My Backstory
I spent 25 years making brands unmistakable. Then cancer forced me to ask the question I'd been avoiding my entire career: Who am I when I'm not performing?
Six months of treatment, a lot of time to think and nobody to impress, chase validation from or seek approval. Just me, trying to confront mortality and sitting with a question I'd spent my whole career avoiding: if I'm not a Chief Strategy Officer or the person who wins aviation championships and breaks world records, then who the hell am I?
It turns out, I'm a mirror for the industry I’d spent 25 years in; brilliant at getting brands to be seen for what they stand for, useless at applying the same to us . Not because I didn’t want to, but because it feels risky. And so we hide behind expertise and achievement. We adapt to our environment and dull the parts of us that could make us ‘different’. We work on the polished, perfect projection of who we think we need to be instead of just being seen.
Once I stopped performing, I could finally see the pattern everywhere - in myself, in my clients, in entire industries. And once you see it, you can't look away.
I watch brilliant people exhaust themselves performing, and I know exactly what it costs them because I lived it and still do. So that's what I do now: I help leaders stop performing and start living into who they actually are - not by adding more strategy, but by recognising what's actually in the way.
My approach blends evidence-based research with lived experience, testing what actually moves people and how we build, lose, and rebuild trust. Years of studying the biology behind behaviour, how our brains define our identity, respond to threat, seek belonging, now show me exactly why performing feels safer than being seen, and what it takes to move through that.
I spot patterns others miss. While most people are still staring at jigsaw pieces, I can see the picture on the box, and the simplest path to getting there.
I am fascinated by how things work, and by finding a better way forward through observation, analysis, and a grounded point of view. I focus on sensible, simplified moves that are clear, practical, and easy to implement.
Seeing unrealised potential frustrates me, especially when smart people and strong teams hold back from fully showing up. I will challenge long-held perceptions and the self-talk that quietly becomes a barrier to growth. My goal is to help you bring more of who you are, with more conviction, into the moments that matter.
My strategic practice was founded on the belief that we all have more to give back to the world, and that how we show up really matters if we want to pursue that and what’s truly possible for us and those around us.
There are many things that get in the way of this, both at an individual and organisational level, and growth is only possible when we find our way to the other side of the fear that stops us.
I believe that with the right help and guidance, we can get to where we want to go and beyond much faster than we ever could on our own.
