MY STORY

A mother, visionary, and serial entrepreneur - and have a passion for all things creative, tech and business!

I’m all about inspiring and supporting women entrepreneurs (and a few men) to vanquish their limitations, so they can share their passions with the world while creating an income to live the life of their dreams.

I live this out as a Business, Brand & Website Architect at Charma Communications; a boutique marketing and communications agency, and as Strategist at Idea to Launch Academy; a training academy both of which supports ambitious and aspiring entrepreneurs from idea to launch and beyond.

I’ve always been creative; mixing random concoctions at a young age to see what would happen. My mother didn’t really appreciate the mess this created, lol, but hey I was CREATING. So it was very natural to choose a creative Foundation Degree which I studied at the University of the Arts London.

During my studies, I got the amazing but unexpected news that I was pregnant, and after completing the Foundation Degree I deferred my studies for a year. Now although I was far from living in Victorian times, nevertheless I still lived in a society steeped in tradition which meant I encountered a barrage of negativity and the dense cloud of stigma as an unmarried teenager (more about that later)!

But I was determined to continue with my plans, I was not going to be the unproductive ‘statistic’ I was being pigeonholed as! My daughter was only 6 months old when I returned to study, and I learned heaps whilst I gained my BA Hons degree in Graphic Design: New Media from the University of the Creative Arts. I still remain an avid learner continually developing through various institutes and programs including Shaw Academy, Techmums, Future Learn, Authority Insider, Hustle Fearlessly and London South Bank University.

Having an aversion to the rigidity of corporate life; I’m drawn more to small businesses and start-ups and worked in several of these after graduating before seeing an advert from my Housing Association for an 8-week business start-up course with Enterprise Cube. From there I was referred to The Prince’s Trust Enterprise Program.

I launched my own ventures back in the spring and summer of 2013 while still on the program; and signed off from Job Seekers Allowance (a welfare benefit here in the UK) with one client confirmed and a whole lot of faith!

So as a 19-year-old, did those spoken and unspoken words of disapproval, disdain and derision impact on me negatively? Yep. Did this experience influence my heartfelt desire to help other women obliterate the notion there is anything they can’t do? Yes indeed!

Just like I refused to be pigeonholed at 19 years old, good luck trying to categorise me as one thing or other now too!

I’m a tech geek and I just love sharing tech solutions with my clients, that saves them both time and money (check out my resources page!). I equally still love getting stuck into both creative and website design, as well as branding, digital & traditional marketing and speaking on stage to small business owners, entrepreneurs and ‘would love to be’ entrepreneurs.

According to Talent Dynamics by Wealth Dynamics, I am a "Creator" with secondary profiles of "Star" and "Mechanic", with similar results using the Belbin method where I am a "Plant" (PL). Understanding my natural talents and strengths means I can work and move where I will "flow" best.

For me, this means that I am well equipped to not just work on creating my own ventures but work very well as part of a team within organisations on a creative and strategic level, helping entrepreneurs and small business owners find solutions to their problems in the short-term but also over longer periods of time.

My life is currently split between working on business ventures, raising my daughter, a few not-for-profit projects, posing as a tree in Yoga, stretching after a New York City Ballet workout, shaking my derrière in a Zumba class or dreaming of distant shores but wherever I am, I have my MacBook clutched firmly under my arm!

But (back in reality) I get especially excited when I’m coaching one to one – or in a small group – with women that come to me with a vague idea for starting a business; and leading them step-by-step from idea to launch. It’s a transformative journey that brings the most pleasure...I’d love to take with you too if you’re ready!