I started working for the same company at 17 and built a career there over 27 years. There was a lot I was proud of, especially the people I'd helped develop. From the outside, I had a good job and a life that seemed to be working. But that wasn't the whole story.

For years, I carried a belief that I wasn't quite good enough: for the promotion I wanted, the job I felt capable of doing, the love I hoped for, or the things my heart was telling me I wanted. When I was 35, I went into counselling because I wanted to understand why I felt that way, and why I kept letting doubt decide what was possible for me.

I looked for answers in books, podcasts and anywhere else I could find them. Counselling helped me do the harder part: understand myself, my triggers, and the beliefs I'd been living by.

That experience deepened my passion for developing people at work. For more than 20 years, I coached people as a line manager, worked with them one-to-one, led development programmes and coached clients outside my corporate role too.

I loved the moments when someone started to see more in themselves. When they understood their role differently, recognised a strength they'd overlooked, or found the confidence to put themselves forward. I wanted younger people at work to have that support sooner, rather than spend years feeling they weren't good enough, as I had.

Then in 2025, my own life changed. After the end of a ten-year relationship and the loss of my mum, I took a year's sabbatical. I moved back to Scotland and spent time walking Bailey (my handsome cocker spaniel), wild swimming, being out in nature and reflecting. Later, I travelled solo for four months through Asia and Australia.

Having that space helped me admit something I was too scared to face. Although I loved helping people at work, I was also hiding behind the security of a salary. I didn't feel I was stretching myself or finding out what I was capable of. I'd allowed other people's ideas about my capacity to become my own.

I didn't have every answer. But I knew I wanted to give more of my time and energy to the work I cared about most. Leaving the career I'd known since I was 17 was a big decision, and building something of my own is still a learning process but it's a choice I've made for myself, not one made for me. At 45 I finally feel like I am learning to listen to my own heart & thoughts.