“Patience is the art of hoping”

“Patience is the art of hoping”
(Luc de Clapiers)

During the last 20 years I have been busy working my way towards discovering all the things I enjoy doing and mixing it all together into a portfolio career where I work with both adults and children helping to boost their confidence, improve well-being and bring purpose to their lives.

As always with life, there have been many bumps in the road as well as a few traffic lights which I am sure were stuck on red for a rather long time providing testing times. I would often wonder, do I just skip the red light and accelerate away quickly or wait patiently for amber and drive forward when I am ready? I soon began to realise that often the best thing to do was to stop and wait as it was during these times during the journey that my eyes were opened.

My portfolio career consists of my role as a senior accredited career and confidence coach and author, as well as Founder and Executive Director of Voices for Life, a charity to inspire children to be happy and confident through music.

To get to this point in my life has required a lot of quiet determination and perseverance and also a (sometimes reluctant!) willingness to seek advice, guidance and support from others.

I obtained a BMus Music at The University of Birmingham. I then completed a law conversion course and worked as a family law solicitor which led me to a career change. I took a break from law and became a major gift fundraiser for the amazing Macmillan Cancer Support, a move which resulted in establishing my career coaching business.

Since setting up my coaching business 12 years ago, I have developed coaching programmes for adults, children and young people and written my first book. I have also worked with children and young people in a variety of roles in both the education and charity sectors in the UK and abroad.

Along the way, one of the most important lessons I learnt was the importance of hope. If there is no hope when the lights turn red, will they ever change back again for you? If they do change, how do you then know which direction to go?

Without hope, you risk losing direction.

With hope, you open up the possibilities of finding your direction.

With hope, you give yourself the chance to become stronger and continue your journey, increasing the opportunity for life changing experiences.