Have you ever felt like everything you have done has been leading up to this moment? 

I never knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. When I was little I thought I should be a hairdresser, and as I got older I thought I belonged in an office. And now, although I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up, I do know that I don’t belong in an office, and I certainly shouldn’t be responsible for cutting anyone's hair. For so long, I floundered through my “career”, trying out different roles that were all the same, but different.

And there were a few things at play here.

1 - My underlying health condition, PMDD. Living with undiagnosed PMDD meant that I was drained a lot of the time, and fending off physical, emotional and psychological symptoms for half of every month meant that when I was feeling better, I certainly wasn’t thinking about career development or progression - I just wanted to get paid, and enjoy the hours not sat behind my computer screen and engaging in office politics.

2 - I had never been told that I could do anything else! So working in corporate finance just kind of happened and honestly, I just settled.

Finding My Inspiration

In 2014 something changed. Unsurprisingly, I was feeling uninspired by work and was looking for a hobby that gave me a sense of purpose. I’d been inspired by my recent efforts to lose weight and get healthier, and so decided to take on a part-time job working as a wellness coach for a global weight-loss and wellness company. 

I. LOVED IT. And after a year, I ditched my office job to go full-time as a coach. I had found my calling - supporting women to feel amazing. I thrived off facilitating group workshops, and nothing made me happier than seeing people walk taller each week.

During my time with the company, I received a Diamond Coach award, and was promoted to mentor, where I recruited, trained and supported new coaches. I also took on Social Media and PR roles, but for me, it was always about coaching and mentoring, and helping people to realize their potential.

In 2018 I was finally diagnosed with PMDD. From this point, I did A LOT of work on myself, to learn about my diagnosis and available treatment pathways, but also about my general wellbeing, including my mindset. My biggest learning was that self-compassion must come first, and I still often say, “when you live in a world that can be cruel, and you live with a mind which can be as equally unkind, self-compassion over everything else, is a must.”

And Then… Lockdown.

For many, lockdown was a time to learn new hobbies - for me that meant starting my podcast, My Hormones My Health - where I invited guest speakers to come on and talk about their experiences of living with hormone and health issues. I felt like I was making a difference, and doing something purposeful with something which was otherwise such a negative experience. I met new people, also living with PMDD, and eventually, was introduced to the International Association for Premenstrual Disorders, who asked me if I would do some freelance work, editing their podcast.

It was at this time that I was getting bored of talking about weight all of the time. I was running ten workshops a week, and was noticing that the topic of weight-loss didn’t always go hand in hand with my value of self-compassion. But was I thinking about leaving? Absolutely not. I LOVED working with the amazing clients of the business.

And then I was made redundant, and the rug was pulled from under me.

Putting My Big Girl Pants On

What the hell would I do? Where would I find another organisation, where I could do the exact same work, during a global pandemic?! What could I do instead? I had had a taste of self-employment through my work with the IAPMD, who had just asked me to manage their social media platforms.

But… coaching. I knew my heart was in coaching, but could I be self-employed as a coach? Would people actually pay me? I no longer had a global weight-loss and wellness company to hide behind, and it was time to put my big girl pants on.