A way with words, and an ability to connect with and inspire people, have always been at the heart of my working life
I started my working life in marketing with ICI Pharmaceuticals, moving up through The Rank Organisation and BUPA. Strategy and campaigns were my day-to-day. I set up a successful consultancy with a focus on internal communication and employee wellbeing. Words came to me easily about health and pensions.
As I helped managers, I became more interested in successful communication in leaders. I trained as a Master NLP Practitioner, became a Relate counsellor and co-founded a pioneering maternity coaching consultancy. I have supported many women to bring their best selves to work.
Becoming a mother, I wanted to work in my local community, and headed up two charities – a faith-based retreat centre and a counselling charity.
My creative writing voice grew stronger. New Writing South recognised me as a talented, emerging writer and I got an Arts Council award. I set up a writing group, still going strong, and wrote two novels, The Lives We Leave Behind and Broken Madonna.
Today I bring the writing and people strands together. Encouraging lightbulb moments through skilled listening and great questions is what inspires me as a facilitator, and leadership development and writing mentor. The feeling that I have captured an idea in words, in a way that engages, motivates me. It's all about great communication.
I like to give back – I’m a trustee of New Writing South, which supports underrepresented writers. The Community Works Leadership Development programme, matching charity leaders with volunteer mentors, has been part of my life for 14 years.
Where do the words and interest in people come from? I’m the child of Italian immigrants, who grew up with a mother tongue of Italian dialect. I learnt English at school, and was the first of my family to go to university, studying French and German. It’s my theory that if you have to listen, observe and learn another language early on, you’re primed for a life where these skills are a fundamental part of who you are.