About

Born in Slough, growing up I spent some time living in a hostel with my mum, our room was tiny, we slept on bunk beds and you could almost reach out and touch the stove top in your sleep. So you can imagine how exciting it was to finally have a room of my own when we moved into a council house some months later. In primary school I was known as the girl who was always drawing horses – how then could I resist the white walls of my new bedroom? A blank canvas. I painted a huge horse head – it took up a whole wall in my room. It was black with a red, fiery mane. Each time I looked at it, it made me smile.

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Through the years my love for horses endured but I denied my creative side. My art teacher told me that when she opened my art journal is was like seeing a bright light. She said I really could make a career out of it. I didn’t take any notice of this. I was going to get a “sensible job”. I was going to be a vet. Or was it a lawyer. No! An economist. And off I went to study Banking and Finance. The only drawing I would be doing involved a ruler and graph paper. I was miserable. I hated it. I disengaged from it. It’s any wonder I got my degree. I finished with a 2:2 and decided no one was going to hire me. I'd been a straight A student, but now my self-esteem was low – I didn’t get the grades I’d wanted at A Level either. In fact I’d felt like I was losing IQ points since my GCSEs.

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I spent the next few years after university pursuing a cake business. I painted on cakes, I carved and sculpted 3D horses, dragons, all sorts. But deep down I hated baking. All of the prep work that went into it – the fun came when the cake was iced and ready to decorate. I went into business with my mum and together we failed miserably. Our work was good but the business just couldn’t gain traction.

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I faffed for years, half trying to make the cakes work, half pursuing a 9-5, never making it past a year in any role. I was lost, struggling with what to do with my life. I got divorced. I got into tens of thousands of pounds of debt too. I had debt collectors on the phone and at my home. Life was chaos. Was the fact that I came from a low income family and raised by a single mother going to hold me back like the statistics suggested? What was wrong with me?

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Most of the jobs I had aimed at helping people with various barriers to find paid work. I’ve had so many career conversations urging people to follow their passions and to at least try, to give their dream a go. It was through some of these conversations that I was prompted to seek an ADHD diagnosis. I spoke to many ADHD clients whose journeys reflected my own. How had the lives of these confident, articulate, creative individuals gone so off track? How had my own life gone so off track?

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In October 2022 I was diagnosed with ADHD. This diagnosis explains so much of the chaos that's been in my life, why it's been littered with so many unfulfilled ideas, hopes and dreams. But it also explains many of my strengths. Knowing I have ADHD has given me the courage to stop being a version of myself that desperately wanted to fit in, and instead, live by the words I've told my clients time and time again - follow your passion and be authentic.

 

When I paint, I'm my true self. I'm that little girl whose first love will always be horses and whose life lights up whenever she draws them. 

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I want to take you on my authentic, creative journey and very much hope you enjoy the ride.