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I grew up in a single-parent family in a seaside town where most of the work was seasonal. Most of my role models didn't work. My mum suffered with mental health difficulties which meant we lived on benefits in a council house. I spent some of my childhood in care.

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Many of my childhood experiences are about my mum being "asleep" and needing to take care of my sister. I built strong feelings about security, money and what might be true for myself and my future. 

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I sacrificed life chances because I thought I should stay at home. Even so, I ended up: 

• homeless

• dropping out of university

• living with a perpetrator and victim of domestic abuse

• struggling from bulimia in what I now know was an attempt to have some control.

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I took a job as a trainee accountant and the ACCA qualification changed my life. I bought my own home and built a successful career as an accountant.

 

Once I had children though, I experienced how difficult full-time work is for parents.

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• Childcare is too expensive in the UK.

• Social mobility is still unachievable in many professions.

• There are still not enough flexible roles for professionals.

• Social mobility + flexibility is a myth in the corporate world. 

• Working 9-5 does not give you quality time with your children.

• The 'benefit' of returning to office post-pandemic needs review.

• Inflation is eating into our earnings and many service providers are still charging the hourly rates they charged years ago.

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I wanted to give my children everything I didn't have so I chose self-employment, but my technical skills weren't enough. I had to go on a huge journey to learn all of the above and to work out how to build a successful business. 

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Because we don't learn business skills at school (or, crucially, how our brilliant technical qualifications make us valuable in our jobs and businesses), we are ill-equipped to achieve our potential, often leaving families scraping by in an attempt to make work work around their children. 

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I'm here to change that. Making an impact on children in poverty is personal to me. It's driving me to build a better childhood than I had for my daughter and son, while sharing the knowledge and experience to help others find a better, more equitable and sustainable way of life.