I started a regular vision board practise about 4 years ago and not only do I love the whole experience of creating it, I have definitely found it works!
For example: in 2018 I was living in a beautiful, character-filled Victorian terrace in which over 6 years we'd created a lovely family home, but I was desperately craving more light! Because we'd spent so much time and energy making this house into ours, I was in no rush to move. However, when creating my vision board for that year I was drawn to images of dining tables in front of big windows, and being able to work at a desk that looked out onto a big garden, all in a room flooded with light and so images like these featured on my board.
I’d like to pretend that I have had a clearly mapped out plan for how my business has evolved, but I haven’t. My photography stemmed purely from a fact that I loved taking pictures. I love interiors and every year I would take a trip to Syon Park in London for Decorex, a trade interiors show. I would wander round all of the stalls with no real purpose other than to surround myself with interiors inspiration and I would photograph the stalls just for the pure joy of having the pictures to look back on.
I was very happy to be asked to join Nicola on her Follow Your Bliss podcast in April 2020. We talked about my career evolution and desire to find my own creative outlet; how I found this in photography; the importance of visibility and being seen, especially for women; the evolution of finding purpose and the lessons learned from growing my business. Damian Lewis even gets a mention!
Are you scared of what might happen if you truly became all that you could be? I believe we are all capable of amazing things and of course one of our biggest blockers to that is our own belief in ourselves. But I’ve started to see a bigger demon than that, a far more powerful blocker in my own life. The fear of what might happen if all my dreams came true!
I don’t know about you but wearing something I feel good in can impact my entire day and so aside from looking good for your photo shoot, the right clothes have the power to make you FEEL good for your shoot which trust me, makes a huge difference!
Last week I launched my new website. In truth my ‘launch’ was fairly low key, there were no flashing lights or parties that’s for sure. I simply switched my homepage from PRIVATE to PUBLIC and put out a post on Instagram and my other social media channels. It took all of 5 minutes.
Having been bullied by girls throughout my childhood, and now as a mother of a 10 year old daughter with an ever-increasing interest in what people think of her, I care passionately about the emotional and mental health of women and girls.
The Congregation of Inspiration 2019 - brainchild of Holly Tucker of Not On The High Street fame has brought together small, creative businesses from across the UK in a day to remember. Here's what happened at the 2019 event, held in September at St Mary's Church, Marylebone, London.
10 minute watch
From a 10 year old's motivations for buying shampoo to a legend in the photography world, today I talk about the unrealistic comparison women & girls make to those in the public eye.
11 minute watch
It's the beginning of September and the kids are back to school, so after 6 weeks of juggling work and play, is there such a thing as work life balance?
7 minute watch
Working for yourself it's very easy to get obsessed about bringing in the money, totally understand especially for those of us with no safety net, but does that make for success?
4 minute watch
I grew up believing that working hard, although not a guarantee of success, was certainly a must if I was to achieve anything in my life, but was I right?
5 minute watch
When I was younger I suffered a lot from bullying. I was an easy target. I was pretty. I was intelligent. I was funny. I had good friends. Those gifts made me a magnet for bullies. I remember some bullying in primary school, towards the final couple of years but although it made me unhappy it wasn’t unbearable. I still had a little of my invincibility cloak left… the one that really young kids have when they haven’t learnt yet too worry what other people think of them.
I have struggled with a fear of this for so long. It’s not shyness, it’s entirely different to shyness. Put me in a room of people and I can chat and talk and meet people, that’s fine but actually standing up and being seen for who I truly am, my skills, my talents, my truths, now that’s different and has in the past been a HUGE struggle for me.
I've learnt to swim three times in my life. Well four times actually but the first doesn't count because I never actually managed it. Growing up with parents that couldn't swim meant I never went near a swimming pool until I went swimming with primary school, by which point most of my classmates could already swim. So there was just myself, and John Liversidge, stuck in the shallow end with polystyrene boards on our backs attached by a string tied around our waist (I say string but I have a very distinct memory that it was actually a pair of old nylon tights!!!)
I’ve always loved photography. I remember having a camera as a child. It was one of those long thin ones, a Kodak I think, that would take a film lasting 26 shots. On our family holidays in Dorset I’d carefully ration the shots out over the week we were there, take it to Boots as soon as we got back, wait the 3 or 4 days for the film to be developed and then excitedly examine every single shot, hoping like mad I’d have at least 1 or 2 good ones.
I really don’t like the term ‘Mumpreneur’. For me it conjures up images of something like baking cakes and making some pocket money from it. Don’t get me wrong I’ve nothing against bakers, but ‘Mumpreneur’ just makes me think of someone trying to earn money at the school gates as oppose to being a savvy, fully-fledged businesswomen who also happens to be a mum.
I'd heard of Bréne Brown before of course. Friends had recommended her books, I’d seen her referred to in interviews, but I’d never been prompted to pick up one of her books. That was until Monday. This Monday.
When I was 3 years old my mum took a job cleaning at the local ballet school and each day I would go with her to work. The school was reached up a windy driveway, edged each side with woods and once you cleared the trees this grand Victorian mansion stood before you like a castle from a fairytale with sweeping grounds to each side. Everything about this place was magical from the fairy woods full of unicorns and animals that could talk ( I swear they were real), to the house with it's grand bay window overlooking the lawn upon which for some reason I often imagined Alice playing croquet with the Queen of Tarts.
It took me a while to understand the role creativity had to play in my life and now I know the sheer life-changing power it has I'm never letting go. Creativity could unlock a whole new career for you, create an interesting side hustle or simply be a way of escaping from the day to day, but either way I think it's vital in everybody's life...even those of you who say you're not creative (which I will happily challenge!)
If I think back four years I’d never even heard the words self-care before. But that was before my diagnosis with depression, pre-medication and, well, pre-me really, and before you get your hopes up and skip to the end I haven’t got any short cuts or perfect solutions when it comes to looking after yourself, but I do have experience and as my parents always told me, that counts for a lot.
I believe it's common practise to make your first blog post one about yourself, so as much as I prefer to buck traditions I'm gonna go with this one. Bear with me.
Sit with the shit. Admittedly this isn’t the most eloquent start to a piece of writing but its attention grabbing, I hope. No?
I am currently away on holiday and without fail, on every holiday, I have an off day. A day when I feel off beat. Fed up. Unfulfilled. Ill at ease.