About Me

Hello there!

I am a creative business and life coach, a facilitator and a creative producer.  I have worked in the arts for all of my career, spending 13 years as Artistic Director of Toonspeak Young People's Theatre and, since then creating and engaging with a wide variety of participatory arts projects. 

I've founded a couple of social enterprises, See Think Make which focused on accreditation for creative learning projects with young people and Mrs Magooty which alieviated social isolation through craft, mainly beadwork.  Both of these elements still feature in my work, but I now deliver them all through this business.  If the pandemic taught me one thing, it was to make all my admin processes simpler!

I now apply my creativity, theatre experience and entrepreneurship into supporting interesting people and fabulous groups through coaching, faciliation and creative producing.

What makes me tick?

I love helping people connect to their creativity and a seriously love getting s**t done!  There are few finer ways to spend my days than combining my skills to produce events where people come together, connect, laugh, share and create. 

I'm a gentle rebel - I have aways forged a path of my own, sometimes without really meaning to.  I learn by doing so I know that I just need to dive in and work out how to do something by being active and just doing it.  This means I'm no stranger to failure and uncertainty is a close friend!

How did I get here?

I studied BAhons Drama: Theatre Film and TV at the University of Bristol.  Whilst I was there, they started a new MA post grad in Cultural Performance which I very excitedly signed up for.  This Masters was hands on and practical.  I explored applied theatre - ways of making performance outside traditional buildings and how theatre practice can help people in their everyday lives.  I lived and worked with Welfare State International and created performances and participatory theatre experiences on the streets of Cumbria, in a nursery school, in the dressing room of a theatre, in disused buildings and all sorts of places.  The gentle rebel theme was very evident here!

Soon after I moved to Glasgow where I have stayed because it's a blooming brilliant city.  I have worked with a fabulous range of arts organisations as a producer, director, consultant and mentor across Scotland and now virtually all over the place. 

In 2019, I felt it was time to train in coaching.  I had been coaching informally in a lot of my work, but I really wanted to dive deeper and hone my skills. In 2020 I gained my diploma in Transformational Coaching at Animas and in 2021 achieved my Associate Certified Coach credentialling through the International Coaching Federation.

What am I most proud of?

Ach it's cheesy but one thing I'm super proud of is my two kids.  The last piece of theatre I created was with them, called 3, 6 and 36 which were our ages at the time.  You can read more about that here.

I love serendipitous things which happen as a result of me practicing a bit of radical generosity.  One is example is, from the back of a blog I wrote about Pottering (yes, just pottering about) I was invited on Woman's Hour as an expert.  An expert in pottering!!  That made me so happy.  And proud.

I'm also proud of my work, especially when something beautiful comes into being.  I worked with a brilliant team of people to create a Creative Cookbook of Ideas with the National Trust of Scotland

 

I do a lot of different things.  Am I a bit flighty?

Yes, I have a lot of strings to my bow in my business, but no, I'm not flighty because they all connect through creativity and supporting people to have the get up and go to achieve things and make stuff happen.  My theatre experience comes in handy through all my work.  For example, how I use theatre techniques to gently heighten a space to make it a bit more special, safe and magic works in 1-2-1 coaching, in training sessions, on retreats, in events... everywhere! 

Want to know more & how can we work together?

My blog is a good place to find out more about me.  There you can read about what it was like growing up in a house called Carpe Diem, how I shaped my own Pirate Code and how I continually lean into Uncertainty amongst other things. 

My Monthly Musing newsletter collects all the thoughts, blogs, business tips and fab, interesting things I've stumbled across that month. 

I can support you through a coaching package, or just a one off session.  I can support your team through faciliation and training and I can lead on the organisation and deliver the vision of your project through producing.

Of course you can also just pick a time and meet me in zoomland for a chat and a cuppa.

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Online Courses

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Monthly Musings Newsletter

Every 3rd Wednesday of the month, I'll be sending out a bumper newsletter with all the juicy details on my upcoming courses and programmes, plus lots of inspiring and creative links for you to delve into when you get the time.

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