted attention from national and regional media, appearing on TV, as well as being featured in the Huffington Post, Kindred Spirit, DIVA magazine and guesting several times on BBC Radio. My social media channels attracted thousands of hits, my videos and livestreams were being shared worldwide and I began to be recognised in the street.
I went from being a relative unknown to securing three publishing deals from publishers in the UK and US in the space of 18 months, with a fourth title optioned as well. My first book – Whispers From The Earth – hit the Amazon best-seller list in its category within days of publication and the UK publisher contracted a sequel (which would be my third book) as sales continued to rise. My second book – Unleash Your Awesome – with US publisher Motivational Press, began to attract attention before it had even been released and the same publisher has optioned a fourth title as well. Watch this space!
After all those years of holding my tongue in the face of adversity, who would have thought that I would be able to successfully launch a career as a professional speaker? I was snapped up by a speaking agency – SpeakerSeeker – in my first year and have addressed audiences across the UK, including Europe’s largest business show at Olympia in London. I’ve held seminars for large-scale audiences at the NEC, appeared as an empowerment specialist at the Leicester Tigers stadium and been keynote speaker at a women’s business conference in Scotland. I’ve spoken internationally too – Malta, Spain, Sicily and Milan for starters. And it hasn’t all been business speaking: I’ve also keynoted at festivals, compered for Fry’s Gig in London and worked with local authorities and support agencies to create a ground-breaking empowerment programme for people who’ve been through domestic abuse.
Yep, that happened at the Best Business Woman Awards in 2018, when a bunch of my clients all collaborated to enter me into what has become known as one of the most prestigious national awards campaigns. There’s no voting in this case, so it’s not a popularity contest; the awards are decided upon by a panel of judges and competition is fierce. I was thrilled to be chosen for such an accolade. The following year, I was named one of the most inspirational business women in the UK, by the same awards outfit.
The powerful toolkit I carry has been used to help and support people develop and hone their own personal brand, grow their confidence, skyrocket their business portfolio and income, attract media attention for the right reasons, create signature presentations and get them stage, screen and radio ready.
Whether you’re in need of a focused, compassionate kick to get you out of your own way, want to dive into a group training experience or invest in an intensive Brand Mastery programme to perfect your message and get you ready for speaking platforms and media attention, I have created the perfect opportunity for you to work with me to achieve your aims. And it works. All of it.
