Insights

19 August is World Photography Day, so taking a career “snapshot” seems rather fitting for this week's article. 📸 Photography has a wonderful way of freezing a moment in time. One click captures where we were, what we looked like, who we were with and, occasionally, a truly unfortunate hairstyle. But a photograph is only ever a snapshot. It doesn't tell you what happened five minutes before the shutter clicked. It can't predict where you'll be five years later. And it certai

INTERNATIONAL CAT DAY AND THE ART OF BEING CURIOUS If there is one thing cats have absolutely nailed, it is curiosity. A cardboard box? Must investigate.A cupboard door? Obviously hiding something.A mysterious noise at 2am? Time to wake the entire household and conduct a full forensic investigation. 🐈 Curiosity should lead us somewhere, perhaps to new ideas. And on Saturday 8 August, International Cat Day gave us the perfect excuse to celebrate our feline friends and their a

Every year on 4 August, International Owl Awareness Day celebrates one of nature's wisest creatures. Owls have long symbolised wisdom, intuition and the ability to see clearly in the dark. Perhaps that's why they make the perfect mascot for career change. 🦉 The wisest of Owls. Many professional women spend years looking after everyone else's careers, families, teams and ambitions before pausing to ask one important question: "Is my career still right for me?" The answer isn'

Introduction When people talk about career success, they often focus on qualifications, confidence, networking or climbing the corporate ladder. All important, of course. But there's another ingredient that rarely gets the recognition it deserves, and it doesn't appear on your CV. Friendship. 👭 My primary Career Cheer Squad Member! Every successful woman deserves one; The Honest Friend tells you when you're playing small. The Opportunity Spotter sends you interesting vacanci

Have you ever noticed what happens when you have too many browser tabs open? At first, everything works perfectly. You barely notice the extra tabs sitting there. Then a few more appear. A work document, an online shop you meant to come back to, a recipe you saved, a news article you wanted to read, something you need to remember for later. Before long, the computer starts slowing down. Not because one tab is the problem, but because they are all competing for attention at th

The British weather has a reputation for being unpredictable. You can leave the house in sunshine, encounter a sudden downpour before lunch, experience a dramatic gust of wind by mid-afternoon, and then wonder why you ever packed an umbrella in the first place! ☔ Interestingly, our careers can behave in exactly the same way. Changing weather results in changing landscapes! Recently, I found myself organising a large public event for a club I had only been involved with for ab

This week is Environmental Action Week, when conversations tend to turn to recycling bins, carbon footprints and energy saving lightbulbs 🌍🌱. All important, yes. But there’s a quieter, more personal question hiding underneath all of that: What is your working life costing you? Not in salary terms. In energy, wellbeing, confidence and long-term health. Because sustainability is not just about the planet outside the office window. It’s also about the person sitting inside the

I’ve just returned from a glorious week’s leave on the beautiful island of Ibiza. 🌞🌊 It wasn’t packed with constant activity or frantic sightseeing. It was something far rarer: genuine disconnection. I switched off my phone (well… mostly, with the occasional “just checking in” moment, because old habits die hard 📱😄), sank into sunshine, and let my days unfold without a calendar telling me what to do next. I read 3 books on holiday, the phone was never near the pool! And h

June 2026 is Pride Month and it’s never just glitter and parades 🌈. For many women in midlife, especially those navigating leadership roles, it becomes a moment of reflection on identity, visibility and the quiet question many don’t say out loud: Do I still belong in the room I helped build? For LGBTQI+ women and those experiencing menopause at the same time, that question can feel even sharper. Leadership doesn’t pause for hot flushes, identity shifts, sleepless nights, or

Every year around or on 21 June, something rather wonderful happens. The Summer Solstice arrives, gifting us the longest day of the year and a reminder that light has a remarkable ability to reveal what has been hidden. 🌞 Stonehenge sunset solstice For many people, the Summer Solstice passes by as little more than a date on the calendar, perhaps accompanied by photos of Stonehenge and a vague awareness that it stays light until nearly bedtime. Yet for those navigating career

Last week was Volunteers' Week 2026, a national celebration of the incredible people who give their time, energy and skills to support causes they care about. 🌟 A few years ago, but this Crisis At Christmas Rough Sleeping team, was one of my favourite years. Now, if you've been following my recent articles, you may have noticed a bit of a pattern emerging. At the moment, I seem to be running about a week behind on my chosen topics! So, my apologies for arriving fashionably l

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and yes, I know I'm a little late to the party. In my defence, I was busy celebrating my 50th birthday in what can only be described as spectacular style. I headed off to an amazing music festival completely on my own. 🎶💃 And before you ask, yes, it was absolutely fantastic. My butterfly costume looked fab in the breeze! At some point during the weekend, after a conversation with a lovely woman in the toilets at 4am, I somehow managed t

When I first began perimenopause, I didn’t know that’s what it was. Like many women in the UK, I went to my GP exhausted, emotional, forgetful and struggling to think clearly. Instead of a conversation about hormones, I was initially diagnosed with depression. 🫠 And honestly? For a while, I genuinely thought I might be developing early onset dementia. I was forgetting words mid-sentence. Walking into rooms and forgetting why. Re-reading emails three times. Losing my train of

If coaching were a person, it wouldn’t sit quietly in the corner sipping tea. It would be out in the street, sleeves rolled up, gently but persistently asking better questions until something shifts. 🌱 Anyone that knows me will know this is a staged shot, i don't have my water or pen and pad! International Coaching Week 2026 is a timely reminder that coaching isn’t just about polishing CVs or climbing ladders. At its best, it’s a quiet revolution. One conversation at a time,

There’s something gloriously symbolic about the May Day Bank Holiday in the UK. The daffodils are past their dramatic “look at me” phase, the trees have stopped pretending they’re dead, and suddenly everyone’s buying garden furniture with the optimism of a Victorian poet. 🌿☀️ Spring doesn’t just wake up nature. It wakes up questions. Am I happy? Am I exhausted? Why do I have seventeen tabs open in my brain at all times? And when exactly did “surviving the week” become my per

April 2026 is Stress Awareness Month. If stress were a colleague, it would be that one who turns up uninvited, eats your lunch, rewrites your priorities, and then leaves you holding the mess. 😏 For many professional women, especially those navigating career shifts, menopause, or workplace pressure, stress doesn’t just knock politely. It barges in, kicks off its shoes, and sets up camp. The problem? Most people are trying to manage stress with surface-level fixes, rather th

Every Earth Day (April 22), we hear the same well-meaning messages about recycling, reducing waste, and protecting the planet. But here’s the uncomfortable mirror moment: many professionals are still treating their own careers like single-use plastic. Use it. Burn it. Replace it. Repeat. That is not a career strategy. That is quiet burnout dressed up as ambition. And frankly, it is rubbish. If your career had an environmental footprint, would it be a thriving ecosystem… or a

This week, I read a LinkedIn review that stopped me mid-scroll… not because it was polished (although it was), but because it captured something many people struggle to articulate. The client spoke about the power of blending coaching, mentoring and HR expertise… about navigating “the full picture of work and life ”… and most importantly, about experiencing a mindset shift that didn’t feel overwhelming, but instead built through small, manageable steps. That last bit? That’s

If Easter had a message for our careers, it wouldn’t just be about chocolate eggs (although, let’s be honest, they help). It would be about renewal, rebirth, and perhaps most importantly… reassessment. Because for many women, careers have quietly been built on a foundation of sacrifice. Not always consciously. Not always willingly. But consistently. We say yes when we mean maybe. We stretch when we’re already exhausted. We prioritise being “helpful” over being heard . And som

Let’s be honest.If hormones had a LinkedIn profile, they’d be listed under: “ Influences everything but rarely gets credit.” From confidence in meetings to whether you can remember why you opened that email (again), hormone health is quietly shaping women’s careers every single day . And yet — in most workplaces — it’s still treated like a “personal issue” rather than a professional reality. Its time to get real about hormone health... for the business. As a career coach work