So who am I?

I’m a first generation, British born, person of colour. Of course I was going to struggle with being heard, influencing others and asking for what I truly felt I deserved in the workplace.

I was brought up believing in the wrong equations:

Saying yes = More opportunities

More senior = More competent

Hard work = Success

(Oh how wrong I was.)

I used to spend significant time considering the impact of what I wanted to say before I said it and even held myself back from speaking/showing others what I was capable of.

I wrongly assumed hard work and focus would help me succeed. But that was not the case. I kept saying yes to more work and ended up too exhausted to work on what really mattered.

When I took some time to reflect, I realised was facing several barriers:

• A lack of senior female role models

• Mentoring, coaching and guidance focused on on trying to make me more extroverted, just like other leaders I worked with

• Extroverted personalities “preventing” me from getting my voice heard

I felt I would never be able to move up….not without changing my personality.

The Transformation

That is, until my personal circumstances changed.

I realised that what was most in my life was health and family. Why was I fearing what others thought about me? Why was I holding myself back and letting others accelerate past me? Why was I letting this fear stop me from achieving my full potential?

Since then, I have focused on speaking up, overcoming the fear of rejection and asking for what I deserve and I’ve learnt so much along the way. The impact:

• I have gained influential, sponsors in the workplace

• I secured a role at one of the largest global consultancies

• I have been promoted several times

• I have asked for pay rises and received them

The Mission

I quickly realised I am not alone in facing these challenges.

Using my experience from a decade working in corporate environments from medium to large to widely known global organisations, I have mentored and coached several people and helped them to thrive in their career and to reach their full potential.

So I’m now on a mission - to use what I've learnt and help others to…

be heard, be recognised, be promoted and be rewarded.